is my kettle doomed

[bluecomputerscreen]

dh bought vinegar cleaner instead of white vinegar and descaled the kettle with it. in his defence the bottles look very similar.

kettle now stinks and the water tastes soapy .

do I need a new kettle or can it be salvaged?

on the positive note it's now incredibly shiny

What else is in the cleaner? Did it descale the inside? (I know you mentioned it is shiny, but not sure if that's the interior.)

I assume you've rinsed thoroughly and done lots of boils with fresh water and discarded.
You could try lemon juice or a citric acid based appliance descaler to give it a clean and hopefully remove any residue.

yes, it's the inside.
will try descaler tablets.

boiling water on the hob takes aaaaaaaages.