Boiling water tap - who is right?

[Northernlurker]

Dh wants one in new kitchen. Because it's cool I think.

I think it's expensive bollocks that we don't need and would potentially be dangerous for future grandchildren.

Who's right?

We are just changing kitchen. Wanted no kettle on worktop.
I just couldn’t justify the cost of a hot water tap, and I still don’t think they are particularly safe with splashing

End up adding breakfast pantry and a hot water dispenser. Solves the no steam in breakfast pantry, holds 3L at a time, and can use to fill pan if needed. Water can be adjusted to various temperatures but 100c for tea is great.
£80 off Amazon.

We have one in work, and it’s….fine?

Takes up a lot of space under the sink and when it’s actually producing the hot water it’s fairly noisy. Haven’t noticed any difference in taste.

Not tempted for one for my own house at all- it’s a £500+ kettle? I just don’t understand people who say they couldn’t live without them. I’d just buy a good, nice looking kettle and save myself a couple of hundred quid.

Why worry about "potential" grandchildren?

We have one and it is great. We drink a vast amount of tea and it tastes fine - but we have a Quooker set to boiling. It is sufficiently childproof that my teens can use it but my mum can't.

We have a big family and entertain quite a bit and it is absolutely brilliant in those situations - 30 seconds to fill up a tea pot rather than 2 boils of the kettle.

Quooker is the only hot tap which water comes out of the tap at 100. It stores in the tank above 100. water above a hundred…wow.

Love the naysayers branding it ‘lower middle class’..!
It’s very much a badge of a naice kitchen in a naice house where I am - gets a special mention in Savills house listings along with Lefroy Brooks bathroom fittings

'Naiceness' as a concept is a LMC thing, though -- and absolutely, I'd say that Lefroy Brooks would be right in there.

I mean, my issue with Quooker taps has nothing to do with them as a class shibboleth, anyway, obviously. My own domestic quirks could fill a large book.

Though I'll admit I don't get the Mn horror of anything visible on kitchen surfaces. We once had a neighbour like that, who used to invite us in for a cup of tea, fish the kettle out of a drawer to boil water, and pretty much as soon as she put the cups down in front of us, the kettle was emptied and put straight back in the drawer. I remember once her husband came in and took the kettle out again to make himself tea, and its presence was visibly irritating her when he didn't re-hide it immediately. The expression on her face suggested it was a faux pas akin to leaving your vibrator lying about recharging in front of guests.

Now that is a person who would really benefit from a boiling water tap.

It amazes me that on many parts of mn there are posters being ridiculed for not buying own brand supermarket products if they want to be able to afford to feed their families, and here we have a thread claiming that people are unable to live without a gadget which costs the equivalent of of a new kettle every year for the next 50 years.

@AsleepOnTheTrain what maintenance does that one need?

@5zeds

Quooker is the only hot tap which water comes out of the tap at 100. It stores in the tank above 100. water above a hundred…wow.

The water is stored at 110°C. Under pressure.

Ours certainly isn't because of a desire for clear worktops, we still have toaster, stand mixer, coffee machine, food processor, bluetooth speaker, bread bin and teapot all permanently out. We just love the convenience of it.

I can tell if tea is made via hot water tap, but then perhaps my friends don't have a Quooker. However, I only drink black tea..... so perhaps more obvious?

It saves what? 2 mins? My kettle boils really quickly, so why the need.

As for making coffee - surely if you have a Quooker, you should also have a "proper" espresso latte coffee maker...... I would be shocked and appalled to be given an "instant" coffee in a kitchen with a £1k Quooker .

If you are talking about a Quooker hot water tap it's the single most amazing thing in our kitchen we had put in when we renovated. And it's certainly not dangerous! And that is coming from someone who worries about everything when it comes to my kids!! Speedy hot water for washing up, boiling veg, tea.

He is right and you are very wrong on this one.

Like ours. Cupboard has room for the Quooker tank as well as a basket for recycling and the food waste bin so no space lost as far as I am concerned.
Sputters a bit but the child lock thing works fine.

@BigWoollyJumpers - don't come round ours then, no coffee drinkers here so it's Nescafe all the way
(or I could just make all the machine noises like that ad from the 80s

I think the taste thing is interesting.

I can tell if you put fresh water in the kettle, or reboiled it.
I always only boil the right amount, and always empty the dregs and put fresh water in before I boil it.

I can also taste if the water is no longer boiling, so the kettle boiled 5 minutes ago.

Also if someone puts the milk in before the teabag has finished brewing.

I can taste all these. I'm really not bothered at someone esle's house, but I home I want freshly boiled water at 100 degrees.

So, I really do think that the water from a hot tap tastes different.

And if it is boiled and stored under pressure , then it does not have oxygen bubbles in it, which is what brews the tea.

So, handy maybe, but to make tea - no.

(and come to that, coffee is better with water NOT boiling, so it wouldn't make good coffee either would it?)

I had a quooker at my last house (just moved sadly). It was brilliant and I would forgo so many other appliances if I had to in order to have one again. Tea did not taste funny and I drink gallons of it. Also, as others have said, regards the safety, most of my adult visitors couldn't turn it on without me showing them, so it is child friendly. It operated a bit like a medicine bottle, you have to push down and turn.

I am renting at the moment and have a much smaller kitchen and the kettle is just another lump of metal taking up valuable worktop space.

I’d be telling my DH that if he wants the tap, you want a (insert expensive kitchen gadget).
My DH wanted an expensive combi microwave when we had our kitchen fitted. I wanted an induction hob. We both got what we wanted. He’s never used the microwave to do anything other than heat up beans or frozen sweet corn. He loves the hob though!

Do they store the water because that is probably why tea tastes funny, you should always use freshly drawn water for tea because it is oxygen rich, likewise you should never reboil the kettle if you use these

I see that @steppemum has already explained the tea taste thing much better than me.

@steppemum

I think the taste thing is interesting.

I can tell if you put fresh water in the kettle, or reboiled it.
I always only boil the right amount, and always empty the dregs and put fresh water in before I boil it.

I can also taste if the water is no longer boiling, so the kettle boiled 5 minutes ago.

Also if someone puts the milk in before the teabag has finished brewing.

I can taste all these. I'm really not bothered at someone esle's house, but I home I want freshly boiled water at 100 degrees.

So, I really do think that the water from a hot tap tastes different.

And if it is boiled and stored under pressure , then it does not have oxygen bubbles in it, which is what brews the tea.

So, handy maybe, but to make tea - no.

(and come to that, coffee is better with water NOT boiling, so it wouldn't make good coffee either would it?)

Absolutely to this. It tastes subtly but detectably different, and I've also had tea made from lots of different brands of tap, so I don't think it's type-specific.

We got one fitted in our new build , I was a bit sceptical but would fit one straight away if we moved - I LOVE it

I thought like you, until in laws got one and we spent a few days living in their house while they were away. Now I want one. I'd get rid of my kettle in a heartbeat. Absolutely not dangerous for children, I can't see how you would be able to accidentally run the boiling tap, you have to do a very intentional movement to turn it on. This was a Quooker.

Moral of the story is... if you're going to get one don't scrimp - get a quooker!

DH is right. They are awesome!! Had mine 3 years now and is is without doubt the best present I've ever bought myself. I wouldn't want to be without one now.

I’ve had one for ten years and I wouldn’t be without it. I admit it isn’t just quite as hot as a boiled kettle although perfectly adequate for hot drinks but it’s invaluable for filling pans for cooking. And buckets of water for cleaning.