Hot water / boiling water taps - are they worth it?

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Just that really! If you have one do you love it or regret it?

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I work in offices that have these. They're not for me tbh as they don't get hot enough for tea bags to taste how I like and they get scummy although I guess kettles in an office would too. I like the speed so you whizz in and make a coffee but I hate the awkwardness of holding down a button I always feel like I'm juggling things. I suspect they are expensive to run but I don't know anyone who has one at home any more so I wondered if they're a bit like the air fryer hype.

It is possible you would notice a difference. I'd happily run a blind taste test for you if you find yourself in Hampshire ever.

Its just under boiling hot so it doesn't burn the coffee beans! It's a posh fad but my husband wanted the sparkling water one and Quooker's customer service is great x

No.

There's one installed in our house. It's so wasteful it's permanently switched off.

Zip taps in some offices are not quite boiling so can leave a residue on top of coffee or tea. We have a Quooker at home and it is fantastic. The water is boiling water, so great for pasta, veggies etc as well. It is great not having to wait for a kettle to boil. I am hoping to add the sparkling water option next year, which will get rid of the sodastream and leave more room on the work top.

What's wasteful about it, might I ask?

We recently got a quooker.
I love it. The water makes a perfect cup of tea or coffee. So nice not having to boil a kettle. Very handy when cooking.
I can't imagine that anyone would turn the boiling water on accidentally as you have to push push turn a different part of the tap. I would be more concerned that a toddler would pull down a kettle.
It is definitely a luxury but if you can comfortably afford a good one it is lovely.

Energy.

How do you heat water and keep it hot?

I’ve scalded myself on one of those. Held a mug underneath with a teabag in it, and it spat so badly that I dropped the mug into the sink.

I now approach them with huge caution.

I was sceptical but husband wanted one installed in our new build so went with it - I bloody love it and would install one immediately in any future homes. We have a quettle and so handy for obvious things like hot drinks but also everything cooking related , mixing stock , noodles , water for pasta etc and great to blast onto greasy baking trays etc to get them clean too

No. I’ve had numerous cups of tea from various friends’ Quookers down the years, and it’s never quite right. Plus I genuinely don’t see the point unless it’s in a busy work environment. It’s not like a kettle eats up space, and the Quooker unit takes up space under your counter.

My sister has had these taps in 2 houses now. I find that tea made with water from the them has a sweetish taste (maybe the filters) that I don’t like, plus the tea definitely isn’t hot enough for me.

I did a comparison when I bought mine. Based on my own usage, the tap is way more efficient than a kettle. Even trying to minimise the water in the kettle, I always ended up boiling more than I needed.

The vessel of my tap is so will insulated, it hardly takes anything to keep it hot once up to temperature.

If memory serves, I'm using about a 5th of the energy compared to the kettle.

In a small kitchen with limited useable work surface, yes the kettle does take up useable counter space. Under the sink is pretty much dead space really aside from a few cleaning products, cloths and wipes, hardly used to its capacity.

I love mine. It’s my most favourite appliance!

I have the old model Quooker, the separate one that only dispenses boiling water, have had it 10 years now and only recently had it serviced for the first time. We live in a very hard water area and I now realise the water flow was definitely impacted by a build up of calc, so I would recommend a more frequent service than I did, if you live in a hard water area.

Would not be without it, one of the best buys in our kitchen.

Do any of these boiling water taps offer variable temperature water? I use boiling water by exception for drinks, not as the norm.

Mine doesn’t but I find it very useful for all the warm water I need for bread making etc - just add a bit of cold. Saves running the tap for ages to get warm water which is what I used to have to do.

Had one in an office I used to work in. It was crap. Water isn’t boiling so useless for tea.

I can see it being very handy where the temperature just needs to be "warm" or "hot" to fill pans etc but presumably you would need a thermometer to adjust to a specific temperature?
I just wondered if newer models could be used for making green and white tea out of the tap. That said if they can be used to fill a pan on spec presumably they keep a reservoir hot so it wouldn't be freshly boiled?

Yes this happened to me in the sales room for our kitchen supplier so it was one of the things that put me off, having a child with autism was another but he used one in a friends house yesterday and was giving out we don’t have one 🤣🤣

Quooker is really good. Saves boiling kettle over and over when you have lots of pots on the go or DH family round drinking infinity cups of tea. They're fairly safe too unless you leave your hand under there for ages, water is aerated so if it splashes on you doesn't burn.

We are having a new kitchen fitted in next few months. Someone advise against having one fitted (can’t remember who) as he says they can need repairing lots so have decided against one. It’s £1k so just seems a criminal amount of money to us. Also just the 2 of us and we don’t drink endless cups of tea/coffee!

Mine has a button for boiling water, and a lever for normal water (hot and cold) which can operate at the same time. It won't give an exact temperature, but probably would be sufficient.

For green and white tea the temperature makes a really difference to the flavour. Its the equivalent of drinking black tea made with water that isn't boiled. If I had a boiling tap which couldn't offer controlled temperatures I'd end up with a variable temp kettle as well which would defeat the object for me.

I'm in the process of replacing the kitchen and seem to get as many "waste of money" as "greatest thing ever" responses so its interesting to hear the reasons from those using them. However the lack of temperature control would definitely be an issue for me.