Quooker vs Qettle vs Kettle

[maddogwoman20]

Hi everyone. I went to a kitchen showroom yesterday and was basically told absolutely everyone has a Quooker nowadays and I would be mad not to get one. I have considered these several times in the past but could never justify the cost, however the sales lady made me feel I was seriously missing out. My research suggests they are

1. obviously way more expensive to buy than a kettle and standard tap
2. no cheaper to run (max 1p per day)
3. take up space under the sink
4. require maintenance
5. only have 2 years warranty which doesn't show a great deal of confidence in their product

For me I feel there is too much to go wrong. I have been gradually going lower tech over the last 7 years after various smart technology (lighting etc) has failed and/or moves on too quickly etc. I have no problem waiting 3 minutes for the kettle to boil to make tea or pour over the pasta and I am fairly convinced I would probably burn myself using the tap. I have also heard the tea tastes terrible. I imagine it would with anything other than the true 100 degree ones, but I have heard it even tastes awful with the Qettles and Quookers? I would like to hear your experiences. I understand the Qettle requires six monthly filter changes at over £32 a go and cleaning of the tank. So, assuming the Quooker requires no such maintenance this is around an additional £80 per year so the saving is eradicated over time. Has anyone had a Quooker for more than 2 years? Have you had to do any maintenance or repairs? Does anyone also have the food insinkerators? Are they any good? Thanks so much.

Not quite an equal comparison, hand washing to an automatic washing machine and a kettle that boils water to a tap that does the same thing and boils water. If you said you had to make a fire and boil the water on that it would have been more of a comparison 😉

Here op have a read of this , some user experiences.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/quooker-hot-tap-energy-usage.18954134/

We got a Master class kitchen (Welsh) and I insisted on a pocket door, not that hard, we had a carpenter fit ours. Took about 10cm out of the wall when they were doing the design.

storage, workspace and appliances were my biggest things. And a wine fridge…

@Diyextension it was merely to show some people are still happy with how it has always been, OP is happy with her kettle, my grandma was happy hand washing. Considering she died in the early 1980s I think my parents still had a twin tub top loader at that point. Not a front loading one. In case you don't know what a twin tub is one side washed and soaked the clothes, you then had to transfer all the soaking wet clothes from one side to the other for the rinse and spin. The machine remained full of water so you literally fished around in the hot water to find the clothes. Front loaders were revolutionary

I've had a Quooker in my flat i rent out. Seven years now no issue. My own is just over two years, again no issue. Never done snug maintenance. It does take a bit of room under the sink but not that much - maybe the space of a big milk jug? And I love it - no longer waiting for water to boil for cooking. Piping hot tea - wouldn't live without one now.

I think it depends how often you use Quooker. It saved us £50 a year after the installation costs because we use boiling / boiled water for a lot - eg cleaning / cooking / teas / coffees / warming cutlery.

😁Well, if everyone had one they wouldn't need to sell you one, would they?!
They seem very dangerous to me

They are perfectly safe but the tea is awful. We have one and still use our kettle. Wouldn't bother in next kitchen.

We do have a kettle on the induction hob though and it is super quick and easy to heat up. My preference would be to spend the money on the other appliances and get better quality

@Thingamebobwotsit that was basically where my head was at. I used to have a Siemens oven and literally never cleaned it. Then went Bosch and it literally needs cleaning every week. I also want a black sink (I would love a copper one but I don't think it will last long as it is just a stainless steel coating at the end of the day) - so I will spend on the oven and sink and I might be forced by building regs to spend a ridiculous amount on a hob!

While I am on the kitchens topic - what is the best oven for self cleaning? I had a Siemens pyrolytic at my previous flat and cleaned it only once or twice in about 15 years. It still looked like new when I moved out though I had to change the grill element the year I moved. In my next house I bought all Bosch appliances and was very disappointed with everything especially the oven which needs cleaning weekly. The touch controls are also very temperamental. At my flat I had a long Diplomat touch control ceramic hob (cheap old MFI brand) which was absolutely amazing, I loved it, would have taken it with me if I could.

We’ve had a Quooker for years. The first one was faultless for 6 years, and when we moved, we installed a Quooker Cube

We are planning to move next year and will be taking it with us, I can’t imagine life without it!

I only change the filter once a year, when it beeps at me. Same as the water dispenser on the fridge…

It makes brilliant tea but is also great for cooking pasta, veg etc and saves energy and water. It’s also great when soaking pans and roasting trays - quick splash of boiling water and washing up liquid works better than regular warm water.

In over a decade of having one, no one has been splattered or scalded so I think it’s an urban myth spread by the Kettle Marketing Board

We had one in the office at work, and that was bad enough. Made everything taste awful and was constantly not working.

I was very skeptical about getting a Quooker, but we moved house and it was already installed. We love it and I wouldn't go back to a kettle, that takes up space, needs descaling and takes longer to boil water. It also replaces the Brita jug so it's great if like me you are a minimalist.

We have a Quooker, it was already there when we moved in, we mainly use the kettle though and don't use the Quooker much, it's ok if you need hot water for veg and stuff like that, I wouldn't have had one fitted myself

I’m afraid what I take away from these threads is that some bots/zealots really overkill the QUOOKERS ARE LIFE-CHANGING!!!!! message.

(The tone is disturbingly similar to ‘woo’ threads, where there’s always someone saying doggedly ‘Well, it’s easy not to believe in the supernatural when something supernatural hasn’t happened to you!’ And apparently unable to grasp that the stuff they believe is supernatural is usually sleep paralysis, superstition, half-remembered childhood/half-asleep stuff, hearsay, plus cognitive bias.)

It’s perfectly possible to have a valid opinion on boiling water taps without owning one. Many of us have drunk dreadful tea and coffee from them on numerous occasions and probably been too polite to say so in the face of enthusiasm. Some people apparently can’t tell the difference.

We have a water softener but pipes that go to the kitchen for drinking etc bypass it.
we have v hard water, have a Quooker (would never be without one now!) and so far (4 years in) not had a problem

We've had ours for 7 years now & did have to have an expensive repair last year. I love it though. Tea tastes absolutely fine with it & I am really fussy about my tea.

@TallulahBetty was it an actual Quooker?

@tenbob do you mind me asking how much it is for a new filter? I assume you can do it yourself. Have you ever had it serviced in the 6 years? They recommend 1-5 years?

My takeaway from this thread is that the OP doesn't want a boiling water kettle and fans who have them should all let her be, because having reached the end where all the usu arguments for and against have been made without any change in position it is about the dullest thread on MN - a situation that is unlikely to change.

I would have never have that, what a useless invention. Also, every time the topics comes up there are always late-ish comers to these threads saying how much they lover theirs...

Quooker taps are so much more efficient than a kettle, or a bowl full of water from a traditional hot tap that has to be run a while for hot water to run. It’s much cheaper than boiling a kettle (notwithstanding the initial outlay), uses considerably less electricity and/or gas than a kettle/gas boiler and is therefore much more environmentally friendly. We had one fitted earlier this year and have never regretted it.

And?

Ours are about £80 & yes, it's very easy to change them yourselves (ours isn't the cube). We hadn't had ours serviced but it was done when we had it repaired. I imagine you can easily service it yourself.

I love my Quooker. But you clearly don't want one OP so just don't get one