Electric kettles make so many things quicker and easier.
Most people have one of these now, but it took America more than a generation to get them after Europe, so I’m still in the land of scarcity — they’re wonderful.
This is a highly rated model — I personally have a smaller 1 liter one that’s not nearly as pretty [edit: I have recently upgraded, see update below]. I really like that mine doesn’t make any kind of noise when the water reaches the desired temperature — just the physical click of the start button switching off (all on its own, without any worry about forgetting it on the stove!)
The big thing to look out for with the smaller models (I’m usually making a single serving and could happily use a 0.5 liter kettle) is making sure that they can be fully lifted off the base; you want to be able to take it to the sink without needing to unplug it, but that’s a sacrifice they make with a lot of smaller “travel” kettles.
Some people are particular about the temperature that they brew their tea or coffee, so you can get precise models for temperature or with narrow spouts for pour-overs, but I’m not so discerning 🤷♀️ Mine does have a dial for hotter or cooler, but I’ve always assumed it has about the same accuracy as my toaster… 🙃😬
Update: I’ve started exploring Chinese medicine and am incorporating a fair amount of hot water into my diet. Even most temperature controlled kettles seem to be designed for particular brewing temps: green tea, black tea, coffee, etc. But I just need water at my preferred drinking temp, which (as I’ve learned from my ember) is around 135F, so I am loving my outrageously-expensive-for-a-kettle Fellow Corvo, which lets me select that precise temp without a bunch of waiting around.
Notes:
I don’t like taking the lid off and I don’t like that you can’t see the water level from the outside, but as long as you don’t get the gooseneck model, you can fill it at the sink directly into the spout and I’ve already gotten a pretty good at sensing how full it is from the feel and sound.
It functions amazingly well: nearly silent, fast, temperature is accurate, it holds the temp there for a few minutes so you don’t need to hover (and there’s a “hold” switch you can toggle on if you need it to maintain the temp longer), and it’s nice to pour.
For normal use, it has a single control button which you can spin to change the temp and which you press to turn on and off; it’s a little derpy in the “click” or “clunk” of pressing it, and a preset would be better for me to switch between 135 for drinking and boiling for everything else (I’ve also read that the finish is easily damaged, so I don’t rest the spout when I’m pouring). But these are small flaws and it has already earned its place as a good citizen in my household, or as Mari Kondo would say “it sparks joy.”
