I came to the world of electric kettles fairly late. I was raised with a stove top kettle and thought it the best way to manage my hot water needs (plus, I’ve always liked the way they looked sitting out on a burner). But then in the fall of 2011, I went to visit my sister. She had a relatively inexpensive electric kettle that boiled water at miraculous speed. There was no ten+ minute wait for a pokey stove to heat and transfer its warmth. I was sold.
Soon after I got home, I ordered my first electric kettle. I got this
Soon enough, I was using it multiple times a day. It served up hot water for morning cups of coffee and tea. In the afternoon, I’d use the cooled water in the kettle to help feed my sourdough starter (boiling helps evaporate out any chlorine in the water supply that can harm or kill the sour bacteria. Just make sure the water is under 100F when you add it to your starter). During dinner prep, I’d heat water to hydrate spoonfuls of Better Than Bouillon or to speed up soup making.
I also found myself turning to the electric kettle during canning. As you know, I make a lot of small batches of preserves, and often I make three or four things in succession (I like to take advantage of a hot canning pot). These small batches range in size from two half pints to four or five. If I don’t plan well, I can wind up trying to process jars without having enough hot water to cover. Instead of adding hot tap water and hoping that the pot returns to a boil quickly, I can keep the kettle hot and top off the canning pot immediately. It has sped things up immeasurably.
This summer was also the first time I had the electric kettle during tomato canning season. I do the bulk of my tomatoes whole, peeled and packed in water (makes for a shorter processing time) and with an electric kettle, having that hot water takes no time at all.
Thanks to the kind folks at Hamilton Beach, I recently upgraded my electric kettle to their programmable model (my previous kettle was also made by HB, but I bought it with my own dollars, long before I started teaming up with them for giveaways). This guy allows you to select the temperature to which your water heats. That makes it particularly great if you have fussy coffee habits (I say this lovingly and as someone who regularly weighs her beans to ensure a close-to-perfect brew), drink green tea, or live at high elevations where water boils at lower temperatures.
It also has a outside fill indicator (the trade-off is that there’s a small amount of plastic inside the kettle to allow for this) and pours far more smoothly than my previous kettle. I also like the fact that it has a timer, so you can schedule the moment you want it to switch on to boil. With a fast boiling kettle, it’s not really entirely necessary, but I have been enjoying the luxury of walking into the kitchen each morning to a just-boiled kettle of water. It’s the little things.
Finally, the giveaway. Hamilton Beach has generously given me eight of these Programmable 1.7 Liter Electric Kettles to give away to my readers. Here’s how to enter.
- Leave a comment on this post and share your water boiling habits. Stove top kettle? Electric tap in the sink? Microwaved mug? If you don’t do hot drinks, what gets you moving in the morning?
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm on Friday, February 15, 2013. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog over the weekend.
- Giveaway open US residents only.
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.
Disclosure: Hamilton Beach gave me one Programmable Electric Kettle for review and photography purposes and they’re providing eight additional units for this giveaway. They did not pay for inclusion on the blog and my opinions remain entirely my own.
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Electric kettles with an automatic turn-off after reaching boiling are so much safer than stove-top kettles for distracted parents, elderly folks, or anyone who is occasionally absent-minded.
i’m a stove-top boiler but have been wanting to make the switch to electric to make my mornings go faster (coffee in a maker, hot water for oats) and have one less thing sitting out in a tiny kitchen!
We have an electric kettle but it is old and crusty with calcium deposits.
We have had a stovetop kettle for years but have recently started using a tall/narrow 4th burner pot to maximize space on the electric cooktop in our new house.
I just use a pot
I need one of these!
I never realized an electric kettle could be so handy! As for us, we have an ancient stovetop kettle for anything more than the odd cup of tea which is made in the microwave.
Unfortunately I am a stove top boiler only. I don’t own a microwave. I would love one of these for some of my small batch canning, especially in summer
Tired of using microwave for my morning cup of tea………and cup is always too hot. Tried a electric water heater several years ago and loved it.
How glad I am to know that I am not the only person in the world who weighs the coffee beans! (My mother-in-law thinks I’m a little OCD. She is undoubtedly right.) I use the Ready-Set-Joe coffee cone and a bargain basement electric kettle and it would be very nice to be able to set the temp. I like to dampen the grounds just after the kettle hisses but before it boils, and usually I get distracted and miss the optimal moment. By the way, after your recommendation a couple months ago, I put the Camano Coffee Grinder on my wish list and my mother got it for me for Christmas. It takes just a bit of work, as you said, but it is really well-made and fun, and I can grind the beans exactly the way I want them, and the coffee smells awesome when I take the grinder off the jar. Many thanks.
We simply fill a sauce pan with water and place it on the stove to boil. I love the sound of quick hot water for canning and tea.
I used to use my keurig to make hot water but then it broke. When I’m at my parents, I use their water cooler ‘s hot water setting. But at home, I just boil the cup of water. I haven’t been able to enjoy tea or coffee this pregnancy
I’d love the kettle.
We use a teakettle on top of the stove. An electric teapot has been on my list since vacationing in Canada where there was one in most of our hotel rooms.
We have a tea kettle but need to replace it every so often due to calcium deposits. Would love to try this.
Stovetop kettle, used multiple times a day for tea.
I am recently a mug in the microwave kind of gal, after we moved to a place with an electric stove… The kettle takes forever to boil! There is something to a hot kettle of water for tea though, especially when serving several people at once.
I use a little sauce pot multiple times throughout the day. I also use this same pot to cook a lot of my food so it gets washed several times a day. I really ne
ed a teapot!
With this clever invention, I would change from my little 4 cup coffee maker back to my french press.
I generally boil things on the stove top but this seems like it would be very handy!
My husband and I have irreconcilable water boiling habits. I always leave the whistle down so I can’t forget I have water boiling and end up ruining the dry-boiled kettle (or, worse, burning the house down), while he insists on leaving the whistle up so he doesn’t have to come running exactly when the water is done. Oh, and did I mention that he drinks coffee and I drink tea? /sigh/ Sometimes I wonder why I stay.
Love our chrome stove top kettle. And Diet Coke gets me going in the morning. But I think I’d drink more hot cocoa/herbal tea if the hot water were ready in a flash.
stove top mostly, microwave on occasion
Thank you for hosting this giveaway
Louis
pumuckler {at} gmail {dot} com
Electric kettles are the best. I have one at home and really need one for work, too.
Depends on where I am. At home, it’s all about the kettle on the stovetop. At work, we have a hot water spout off of the coffee maker. For both coffee and tea. The coffee at work is undrinkable, so I bring instant from home. One day I’ll fancy up and get a single cup drip brew dealie.
I was a stove top tea kettle person for years. Even after a trip to Ireland many years ago where I saw my first electric tea kettle. The burner on my stove that was home to said tea kettle died and I happily made to switch. I use it multiple times a day. The inside is fairly gross from our water so I try not to look at it. Denial.
i use a little red le creuset kettle that i adore, but i’d really like to be able to boil water faster and not have to run half-naked from the bedroom because i hear an extremely high-pitched whistle at 6:30 in the morning…
A uber basic electric kettle dreaming that it is so much more.
I have an electric water kettle, but it’s not programmable, which I would love! I use the one I have allllll the time, mostly for hot drinks.
Used to use an electric kettle too but it was of the plastic variety! Currently just heating water in a saucepan. I’d love to get an electric kettle again
I used to boil water for tea and coffee in a pot, then I burned my hand by over-pouring (not badly at all, very lucky, just ouchy for a few days) and a friend gave me a stovetop kettle. Use the kettle any time I want tea or coffee. For canning, I pour the boiling water in the jars, after sterilizing, into the pot where I’ve got my lids. Then, when I inevitably need more water in the canning bath I have it already heated.
I use a stovetop tea kettle. I would love to have an electric kettle though! It could really come in handy at work.
a nice cup of tea with sugar and soymilk! heated in a pot and poured in a steeper until ready
I’m a stove topper kettle user, but my mom-in-law uses and electric one. It’s great when we visit coz we get tea made so much faster – love it! Thanks for the opportunity!
I love my electric kettle for tea. I first started using it when I had a friend from Ireland visit and I had to keep up with her tea drinking habit. It’s so convenient but my kettle is on its last legs…
Woo! Look at all these comments!
At work I have a cheapie “electric kettle” that’s little more than a plastic bowl with a heat element in the bottom. I use that to make my morning cup of tea. Sometimes if I’m short on time I’ll use the hot water from the coffee machine to make my tea, but it’s just not hot enough and I guess I’m a bit of a tea snob. At home I have a (too small) metal kettle that I put on my stove. If I’m making steel cut oats and don’t want to wait as long for the water to boil, I’ll stick it in the microwave for a few minutes to get it going faster.
Whew!
I use a kettle on a very old (1970′s) stove top. It’s very inefficient (according to the repairman during his last visit), so it’s even more of a hassle than it has to be. But, I do love my hot tea and occassionally coffee…
I microwave a cup of water to make tea or instant oatmeal if I’m in a hurry.
I received an electric kettle as a gift about 10 years ago, I LOVE having it! I use it for tea, cooking to melt the bullion cubes in my crock pot, and for making a quick batch of jello. The downside is that it’s old, and it plastic
I would love a metal one!
I would love one of these. I’m a bona-fide french press addict and tea drinker!
Currently I use a kettle on my electric stove-top and it takes sooooo long!
I fell in love with my electric kettle during the 2 weeks pour hot water heater was broken and we were corresponding with GE about honoring their warranty. My kettle doesn’t turn offe, it just boils all over the place!
A newer model would sure make canning easier and a lot saver!
Stove-top kettle. And, on a not-so-efficient electric stove top, that can be frustrating.
I do stove top as I do not like microwaving. I would love one of these for the conveinence and to use for the ease when I can . Thanks!
That’s rather brilliant. I am a pan on the stove girl – I have an old-school kettle (copper bottom, stainless body), but rarely use it. It heats so slowly! My really good pots heat much more quickly, so I tend to make large amounts of tea in them (sometimes torching the little slip of paper on the string over the gas burner in the process) and then refrigerate for iced tea later. I make it concentrated so that it can be thinned out by the ice and still taste good.
But the adding water to the canning bath problem is a definite issue. And since I’m canning in a dutch oven with a cup towel in the bottom, it can take awhile to get any added water up to the right temperature. It makes for a lot of in and out with jars.
Was mostly a microwave boiler for a long time. Recently got an induction cooktop which sure speed up the process, though it takes up to much counter space to leave out.
I have a family of tea drinkers and we use an electric kettle to boil our water, but nothing as nice as this programmable model. Sure would be nice to upgrade.
A couple hot cups of tea throughout the days is made with my stovetop kettle! It’s home is always on the stove top and I’m always cleaning it because it is splattered with grease from cooking nearby.
I would love this to replace the one I do have. Didn’t think about boiling plastic !!! I probably have the one you had . Love Harney & Sons Teas – especially the Cinnamon Spice.
I use a stove top tea kettle to make my hot water. Waiting for it to boil can sometimes seem like a very long time. Sometimes I cheat and grab and microwavable mug and heat the water up in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Doesn’t seem to taste the same, though I think that is only in my mind.
keep a stove top tea kettle…this sounds like a winner.
Would love to have another electric kettle as I use the one I have just the way you do and II love it so much we take it on our (car) trips with us! But can’t take it away from home when I’m traveling on my own. Right now am at my mum’s without it and just had to dash to the stove to get the kettle so it didn’t wake her up. I’d keep the second one here as I now need to come down to help out a lot.
Oh these remind me of my trip to France where I often found one of these kettles in the room. I loved it then almost as much as good bedding! I’m a stovetop kettle user.