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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I used my Keurig for hot water by the cup, but since it doesn’t boil and only does a limited amount at once, I have been considering an electric kettle.
Microwave at home and electric kettle at work.
Mmm, hot water for tea, coffee, pre-heating water for soups…I use a stove-top kettle that is bright Kelly green. It’s lovely, but I miss the electric one when all burners are fired up.
I am a tea-aholic!!! I typically heat water in microwave. This would be fabulous to own!!!!
Stovetop kettle. I don’t love it, but it gets the job done…
How fun to land on this giveaway just as I find myself preparing to boil water in a sauce pan so I can dip a candy thermometer into it to get a reading before I make a cup of tea. I’ve been yearning for a programmable electric kettle ever since I learned that certain teas (and even coffee) are best when the water is “off a boil” (or 180 degrees). My sauce pan method works, but it’s tedious. Fingers crossed for one of these dream machines.
kettle all the way, right now it’s a old plastic hot pot that is slow and smells of melting plastic if you let it boil for too long.
Occasionally I’ll heat water in a glass measuring cup in the microwave if I’m in a rush.
We have two cheap electric kettles that get a full workout every day. We use them for coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and for cooking. I would love to have a better quality one!
I typically just boil water on the stove. If I’m making a drink I’ll just microwave the water for a couple of minutes. Thanks for the chance to win!
I use instant hot on my sink, but truthfully……..it doesn’t get hot enough!
Stove top kettle. Early mornings it seems like it takes forever!
Coffee in the coffee pot for the morning, and my Le Crusset kettle in the afternoon for tea, but I’ve been wanting an electric kettle for heating up tea quickly! How lovely!
I’m using a stovetop kettle but have been thinking seriously about making the switch to electric. It would make our tea-making ‘ritual’ so much simpler!
I boil water on the stove top. I would love to try a quicker method!
When I want hot tea, I use my drip coffee pot, but it takes awhile. My son has an electric kettle and boy does it heat water fast, I just love it as we’ll as reading your posts.
I use a kettle on top of the stove or the microwave if it is for a small amount.
I have a coffee maker for morning coffee, tea kettle on the stove for tea, oatmeal, hot chocolate, but I have been known to nuke a big cup of water for a quick hot drink, I wish I had hot water on the sink, but alas, my old fashioned kitchen isn’t up to that. This would be great for so many things!!
I am one of those old fashioned, but kitchen space challenged persons who uses a 2 qt. stainless saucepan to heat water. It just usually sits out on the burner as it’s used every morning for coffee or tea.
I, too, do not like to wait for my hot water – I want it fast. And I don’t like my cups to be too hot to handle when I microwave cups of water. This would be perfect for several people to enjoy hot chocolate, hot/iced tea, and instant coffee when I don’t want to make a whole pot. Also, I feel it has a vintage look & I love it.
While I’m a kettle girl by birth (I grew up with a perpetually full kettle on back burner of my mom’s stove), I must say that having to move the kettle on my stove to the counter top when I’m cooking or canning and need that extra burner can be a hassle. When I’m canning peaches, and need a burner for the lids, one for the canner, another for the syrup and another to blanch the fruit, having an electric kettle off the stove would be priceless!
I heat water for tea in a Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave. If I need a lot of boiling water, I use a saucepan/stockpot on the stove. I’ve wanted an electric kettle for ages, but in my tiny kitchen, I’m not sure where I’d put it.
I use a tea kettle and a phin filter to make coffee — but tried out an electric kettle last week and was amaaaaaazed!
We ( a family of six) boil gallons of water in the winter on the stove top in a little red tea kettle that whistles because we are all very forgetful. Then we pour the boiling water in a insulated 25 year disgustedly stained thermos so there is no waste of the hot water. This, once white thermos is covered with peeling dingy stickers. Harley Davidson mingles with the Little mermaid and even s few Chiquita banana stickers. When we have guests we hide the thermos under the sink and pretend we use a pretty pottery teapot we keep on the sink shelf just for the charade.
We use a stainless kettle/stovetop in the house… the electric would be fantastic for tea at work!
I had one of these when I lived in Israel yeaaaaaars ago. I’ve been a teapot girl since then
We are a boil a mug in the microwave family but I’m trying hard to get away from that.
I have a teakettle on the stove – but now that it’s warming season, I also have been known to put the teakettle on the woodstove!
I usually use a kettle on the stove, but I now live with friends who have a HB electric kettle… and now I would like one for my myself! So convenient!
I have given up on the kettle and just use a small sauce pan.
microwaved mason jar for tea, so i can put my eco-jars lid and jar coozie on it and go!
Oh I’ve been pining after a programmable electric kettle for awhile now!
I’m already an electric kettle convert, but I drink a TON of white and green teas, and having that smidge of extra temperature control would be super.
I have a Small Bodum electric kettle that I love, but it only makes 2 cups at a time
Every morning, I toss 1 mug of water in the microwave so I can pour it in my travel mug for tea. Gotta have a hot beverage standing outside in the Wisconsin winters keeping an eye on students before school! When it’s more than 1 serving, we’re a kettle-on-the-stove family.
Microwave. And I try desperately to get enough sleep so I don’t need caffeine get me moving in the mornings – very difficult when I have to leave before the sun starts to peek up in the mornings!
My electric kettle is cool, it is glass and you can see it boil, but it is dying. I love not having to worry about boiling water screaming at me like the stove top tea kettle used to do. I need my french press coffee each morning!
Hot water from tap at sink or microwaved. But finding I’m needing a kettle for canning projects.
I use my stovetop kettle every night to prep two hot water bottles for the bed. They are my most prized possessions in winter!
I have an electric kettle, but this one sounds much nicer! My husband stands with a thermometer to make sure the water doesn’t get too hot for his tea.
I use an electric at home. I’d love an extra one for my classroom!
I have an electric kettle.
I grew up with electric, but when I left home someone bought me a beautiful stovetop kettle that I feel guilty replacing. I really miss electric though and this one looks great. Perfect for the endless cups of tea I drink!
I used an electric kettle for years but now I guess I just use the microwave. That kettle could easily bring me back.
I use the microwave for hot beverages but would love a quick alternative.
I usually use a stovetop tea kettle at home and the microwave at work (I drink tea like it’s my job). I used to have an electric kettle, but it was ancient and has died. I’ve been wanting a new one for a while now, so this would be perfect!
Oh boy…I bought an electric kettle at a garage sale 3 yrs ago. It is corded–what a pain to have to unplug to fill, or fill a measuring cup to pour into it. BUT, I boil so much water throughout the day that it is very handy. I’d love to win this electric pot!
I have an electric kettle with a dial for setting temperature. It’s rather approximate, but as long as it works… I do like the idea of being able to set a timer. Mine gets used from the time I get up in the morning (tea for me, start breakfast before I go running, then tea again when I get back) until bed time (boiling water for cube broths, herb tea in the evening, maybe some hot chocolate…). We don’t have a microwave and to me the kettle is the best way to quickly heat up water for a cup – or pot – of tea. The auto-off is a must for me; I tend to start 3 things at the same time and get waywardly distracted by at least one of the three.
I heat a cup of water in a two-cup Pyrex measuring cup for 116 seconds, then use an Aeropress coffee maker.
I do a stovetop kettle. I used to have an electric kettle in my classroom for “book chat tea time” it was awesome!!
I know this sounds ridiculous, but I hate how tea tastes when you use the microwave. I use a stove top kettle at home and bought my office one of the cheap basic plastic ones. I have been contemplating one for home use for awhile, but would want to buy something higher end for my home.
This looks really nice! I’ve never used one of these. I just nuke my water in my mug for coffee. lol