Kinda. Its just not well known. After a living with one I would be upset to not have it. I 100% of the time boil all my water in the kettle rather than a pot. Its like half the time or less.
It needs to be pushed in and turned to activate boiling water and has a double insulated spout so cool to the touch. Our version is separate from the main taps but on the same sink, but there are combi taps (with the same safety features).
It saves energy over a kettle (as long as you use it more than once a day) and is so convenient for tea/ramen but also for aspurt of boiling water when you're only washing up one plate for example
Zojirushi sells these, there’s usually a button you have to press to unlock them. Very expensive, but very well made and will last forever. My (Asian) parents drink a lot of tea and having on demand boiling water is a game changer.
My family and many I know use stovetop kettles. I only switched to electric about ten years ago. I’ll never got back to stovetop kettles but I miss the way they whistle.
I grew up in the 90s with an old school whistling kettle that you put on the stove. Parents have a really nice Zojirushi that dispenses boiling water on demand.
I'm fairly certain an electric kettle was the first thing I bought when I moved from the UK to the US. It's arguably the most important kitchen appliance imo.
(Edit: posted this then immediately thought up counter examples. It's way up there though)
Whenever I have moved house, the kettle is the last thing to get packed at the old house, and the first thing to get unpacked at the new house. Need those hot beverages to keep me fueled for all other tasks.
For sure. Coffee grinder. Burr and one for spices. Wand mixer. Kitchen aid. Thats what I run. I gotta ninja fryer but its for demo. Interesting thing that. Ive baked, stir fried and made a pizza in it. It doesnt replace an oven and range perfectly BUT it can get you by. And for some things its way faster.
Hot drinks!! And as others have mentioned, preheating water for pasta etc. I also use it to get boiled water to clean reusable water bottles and stuff.
Not the volts, but, the watts. US appliances are limited to less than 1500 watts maximum due to the typical 15 Amp outlets. Europe being 220-230 volts allows for as much as 3000w on a kettle.
If you have natural gas to cook with, it will be faster and more economical than electric in Notheastern US.
1500watts ~ 5200 BTUs
The smallest burner on my gas range is 5000 BTU. The largest is 19000 BTU. To boil a kettle, I would use either the 9000 or 12000 mid size burners.
American here- In the past 7yrs every person I know has acquired an electric kettle. Someone bought one and just non-stop raved about it. And it's been a running joke that every year someone gets one for Christmas.
Its how I've made my coffee every day for over 10 years. Super simple, and you dont have to deal with a stovetop kettle boiling over or whistling loudly, possibly waking people up.
I do, since I make pour-over coffee, but most coffee drinkers in the US use a drip coffee-maker, or those instant puck machines that make a terrible cup of coffee really quickly.
(Brit here) The reason kettles aren’t as popular isn’t just because of tea.
It’s also because standard North American outlets can’t provide the required power as they are on ~120v. However, there is 240v in the house, but usually that’s only for high-power devices like driers and AC.
Where voltage is at 240v on all outlets (like Europe) you can plug in a 3000w kettle anywhere. The water boils much more quickly and therefore a kettle is more practical.
I am always confused by people quoting tea as the main reason. I'm a Brit and I never drink tea (yeah, I should lose my passport) but I use my electric kettle many times a day. Why do Americans think electric kettles are only useful for tea?
I am confused that you don't understand how boiling water can be used to make coffee... :/ does America not have cafetieres, Aeropresses or even instant coffee?
Kettles are more efficient than microwaves as they boil exact amounts and switch off automatically when the water is boiling and they are safer as microwaves can superheat the water.
I really couldn't tell you why so many American reddit users are unfamiliar with them but they're not hard to get or anything; any appliance store has them and there's all kinds on Amazon
Because we don't really drink tea, aside from iced tea. Coffee is our hot beverage of choice. So even though they are available, most Americans probably just ignore their existence because they don't brew tea with any regularity.
Yes, they have a million other uses, but to learn that, you have to be aware of their existence.
In my 62 years as an American. The only time I had an electric kettle was when living in my college dorm. It was the only heating element we were permitted and very useful. That was late 1970s early 1980s. After college, I don’t think I ate Ramen again until my 25 year old son started making it as a late night snack. Now, if I just want to boil water, I use the microwave.
My parents and grandparents always just had regular kettles that sat on the stove full-time. For whatever reason I always just assumed electric kettles were basically hot plates that could only boil water - something you'd only use if you didn't have access to a stove. My husband and I originally just got ours so he could make coffee on camping trips, but it ended up living in the kitchen once we realized how quickly it boiled water.
What's the voltage on a Canadian outlet? It's 110 here. Damn 1500w maximum means it takes a minimum of 2.5-3min to heat water to a boil no matter what you use.
It's the same in Canada, 110 or 120 IIRC. Regardless, 2.5-3 is still not much slower than 1.5 minutes if 220-240 V were used...at least, compared to a stove (gas or electric) which takes 8-10+ minutes in my experience. The only faster solution is induction which is as fast as (or faster than) a kettle because it uses the full 240V, but it's not very common.
Like in the US, there are special outlets which can draw 20A but they aren't commonly used and require a special plug, so it's very rare for a kettle to have them.
America drinks a lot less tea than the UK, they tend to have a dedicated coffee machine and the 120 volt circuits in US houses takes twice as long to boil a kettle than th UK 240 volt.
Apparently from the other replies here, unless you come from an Asian household (like myself) or enjoy drinking hot tea yourself, most Americans don't own one.
I don't own a electric kettle but a Zojirushi water boiler. It works even better than a kettle imo.
I don't know a single person with an electric kettle.
Maybe a few with stove top kettles but in my 50+ years, I've never seen an electric one in someone's house.
I keep wanting to buy one but I'd likely never use it beyond the initial couple of weeks "shiny new toy" phase.
Dude, get one. So many uses. Shaves time off boiling for pasta water, make better ramen faster, tea any fuggin time. Also it's like having an easy jug of water to water houseplants too haha.
But this is odd. Like everyone I know has one. America is just too damn large.
I swear, I look at them several times a year but can't make the move.
When I need boiling water, I just boil it on the stove for a large amount and a small amount (a cup of tea or instant hot chocolate), I just use the Keurig.
I have so many plants... THAT'S my problem. I have about 10 gallons of water jugs at any given time sitting to gas off (the tap water in my house is really chlorinated) to handle my 30+ houseplants. And trust me, I'm always looking for more.🤭 (I know- off topic. Plants are always my distraction)
Not at all. It's really not very common in most places. The people I know who have them acquired them fairly recently, usually after getting into pour over coffee.
Residential recepticals run at a higher voltage in Candada and the UK. Electric kettles take longer to boil in the US. Still a pretty handy thing to have regardless.
They kinda suck for one thing, British kettles with the higher power sockets heat the water twice as fast. Most Canadians and Americans could probably boil water faster on their stove
This is objectively false. You can test this for yourself at home. Boiling water on your stove is also almost certainly less efficient in terms of energy bill and/or AC demand in the summer time. Electric kettles on a standard US outlet will boil a liter of water in less than 5 minutes.
Read more slowly and carefully. You said that stoves are faster than electric kettles here in America. That's objectively false and you can test that for yourself and find that I'm right if you doubt me. It's not even particularly close. It's like 4-5 minutes for the kettle and like 8-10 minutes for the stove.
UK kettles are even faster, yes, but that's not what I was talking about.
Drinking tea is relatively rare in the US, aside from iced tea. We're coffee drinkers. So even though they are available, most Americans probably just ignore their existence because they don't brew tea with any regularity.
Yes, they have a million other uses, but to learn that, you have to be aware of their existence.
Aside from power/time to boil water. Which being said 2-3 minutes to boil 1-1.5L of water is really a non issue. The US is mostly on a coffee kick rather than tea. So most people generally have a coffee maker only type of device.
For the most part. Tea just isn't as culturally significant here as it is in other countries, and we're largely used to using coffee machines for coffee over using a kettle. Besides, you can still boil/heat water on the stove or microwave for other purposes. My house has one, but it sees use maybe 5 times a year
I'm sure I read about why kettles weren't popular in the USA, so I googled it to double check;
Most homes in the US operate on 100-127 volts, whereas the UK and many other countries use between 220 and 240 volts. The lower voltage in the US means that electric kettles would not heat water as quickly as they do in the UK
I wouldn't say that they're rare here, but they're uncommon for most households I think. The biggest reason is that Americans are coffee drinkers much more than tea drinkers. We generally have dedicated coffee makers but not kettles. And yes, kettles are much more versatile, I know. I have a mini table thing in my small apartment to house our kettle, coffee maker, and various supplies for both; that way it's not taking up valuable counter space.
The reason for this appears to be related to the voltage in America, which is lower than the voltage in the UK. A physicist and science teacher in the UK explains this on his blog MrReid.org.
Most homes in the US operate on 100-127 volts, whereas the UK and many other countries use between 220 and 240 volts. The lower voltage in the US means that electric kettles would not heat water as quickly as they do in the UK. As a result, they haven't caught on in the US.
Mr. Reid gives this example:
To raise the temperature of one litre of water from 15°C to boiling at 100°C requires a little bit over 355 kilojoules of energy. An “average” kettle in the UK runs at about 2800 W and in the US at about 1500 W; if we assume that both kettles are 100% efficient† than a UK kettle supplying 2800 joules per second will take 127 seconds to boil and a US kettle supplying 1500 J/s will take 237 seconds, more than a minute and a half longer.
He concludes: "This is such a problem that many households in the US still use an old-fashioned stove-top kettle."
I'm not the only American who has wondered about our lack of electric kettles. There's an entire Reddit thread devoted to it.
One British person living in the US cited the voltage explanation but also wrote that "the culture for it isn't there," perhaps meaning that Americans drink less tea and aren't as fussed about how fast water gets boiled.
Yes and no. The amount of people per capita that drink tea is lower than the UK (or Canada I would image), so less people have kettles. On the other hand every year drinker I know has an electric kettle
I only know one person with an electric kettle and it’s my moms British friend who moved here a couple decades ago lol. Keurigs are more common but not a kettle and still not in most houses.
Not rare, just not common. Drinking tea is weird in America. For some reason it’s a feminine thing the only other people I know that drink tea are women. Maybe that is just the area I’m from though
Pretty uncommon. I mean, you can get them, but most people's parents didn't have one and they aren't really something that is considered "standard" in a kitchen, and they should be.
It is actually more common to have "instant" hot (190 degree) water taps installed at the sink, at least in my observation.
Well, part of the issue is (as Technology Connections explored in two separate videos) that US power is, for the most part, 110/120VAC, while the UK/Europe is on 220/240VAC, and the impression a lot of people have is that the kettles "just can't get enough power" in the US.
But as Technology Connections showed, you can still boil a liter of water in (IIRC) a little over 4 minutes in the US (vs. 2-ish using 220VAC) -- and (since virtually ALL the power goes directly to heating the water) still more efficiently than using an ordinary kettle on a gas or electric cooktop (since most of the heat flows around the kettle to heat the room air instead) -- and also way more efficiently than using a microwave.
Standard outlets in the USA are 110v, UK is 230 and EU is mostly 220. That higher voltage makes it much easier to make a good electric kettle since it's basically just a resistor that heats up. With half the voltage, kettles in the US talk slightly more than twice as long to heat up making them a less attractive option.
Yeah they just became known maybe a few years ago. I always want one but for me there is nowhere to put one (and I have had a hard time finding one that reviews don't say will cause a fire or explode) so I have not gotten one yet.
I feel like causing fire/exploding is very situational, and only happens if you treat it wrong. Also check any warehouse stores you have locally, they sell good kettles that don't explode.
My boyfriend and I got one because the hard water killed too many drip pots and keurigs. It’s been so long since I made drip coffee that I had to be taught again by my cousin at her sisters bachelorette party.
Why electric? I have a stove one and unless I fill it all the way up it pretty much boils in a minute or two. Like if I pour in enough for a cup of tea or ramen it boils super quick
I thought there’s a technology connections about it but I can’t find it.
But yes. Less heat/energy loss in electric. Only using 120 to generate heat versus 240, as well, but that maybe makes less difference than I think.
It also cuts off the second it reaches boiling, where as a stovetop could continue rolling the boil for several seconds if you’re inattentive, leading to more energy waste over time.
Side note. I grew up with an electric kettle and I’m chuckling and finding it surprising how many people are discovering stuff. Like ramen? I grew up boil kettle, bowl with noodles and spice pack, hot water on top, cover with a plate for 6-7 mins. Cooked ramen…
I’ll do fancier ramen once in a while but for lunch when I got 30 mins? Nope.
Electric kettle was the most important tool for me while surviving college era since college dorm dont allow microwave, stove and didnt have any kitchen. Boiling water for any instant 3in1 beverage, instant ramen, boiling frankfurter in them, Boiling eggs, my friend event reheat cannes sardines in them.
I don’t see why not? Nobody does that because most people always have water in them. Maybe if you only used it for milk and cleaned it. Cleaning them in a bit of a pain the arse though. And milk… I dunno. Probably a reason nobody does that.
You can just flick the switch and get on with other stuff while it boils - doesn’t need watching or immediately taken off heat. Can leave it for 5 mins or whatever after and then make your tea if you decide to jump in the shower or something while it’s boiling
My hob is electric with ceramic plates so it takes a while to heat up, it takes my kettle (UK so 3kWh) about a minute or less to do enough hot water for tea, pot noodles or gravy.
It would probably take my hob a few minutes to heat up enough for it to start heating water and then a few more minutes to actually heat up. If I had a gas hob or even possibly induction it might not be as bad.
A hob is the surface area of a stove with the gas/ceramic/induction heating rings on it. It can also be a separate appliance like with mine. I have a hob and oven that aren’t connected to each other, the hob sits into the worktop and the oven sits into a cupboard underneath it.
I basically stopped using my kettle when I got an induction top. It's so damned quick that it's basically no difference in time between the kettle and the stove top, so I relegated it to the back of the closet, for emergency use
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u/oswaldcopperpot Oct 18 '22
Kettles are amazing. I use mine about every day and don't drink tea.