My daughter, who lives in the UK, has become quite a fan of the electric kettle. However, in the UK they have 230V power outlets, and the electric kettles boil the water about twice as fast as happens with an electric kettle here.

The past two months I have evaluated using a Kitchenaid 1.5 liter electric kettle here in my US kitchen.

I first did an A/B test with my electric cooktop with my tea kettle on it: 6:12 seconds to boil. The Kitchenaid: 6:32 seconds. So, a teeny bit slower than using the cooktop. (And, much slower than the one my daughter uses in the UK) Why would I want it then?

After mindfully using it, I find it offers these advantages to me:

- it is fire-and-forget - you turn it on, when the water boils, it turns off by itself
- it is insulated, so if you are making one cup of tea, it stays warm enough to make another couple cups over the next hour or so
- it can be placed on the dinner table, as the bottom is insulated
- it doesn't permanently occupy a burner on the cooktop, as my regular kettle has for 20 years.
- I can use it to make tea/coffee water in other places in the house

Disadvantages:

- it's another thing in the kitchen
- it needs a small amount of countertop, somewhere

Summary:

I'll keep it