How common are electric kettles where you are?

Godlikebuthumble

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Sep 10, 2008
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^ wut.

Here in Germany, the electric kettle is about as common as... well, toasters, or microwaves, or coffee makers of different makes. I don't think I've seen a "regular" kettle in the last... 20 years.
Given that you can get different makes from anywhere between ?10-100+, pretty much every home and workplace i've been to has one. The only exceptions I've found is if people have a higher-end espresso-machine which can produce boiling-point water in seconds. Even then, many still have a kettle, if only for greater amounts (like filling a thermos and such).
 

AldUK

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Oct 29, 2010
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Everybody I've ever known has had an electric kettle, in England as far as I know, it's just another kitchen appliance alongside the toaster and the microwave. It came as a massive surprise to me that it's relatively uncommon for Americans to use them.
 

Flammablezeus

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Dec 19, 2013
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I live in Australia. At home, we used to use electric kettles, but now we just use a regular kettle. It might take longer, but it's more satisfying for some reason. Most people I know have electric kettles.
 

Edith The Hutt

Flying Monkey
Oct 16, 2010
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Kinitawowi said:
Someone's been reading the Spot Of Tea page on TV Tropes, methinks.

British here, so not much to add, other than the thing I always add whenever tea and hot water comes up around here - we have a power station in Wales that exists solely to cover the making of tea.
That TV Tropes page may have had something to do with inspiring the original post ;) Also, yes, Electric Mountain [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinorwig_Power_Station] is totally awesome and sums up so very much about our nation's attitude to a proper cup of tea.

I'm surprised by how many people use a percolator or microwave to heat water. I can see that it makes sense but it's just not a use of a household device in my possession that I'd considered.

I think stove-based kettles (the kind that whistle when they're ready) were last popular in the UK in the 1970s (certainly that's when my parents' one originates from); given we had a three day week due to power cuts back then it kind of makes sense.

It's interesting seeing how many people have gas stoves rather than electric ones. While gas is cheaper per unit energy than electricity in the UK it's more expensive to get installed, so most of the places I've rented tended to use cheap electric stoves which would be slower and probably more expensive than using an electric kettle; the idea of using anything but an electric kettle would be odd (although I did make tea in a saucepan on a barbeque for a bet one time, it made some of the best tea I've ever tasted)

For those who've never seen an electric kettle: here [http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Browse/ID72/33017080/c_1/1|category_root|Home+and+garden|33005908/c_2/2|33005908|Kitchen+electricals|33007917/c_3/3|cat_33007917|Kettles|33017080.htm] is a typical selection from a UK retailer, they're basically big jugs which heat water to boiling when you switch them on and then switch off automatically.
 

Shamanic Rhythm

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Dec 6, 2009
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Very common in Australia. We use them for everything from making tea, to quickly boiling water to make pasta or poach eggs, to sterilise cooking utensils (hot water + iodine is essential for sterilsiing equipment when you make cheese). Heck, I even use it to boil off the chemicals in the water before I add it to my sourdough starter, because then they don't kill all the good bacteria in the dough.

Got one at Big W for thirty bucks and use it at least five times a week.
 

Alfador_VII

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Nov 2, 2009
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I'm in Scotland myself, and everyone here has at least one kettle, sometimes more in case one breaks.

Also, all but the cheapest hotels you go to have tea (and coffee) making facilities in the rooms, which means a small electric kettle, and a selection of tea bags, coffee sachets, sugar etc.
 

dyre

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Mar 30, 2011
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ClockworkPenguin said:
dyre said:
I don't own one personally, but my roommate had one (before he left it on for a night and burnt it out).

An automatic coffee maker serves the same purpose, so I just use that when I don't have time to boil water conventionally (on a stovetop). If you leave the coffee bean repository empty, it just gives you hot water.
Most electric kettle's can't be left on, as they automatically switch off when the water reaches boiling point. Although there have been stories of elderly people who where used to stove kettles melting the electric ones by absentmindedly putting them on the hob.

OT; I was unaware that they weren't universal modern kitchen staples like microwaves and toasters. I've literally never been in any accommodation which didn't have one. Shows what we take for granted I suppose.
Eh, sure, if you say so. I have no idea really; I just saw the end result and some of the plastic was melted away...
 

Estarc

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Sep 23, 2008
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I live in Western Australia. Every household I have ever been in has an electric kettle.
 

loc978

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Sep 18, 2010
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American. I've got a cheap electric kettle (leftover from barracks life, it's nearly ten years old now), but rarely use it anymore. I've got an extremely well-made, efficient stovetop. Combined with a copper-bottomed teakettle, it actually boils water more quickly than the electric one. I've also got an old-fashioned wood-burning hearth that I sometimes use to boil water if the power's out... or for shits and giggles.

Couldn't speak for my area, though. I rarely see much of other people's kitchens, and my nearest neighbor is a mile or so down the road.
 

William Dickbringer

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Feb 16, 2010
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Edith The Hutt said:
here in america I can't say I've seen too many but my grandma found one and gave it to my mom for christmas I love it I can eat raman noodles and have tea ready by the time the noodles are done
 

Decamper

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Mar 23, 2010
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Haven't seen anyone boil water on a stove for tea of coffee here in Japan, nearly everyone has an electric kettle or boiler. Back in Canada, my family boiled water on a stove for tea, but electric kettles were pretty common too.
 

BiscuitWheels

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Jan 10, 2009
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I don't have one. I've always wanted one, just for heating broth or other cooking applications. For coffee and single cups of tea, I use my Keurig machine. Makes just enough hot water for a Cup o' Soup, too.
 
Dec 14, 2009
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I didn't realise how uncommon electric kettles were outside the UK & Ireland. I imagine a lot of the Commonwealth nations such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc have electric kettles because of British influence, but I didn't know it was such a rare thing in the States.


Must keep that in mind when I go to the US, can't be arsed to fuckin' boil that shit on a stove, Jesus.
 

jklinders

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Sep 21, 2010
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Pretty common around here in Canada. Hell, my mother has a little toy called a "Hot Shot" that boils exactly one cup of water in like seconds so she can have the one or two cups of tea her doctor allows every day without waiting. I'm a coffee man so i use a drip machine. We don't make tea or hot chocolate often here in my home, so microwave or stovetop works fine for us.
 

TechNoFear

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Mar 22, 2009
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Electric kettles are common in Australia. I use mine every day.

Gamer87 said:
but I usually just microwave water in a mug.
You should NOT boil water in a microwave.

In some microwaves the water can heat so quickly it fails to boil (give of bubbles) until you put the tea in (increasing the surface area available to form bubbles).

This can result in an explosive release of gases which sprays you with boiling water.
 

Chaos James

Bastion of Debauchery
May 27, 2011
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Here in Canada I see them at the store quite often, and both myself and my Grandmother use an electric kettle. I believe my mother owns one as well for the summer months, but during the colder parts of the year she just heats water on the wood stove. My In-Laws heat their water on a wood stove as well, but I think during the summer they either use a kettle on an electric stove, microwave it, or they might still have an old electric kettle, I can't remember, XD.

Long story short, pretty common in Ontario Canada I guess? XD
 

DanielBrown

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Dec 3, 2010
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Another Swede and I reckon they're quite common. I use one that's probably pushing 15 years old and it works perfectly. It's extremely fast in boiling the water.

I use it mainly for making water boil faster while cooking. Some water in the kettle + a lot of water in the electric boiler. Start them at the same time. Pour over the boiling electric kettle water into the proper kettle.
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