Hamilton Beach 40882E Stainless Steel 7.2-Cup Kettle

I've made a long and strenuous journey (mentally strenuous, anyway) to find this kettle. Several months ago I paid at least 40 dollars (maybe 45) for a Saeco electric kettle that left our water (and coffee and tea) with a terrible taste in it because of all the plastic coming into contact with the boiling water. I made several online searches and must have read a couple hundred customer reviews by people who left me more confused than before I started, so I gave up and went back to the stove-top kettle (slow, slow, slow).A friend recently recommended a Breville kettle, but even here at Amazon the prices for those start in the seventies. I was just about to give up again when I spotted this Hamilton kettle. It looked good from the photos and the price was definitely attractive. I decided to take a chance on it and keep all the packaging in case I had to send it back. It was like Christmas came early because this kettle is perfect; it holds a lot, boils water really quickly, the kettle itself is cordless hence portable around the kitchen, and there is absolutely no plasticky flavor in the water.If I had to come up with any negatives, I would say that the opening is a bit narrow so you'll need a bottle brush or something similar if you want to scrub it out occasionally. Also, my husband keeps inadvertently knocking the little mesh screen behind the spout down into the kettle and can't reach in to get it out, which makes him a little grumpy, so maybe it's not entirely fumble-proof. If he wrote this review he might take off one star for that, but I'm not going to! Wonderful, inexpensive electric kettle, finally.

I purchased this so I could more easily make coffee a cup at a time. Most home coffee machines don't get the water hot enough, and I don't usually need to brew a full pot, so I got this kettle and an Aeropress. It gets a liter of water up to a boil in about 5 minutes. I also use it to get large pots boiling faster for canning or pasta. Adding a full pitcher or two of boiling water really speeds things up. My wife will add a pitcher to a bucket of water before mopping.We've run this kettle 4-5 times a day for nearly a full year, and never tasted any plastic or had any problems. It's worth noting that we are careful to leave it empty and unplugged when not in use, and our tap water is very clean.

So far so good. The only issue we've had with this kettle is the filter screen in front of the spout doesn't want to stay in, but we've determined we don't need it. We've had no issues with the timer/shut off. The water still boils rather quickly. We use this kettle several times a day. The exterior is easy enough to wipe down. We have hard water, so we do have to be mindful of scale build-up on the inside, but this would be required for any kettle in our house. We often boil water in this kettle over bringing to a boil on the gas stove. It is faster and more fuel efficient. We also had this kettle at my previous apartment. It stayed with the roommate. We both love the kettles!Update: Because this MIGHT help others that have had issues with this or other kettles that do not switch off when they are supposed to.Make sure the lid seals securely and completely. We've found that, if we do not push the lid all the way closed, the kettle will continue to boil without triggering the automatic off-switch mechanism. We are always close by and have been able to manually trigger the off switch the few times it has happened. Each and every time the automatic shut off has failed to trigger, it has been because the lid was not completely closed. A higher tech kettle might have a sensor that alerts the user, before heating, that the lid isn't closed all the way, but a low tech kettle doesn't need this if the user (me) is paying attention. If I look at the kettle, I can see when the lid has not sealed, so a user just needs to do a quick double check when closing the lid and all should be well.

I love this kettle! I have been using the top of the line electric kettles for decades and I like this one the best: it makes the water HOT and it is easy and safe to dispense. Some reviewers (who got burnt) just did not read the instructions! The lid places nicely into the top with a click. This is required for it to stop heating boiling. It is obvious to do this, unless a user is careless. The water stops heating if the lid is clicked correctly into place. Also, if there is some water left, it will be reheated when you turn it on to do so.. some kettles do not recognize warm water as NOT hot, and will not heat it again. I like the size - there are plenty of oversized ones with mega features, but who needs them to make hot water?!

I have the model with the water gauge in the handle, and it works great and is easy to use. After 9 months there is no rust, no leakage, no strange malfunctions, and no performance degradation. Some say that the handle is awkward, but I don't find that to be the case at all.In looking at some of the newer reviews, it would appear that the design changed such that the fill window is now in the front of the kettle. Hope I don't need to replace mine anytime soon, as that other reviewers photo of a rusty kettle (with the newer design) does not look good at all.