Tea Kettles (stovetop)

Quoted message said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a whistle,
convenient to operate the spout, and the handle should not
get uncomfortably hot.

I can't recommend a good one, but I discovered a very bad
one when I bought my last tea kettle. I bought it at Target
a year or so ago - I can't find a brand name on it, it's not
their own brand. It seemed very attractive and nice in the
store - I don't use a tea kettle that much, so I wasn't
looking for anything fancy. But once I got it home, I
discovered that in order to pour out of it, you have to
remove the whistling cap from the spout. While boiling steam
is coming out of the spout. This requires fast fingers and
an oven mitt, which is really stupid - I can't imagine who
designed it!

I keep wanting to buy another one, but since I don't use it
all that often (I don't drink tea or coffee), it seems a
waste to spend another $10-$20 on an item that isn't
broken, exactly, just inconvenient. That's a fair sum of
money to me.

Karen

On 5/7/2004 1:39 AM Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great
(and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

My wife and I drink a fair amount of tea. We have a
stainless steel, copper bottom, Revere Ware kettle. The
handle is some type of bakelite with a lever to open the
spout. The inside is "tinned" and it has a whistle. We have
had the kettle for almost 5 years and have used it on a coil
type electric range and at present a glass top range. The
only negative on this (and just about all of them) is
cleaning around where the bakelite comes up against the
spout. I have to use the point of a knife to get in the tiny
groove. I don't know the cost now, but when we bought it, it
was about $15 (US).

Quoted message said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a whistle,
convenient to operate the spout, and the handle should not
get uncomfortably hot.

RPS <[email hidden]> asked in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a whistle,
convenient to operate the spout, and the handle should not
get uncomfortably hot.

You forgot to mention price-ceiling; how much are you
willing to spend? How long/much do you plan on using it?

My personal choice is the Simplex copper (coil-bottomed).
It's 1-3/4 quart capacity holds enough water to make a pot
of tea and several individual portions. The raised body
(coils) allows it to heat water more quickly than
traditional kettles. The copper is /striking/ to look at and
not too difficult to clean when it gets spattered. Most
importantly, the handle doesn't get HOT after the water
heats! It also has a whistle that can be heard throughout
Castle Ranger and into the garage if I'm out-and-about
tinkering.

The Ranger

RPS said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a whistle,
convenient to operate the spout, and the handle should not
get uncomfortably hot.

Copper kettle- $35 at Home Goods.

trent
--
"This user has a pattern of behaviour in the usenet group
chi.forsale that borders on abusive."

RPS said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a whistle,
convenient to operate the spout, and the handle should not
get uncomfortably hot.

Mine looks like this........

ukcamping.co.uk241.jpgOpen ↗

Great kettle and cost me $11.00 when I bought it (including
tax) several years ago. I will never use another.

RPS said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a whistle,
convenient to operate the spout, and the handle should not
get uncomfortably hot.

<this is not the question you asked> We've been REALLY happy
with our hotspot boiling water dispenser. It might not meet
the needs of the particularly picky, as the water is 10-15
degrees below boiling, but a number of our favorite teas do
not require 212 degree water (and, after all, there are
yuppies in Denver). </not the question you asked>

Martin
--
Martin Golding | If you boil it, DoD #236 BMWMOA
#55952 SMTC #2 | they will come.

OXO Good Grips.

Like everything else I've got from them, exceptional
quality. Good handle & other parts as well.

Instead of a whistle, the sound it makes is like a train
whistle (2-tone).

I make a pot of iced tea each day in it & love it!

Van in Albany

"RPS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a whistle,
convenient to operate the spout, and the handle should not
get uncomfortably hot.

RPS said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a whistle,
convenient to operate the spout, and the handle should not
get uncomfortably hot.

Darn good question.

In addition to all other desired features, I would like one
with a WIDE lid, so that the kettle can be opened for
cleaning inside.

The water in this part of Dallas is full of alkaloids that
soon form waterstones. The kettle has to be boiled with
vinegar and scrubbed a couple of times to remove the
waterstones. The vinegar looks like sewage once the stone
dissolves. It's dreadful.

So, here, cleaning the insides is important.

--
John

Karen Wheless said:

Quoted message said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a
whistle, convenient to operate the spout, and the handle
should not get uncomfortably hot.

I can't recommend a good one, but I discovered a very bad
one when I bought my last tea kettle. I bought it at
Target a year or so ago - I can't find a brand name on it,
it's not their own brand. It seemed very attractive and
nice in the store - I don't use a tea kettle that much, so
I wasn't looking for anything fancy. But once I got it
home, I discovered that in order to pour out of it, you
have to remove the whistling cap from the spout. While
boiling steam is coming out of the spout. This requires
fast fingers and an oven mitt, which is really stupid - I
can't imagine who designed it!

That's a stupid design. I have seen many inexpensive ones
that have a mechanism under handle which lets you open
the spout.

You might consider getting one of these and giving/selling
yours to someone who doesn't want a whistle (presumably the
spout cover can be detached and thrown away).

Unfortunately I don't have the make or model #, hopefully
other posts in this thread will make specific
recommendations.

"Ted Campanelli" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 5/7/2004 1:39 AM Ted shuffled out of his cave and
grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of
knowledge:

My wife and I drink a fair amount of tea. We have a
stainless steel, copper bottom, Revere Ware kettle. The
handle is some type of bakelite with a lever to open the
spout. The inside is "tinned" and it has a whistle. We
have had the kettle for almost 5 years and have used it on
a coil type electric range and at present a glass top
range. The only negative on this (and just about all of
them) is cleaning around where the bakelite comes up
against the spout. I have to use the point of a knife to
get in the tiny groove. I don't know the cost now, but
when we bought it, it was about $15 (US).

Quoted message said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a
whistle, convenient to operate the spout, and the handle
should not get uncomfortably hot.

That's what I have. I can't even remember how long we've had
it. Maybe 12-13 years. Still works. Has the mechanism for
opening the lid, so you don't get fingers scalded. I don't
recall using a hotpad to handle it, either.

Dawn

In chi.eats Ted Campanelli said:

My wife and I drink a fair amount of tea. We have a
stainless steel, copper bottom, Revere Ware kettle. The
handle is some type of bakelite with a lever to open the
spout. The inside is "tinned" and it has a whistle. We
have had the kettle for almost 5 years and have used it on
a coil type electric range and at present a glass top
range. The only negative on this (and just about all of
them) is cleaning around where the bakelite comes up
against the spout. I have to use the point of a knife to
get in the tiny groove. I don't know the cost now, but
when we bought it, it was about $15 (US).

I'll second the Revere Ware kettle. We've got a small one
and it's served us well for almost a year. We had 2 OXO Good
Grips kettles - one we bought and the whistle stopped
working after about 6 months, so they sent us a replacement
one, and the whistle stopped on that one also. The OXO
kettle was pretty cool - weighted so the spout opens when
you tip it, the whistle was harmonic (instead of the shrill
"tweeeeee" that most are), but it just didn't keep working
the way it was supposed to (we need a whistle so the kettle
doesn't boil dry while we're doing something else other than
watching the kettle).

brian
--
If you want to reply to this message by mail, you will have
to change the reply address to [email hidden]

tinyurl.com2chkqOpen ↗

Philips Electric Kettle HD4651 Price: $34.99

had this thing for over a year of daily use, works
perfectly, love it

"trent" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

RPS said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a
whistle, convenient to operate the spout, and the handle
should not get uncomfortably hot.

Copper kettle- $35 at Home Goods.

trent
--
"This user has a pattern of behaviour in the usenet group
chi.forsale that borders on abusive."

Ted Campanelli said:

On 5/7/2004 1:39 AM Ted shuffled out of his cave and
grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of
knowledge:

My wife and I drink a fair amount of tea. We have a
stainless steel, copper bottom, Revere Ware kettle. The
handle is some type of bakelite with a lever to open the
spout. The inside is "tinned" and it has a whistle. We
have had the kettle for almost 5 years and have used it on
a coil type electric range and at present a glass top
range. The only negative on this (and just about all of
them) is cleaning around where the bakelite comes up
against the spout. I have to use the point of a knife to
get in the tiny groove. I don't know the cost now, but
when we bought it, it was about $15 (US).

I've had the same Revere Ware copper-bottom kettle for 25
years and my mom has had hers for over 50. Love it! It works
perfectly for me. But you know, I *do* have to wonder... and
I'm including myself in this assessment - why do I need a
whistle to tell me water is boiling?! Hmmm.

Jill

The Ranger said:

My personal choice is the Simplex copper (coil-bottomed).
It's 1-3/4 quart capacity holds enough water to make a pot
of tea and several individual portions. The raised body
(coils) allows it to heat water more quickly

than

Quoted message said:

traditional kettles. The copper is /striking/ to look at
and not too difficult to clean when it gets spattered.
Most importantly, the handle doesn't get HOT after the
water heats! It also has a whistle that can be heard
throughout Castle Ranger and into the garage if I'm out-and-
about tinkering.

I'll second that suggestion... I've got the same model and
use it quite regularly in the cooler months.

The Simplex copper kettles come in several models. The one
described above which I also have is for a gas stove only.
It also comes in a model with a flat bottom for electric or
gas. The kettle either comes in plain copper, or in chrome
plated copper. I've seen the four variants: copper/gas,
chrome/gas, copper/flat bottomed, chrome/flat bottomed.

The whistle can definitely be easily heard, even if it is a
bit shrill. The whistle is in the removable cover. The spout
doesn't have to be opened... there is a automatic ball in
the spout that holds the steam for the whistle whichs rolls
out the way for pouring.

AKT said:

Karen Wheless said:

Quoted message said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a
whistle, convenient to operate the spout, and the
handle should not get uncomfortably hot.

I can't recommend a good one, but I discovered a very
bad one when I bought my last tea kettle. I bought it at
Target a year or so ago - I can't find a brand name on
it, it's not their own brand. It seemed very attractive
and nice in the store - I don't use a tea kettle that
much, so I wasn't looking for anything fancy. But once I
got it home, I discovered that in order to pour out of
it, you have to remove the whistling cap from the spout.
While boiling steam is coming out of the spout. This
requires fast fingers and an oven mitt, which is really
stupid - I can't imagine who designed it!

That's a stupid design. I have seen many inexpensive ones
that have a mechanism under handle which lets you open
the spout.

You might consider getting one of these and giving/selling
yours to someone who doesn't want a whistle (presumably
the spout cover can be detached and thrown away).

Unfortunately I don't have the make or model #, hopefully
other posts in this thread will make specific
recommendations.

A kettle (electric or stove top) is an essential part of a
British kitchen, and the most used thing in it other than
the floor. The best non-whistling kettle I've used was the
Aga one, but it is big and heavy, and not worth the money if
you only use it occasionally and don't have an Aga... Other
than that, any kettle that doesn't leak is good. If you must
have a whistle, look for a nice cheap one with a mechanism
for opening the spout from the handle.

My own kettle is an electric one. It's glass... Looks good,
but a pain in the bum as it dribbles when you pour! Trouble
is that it was expensive and other than the dribble, it
works well. Try a few for pouring before you buy! One day
I'm going to smash this thing if it drips scalding water on
my feet again!
--

Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
diceyhome.free-online.co.ukdiceyhome.free-online.co.ukOpen ↗ Click on Kate's Pages
and explore!

Sofia said:

Philips Electric Kettle HD4651 Price: $34.99

I thought the OP specified stovetop.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

RPS said:

What's a good stovetop tea kettle? Should have a
whistle, convenient to operate the spout,...

jmcquown wrote:
But you

Quoted message said:

know, I *do* have to wonder, and I'm including myself in
this assessment, why do I need a whistle to tell me water
is boiling?! Hmmm.

Because the alternative is to watch to see if the water is
boiling, and we all know that a watched pot never boils.
(I'm glad someone asks questions I can answer.)

--Lia

On Fri, 7 May 2004 16:37:56 -0500, "jmcquown" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I've had the same Revere Ware copper-bottom kettle for 25
years and my mom has had hers for over 50. Love it! It
works perfectly for me. But you know, I *do* have to
wonder... and I'm including myself in this assessment - why
do I need a whistle to tell me water is boiling?! Hmmm.

Jill

Because, if you are someone like me, you forget you put the
water on to boil, and you get engrossed in something else.
Has saved me many times from boiling it dry!

Christine

Kate Dicey said:

My own kettle is an electric one. It's glass... Looks good,
but a pain in the bum as it dribbles when you pour! Trouble
is that it was expensive and other than the dribble, it
works well. Try a few for pouring before you buy! One day
I'm going to smash this thing if it drips scalding water on
my feet again!

I posted a rec for this the other day:

toastess.comproducts frame.htmOpen ↗

It's cheap, and it feels cheap, being just a plastic
water pitcher with a big whonking (1 kilowatt) heating
element in it.

But it boils water like it was born to it, and it doesn't
drip that I've ever noticed.

--Blair "And it doesn't
care if you're heating the
water for tea or soup or
coffee or nothing."