Why are modern electric kettles all such junk?

[tekno.mage]

Grrr... The element in my electric kettle has failed and it is under 2 years old. It was a catering kettle (corded, stainless steel no frills) and was an identical replacement of the previous one which lasted 6 years before the switch failed but neither switch or element are replacable :-(
Prior to this were several cordless plastic jug kettles that only lasted a couple of years each - failures caused by the contacts on the base wearing out, the base electrics shorting out with explosive arcing, or more commonly when the silly water level window leaked (which I believe is a common problem).
Prior to these I had a 20 year old stainless electric kettle (Russell Hobbs) which finally died when it was no longer possible to buy the spares for it (the switch). The cost of a kettle seems to have no affect on it's durability. Of the failed kettles some cost over 50 quid and some under a tenner. The best of the bad lot was around 30 quid.
Am I expecting too much of a simple appliance? Or do people these days buy kettles as fashion accessories to be changed annually so a pretty colour is more important than how long it lasts, if it's electrically safe, or even if it boils water and pours well!

Rant over - anyone recommend a decent kettle that might last longer than a couple of years and doesn't cost silly money?

 

[niagra]

....and toasters.

 

[tekno.mage]

....and toasters.

The answer to the toaster question is Dualit toasters - but not the bottom of the range ones - the £150 plus ones are still made in the UK and are intended to be repairable, and spares parts are available. Still that's really a lot to pay for a toaster - unless you run a B&B and have to make loads of toast very day!

 

[Paul200]

Can't recommend anything but I know what you mean. I'm convinced that all low to mid-priced electrical goods are now designed to look good and not last 5 minutes. There's always an exception though - our Dualit kettle has lasted far too long! It's a sort of cone shape, looks lovely - but when it boils and you tip it to pour, all the steam and water trapped in the point of the cone fires out of the spout at a rate of knots! It's dangerous and I hate it but my wife likes it because it matches the toaster

I wish you luck in your search for a non rip off kettle and will be interested to see any recommendations.

 

[Paul200]

....and toasters.

The answer to the toaster question is Dualit toasters - but not the bottom of the range ones - the £150 plus ones are still made in the UK and are intended to be repairable, and spares parts are available. Still that's really a lot to pay for a toaster - unless you run a B&B and have to make loads of toast very day!

Haha! Just seen this after my post above. I'm pretty sure our toaster didn't cost £150 - but then I don't know everything :shock: :?

 

[Bm101]

Built in obsolescence. When my firm moved offices 16 years ago I blagged the dualit toaster. God knows how old it is, before I had it there were about 70 people in the office so it's seen some service. It's down to 2 elements. I need to jump on amazon. I'll get round to it at some point... Think we been through about 8 kettles in that time.

 

[mind_the_goat]

+1 for Dualit, toasters at least. mine is 15 years old. Can't comment on their kettles though.

 

[Bm101]

If you're running a BnB Kym, I'm guessing you have already looked into boiling water taps? Too pricey? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/ask-a- ... than-usin/ At least you won't need a water softener in Mid-Wales!
'Which' might be a good place to look, I think you can try it out for a quid for a month and cancel 'anytime' after that its £10.75 a month. https://join.which.co.uk/join/next/40b6 ... ode=911CRJ

 

[Wuffles]

Mrs Wuffles bought a Magimix about 5 years ago. Might as well have been Mafell for what she paid. Still going strong though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Rorschach]

Kettles are like a lot of modern appliances such as washing machines. Buy cheap and replace it when it goes wrong. Its the most economic thing to do, if not the most environmentally friendly.

 

[Mark A]

Our kettle cost £7 from Argos. When it eventually (inevitably) breaks we'll buy another cheapo one. It's a kettle, not a fashion accessory!

 

[Roughcut]

We just buy cheap kettles now and replace every 12-24 months.

 

[bugbear]

Kettles are like a lot of modern appliances such as washing machines. Buy cheap and replace it when it goes wrong. Its the most economic thing to do, if not the most environmentally friendly.

Either buy the cheapest or the dearest. Nothing's good (or at least cost effective) in the middle.

BugBear

 

[misterfish]

We got through a few elecric kettles and now use an old fashioned type kettle with our induction hob. It also means that when we have a power cut we can use our portable gas ring to boil water.

Misterfish

 

[AJB Temple]

Why worry? We get what we pay for I guess and a kettle can be had for under £20. Bin and replace as necessary - which is what we do at work. if you want them to last then £80 is s benchmark price for quality in my experience. Ours at home shows the temperature and you can set it to boil or just heat to 85 degrees for coffee. Its fast and fairly quiet. Not sure about longevity as it is only a year or so old so far. I think to some extent tools have gone the same way.

 

[Beau]

We are still using a 15 year old Morphy Richards quick boil kettle. Been faultless.

 

[mseries]

+1 for Dualit, toasters at least. mine is 15 years old. Can't comment on their kettles though.

One of our Dualit milk frothers didn't last very long so I have low opinion of the brand now

 

[Rorschach]

Kettles are like a lot of modern appliances such as washing machines. Buy cheap and replace it when it goes wrong. Its the most economic thing to do, if not the most environmentally friendly.

Either buy the cheapest or the dearest. Nothing's good (or at least cost effective) in the middle.

BugBear

You buy the dearest, it lasts longer than all the cheap and middling ones but when it does eventually develop a fault then its so old there are no spares. You can bet your life that a washing machine that cost 10x the price of a cheap one will not last 10x as long without some kind of repair.
When I was looking at call out cost for washing machine repair it was only about £20-30 short of buying a new machine, assume that the repair requires a few parts and you are already losing out.

 

[themackay]

If your kettle is under 2 years old and cost£50 you must have some come back under the sale of goods act as it should have lasted longer fit for purpose and so on

 

[DennisCA]

Stopped buying electric kettles, got an induction stovetop and an old fashioned metal pot with whistle (IKEA), it boils stuff as fast as an electric kettle does. Our induction top is turbo powered with 400V 3-phase.