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46 points

You mean a kettle? How did you not already have one?

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41 points

Very uncommon in the US at least.

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32 points

They’re a little different. Kettles are small (1-2 liters) will heat water until it’s boiling and then shut off(or have the user disconnect the heat source)

Water boilers hold a larger amount of water (3-5 liters) at a consistent temperature with a button to dispense it.

I upgraded from a kettle to a zojirushi water boiler and I’ve never looked back. The thing is incredible. Absolutely worth the price.

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8 points

Oh! Ok, you’ve sold me! :)

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1 point

It also keeps the water still hot because they’re insulated.

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13 points

It’s because the USA power standards are not suitable for kettle life. The 110 voltage on their power means it takes ages to come to the boil. The idea of putting a few cups of water into a kettle, pushing a button and having boiling water inside a minute does not exist.

That’s why these tabletop things are useful: yes they take ages to initially boil, then they maintain that temperature. 110 volts is fine for that task.

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3 points

There are 240v outlets in the USA, but they’re usually only used for things with heavy power draw (clothes dryers, EV chargers, electric hot water heaters, etc). Some areas have 208v instead of 240v though.

But yeah, boiling water is slow in the USA and a lot of people do it in the microwave (whereas I never saw anyone ever do that in Australia). We’ve got a Breville espresso machine that has instant hot water, which is useful for some of the use cases we’d use a kettle for.

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1 point

We use our breville for hot water too

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1 point

This is kinda true and kinda not. Even on 110, an electric kettle is faster than a kettle on a gas stove. The real answer is that Americans just don’t drink much tea. My family is unusual in that regard.

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2 points

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

This is kinda true and kinda not

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.

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2 points

This video also proves my point. And he knows it. Nearly 5 minutes to boil a litre of water? That’s hilarious!

I just replicated his experiment, with an identical bottle of water in my kettle, and was surprised that it took 2:47 to boil. I honestly would have thought it quicker than that.

This isn’t about tea, either. In fact, I boil the kettle for coffee far more frequently than for tea. I would also boil a kettle to quickly get 2L of water for cooking pasta. But since I’ve just boiled it and it’s 10:30pm, I make peppermint tea. Ahhh.

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9 points

No, these devices hold water at the appropriate temperature for long periods of time using extremely good insulation. They provide hot water on-demand after reaching temperature and are used in a way that is somewhat different from kettles.

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No, I mean the things I linked to. They’re like small countertop hot water tanks. I also do have multiple kettles.

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4 points

In the US most do not own a kettle

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1 point

What? I’m American and everyone I know owns one.

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