Monday, August 4, 2025

Adventures in teakettle shopping


On Friday, I was making a cup of tea when I poured boiling water into my teacup and noticed a speck of something black. Maybe the teacup had gotten dusty inside the cabinet and I just hadn't noticed? I tossed the water, rinsed out my teacup and electric teakettle, and tried again. And again I got a black speck, which appeared to be a worn spot on the interior base of the five-year-old teakettle. So I settled on nuking my water in the microwave (carefully; I've heard the horror stories about exploding cups of water) and quickly headed to Amazon to order a new teakettle. (This qualified as an emergency, I think you'll agree.) I had some errands to run on Saturday, and when I got home, the new kettle was waiting for me. Whew!


I would have bought the same pretty white-with-a-pale-green-handle teakettle I had before, but it was no longer available. As with so many things these day, the choices were overwhelming. What size? What color? What features? Honestly, I didn't care that much. I just wanted something to quickly boil water. The pink ones I found were too "bubblegum pink," so I finally decided to go with white again and looked for the Amazon's Choice model, which usually works out well for me. But was I seeing things? The Ovente teakettle was just $10.98, is BPA free, and has auto shut-off and boil-dry protection features. Yippee and add to cart! 


When I opened the box, I thought the "STOP" warning was kind of hard to overlook. "We strongly recommend boiling your kettle a few times." Really?


Well, okay! (Not really, but ChatGPT was happy to illustrate the instructions as I read them.) I did, however, boil water in the interior of the new kettle a few times before I made my first cup of tea with it, and I'm happy to report that no black specks appeared this time! Ah. Life is good again.

3 comments:

  1. I understand your predicament, I’d hate to be without my electric teakettle! Glad your new one arrived quickly.

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  2. I would immediately go to Amazon if my kettle needed replaced too. Enjoy the new kettle. I actually have one in my wish list for when I need it quickly.

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  3. Your new electric teakettle was so inexpensive! I'm glad you're happy with it so far.
    It really does involve a lot of research to decide which one to buy. I try to avoid ones which have the water touching plastic, since we keep hearing more about how bad plastics are for us.

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