Good while it works (Breville JK68)

Member Name: olly374

Product:	Breville JK68
Date:	08/06/06 (987 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Boils rapidly and a large capacity

Disadvantages: Stopped working after 6 months

I moved home and decided that after boiling pans of water to make hot drinks that I desperately needed to buy a kettle. As I had lots of white kitchen appliances with bits of silver in them such as a rice cooker, I decided I wanted a kettle that matched.

I had a look in the Argos catalogue and noted that a few kettles matched what I wanted but I had to go to a superstore or wait 3 days for them to be delivered. Finally after another 3 days of boiling pans of water I wandered into my local Robert Dylas. There on special offer where at 3 kettles that matched my desires in terms of colour. After much pondering I finally decided on the Breville Lightning JK68 because it stated on the box that it changed colour when you were boiling water, it was rapid boil and I also remembered that Breville sandwich toasters managed to last a year in the student houses which I had lived- this is no mean feat. I paid £19.99 for the kettle and rush home to use it. I should point out that this kettle was on sale in Curry's and Argos for the same price but is currently priced at £29.99 in Argos.

What you get
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The box contains a jug kettle (as pictured )with a separate base and an instruction manual with the do's and don'ts of using your kettle. You get a one year guarantee but you must keep your proof of purchase.

Features
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I don't have the box for the kettle anymore (you will find out why in a minute). However the main features of the kettle were:

1. A jug kettle with a separate base. The cord is attached to the base so you can be left or right handed and use the kettle.

2. Large capacity allowing you to boil up to 1.7 litres of water. The kettle has a cup increment on the side so you can boil as many cups as you need.

3. Rapid boil which means the full kettle would boil in under 2 minutes

4. A concealed element.This means that if you live in a hard water area you don't have to worry about descaling the element.

5. Removable, washable anti-scale filter at the sprout to decrease the amount of limescale in you hot water.

6. Cord storage on the base. You can wind the cord around under the base so you get as much or as little cord as you need this prevents the cord overhanging.

7. A stay warm function. Once you boil your hot water you can keep the water hot (at 77 celsius) by pushing a button which reheats the water everytime it cools down. Apparently a full kettle can stay on this function for 12 hours before boiling dry.

8. Water window so you can see how much water is in the kettle.

9. The real reason I brought the kettle- it illuminates when you boil water.

Using the kettle
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When you first use the kettle after unpacking it you have to fill it to the maximum 1.7 litres, boil the water in it discard it and repeat. You also have to rinse the filter. After that the kettle is yours to use and have fun working out what colours light up when you put the kettle on to boil, when the kettle boils and when you use the stay warm feature.

Reliability
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The kettle worked pefectly for exactly 6 months then one day I went to boil some water and though the kettle illuminated the water wouldn't boil. I thought this was odd and tried again eventually it dawned on me that the kettle I had purchased 6 months ago was broken.

Customer Service
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As I had the receipt I decided that I might as well send the kettle back because paying £6 for postage was cheaper than buying a new kettle. So I wrapped the kettle up, put in a copy of the receipt (as that was not the only thing I purchased on the receipt) and posted it with a letter explaining the problem to:
Customer Service Department
PUblse Home Products
Middleton Road
Royton
Oldham
OL2 5LN

Four days later an Initial City Link van drew up and I got a knock on the door. I opened the door and was given a large box. I was puzzled what was in the box until I opened it up, removed some packaging and found a smaller box. I opened the smaller box and noted a kettle which was the wrong colour. I was a bit miffed by that but then I looked a bit more closely at the kettle - the kettle was a brand new model the Breville Lightening JK109 retail price according to the Argos website of £49.99

Advantages
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1. The kettle does what it says on the box
2. The customer service is good

Disadvantages
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1. A kettle shouldn't break in 6 months
2. It's a hassle wrapping the kettle up for the post so you are sure it won't break and taking it to the post office.
3. The new kettle while more expensive doesn't fit my colour scheme.

Conclusion
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The kettle is as described but I have been warned by a friend that rapid boil kettles often break, therefore if you purchase one be prepared for them to break quite quickly so keep your receipt. If I had know this at the time I would have purchased a different type of kettle because it is a hassle posting it back due to it's fragility as though the kettle is robust enough for everyday use you have to wrap it up well for the post.

Summary: Does what it says on the box but problems with reliability

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