Want an illuminating light show in your kitchen? Then this spectras for you. (Breville Spectra)

Member Name: hildas

Product:	Breville Spectra
Date:	10/09/09 (260 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautfully designed, illuminated, fast boling and very quiet kettle.

Disadvantages: None!

Reasons For Purchasing The Breville Spectra
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I have had the Breville Spectra kettle for around three years now and thought it was about time I wrote a review about it and to let everyone know my thoughts and opinions on it. Well I bought this Spectra kettle after I had seen it on offer in Argos for just under £40. I thought this was a great bargain for what this kettle did and had on board it.. I was first drawn to this kettle really, because it had an illuminated light feature that goes through a spectrum of colours when it is plugged in. Not very energy efficient I know, but I thought this sounded a really funky and trendy kettle at the time and I just had to have it. I also loved the shiny stainless steel finish also on it and thought this would match my other kitchen appliances very well.

Well my old Russell Hobbs kettle had packed in also, shortly after I moved house and I wanted something a little more modern to go with my nice new modern designed kitchen. As soon as I saw the price tag on this kettle in Argos I was straight down buying it, just incase they stopped the special offer that it was on at the time. Well this certainly has been the best kettle I have had to date and I will tell you my reasons below.

After purchasing this Spectra kettle from Argos. I took it straight home and me being me had to open up the well packed box it came in to have a look at it, even before I unpacked my groceries.

Packaging
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This Breville Spectra kettle came in a thick, black cardboard box that was well sealed, but easy enough to open I remember. There was thick polystyrene blocks on either side of the kettle to secure it in transit and to stop it getting scratched and dented I guess. Well after removing the kettle from the box I carefully removed the plastic it was wrapped in also, to uncover my beautiful shiny kettle. The box and packaging are not too heavy by the way and I was able to carry it to my car with ease really. Just thought I would add that if anyone's transporting it home on a bus etc, that it should be easy enough to do.

What's In The Box
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Inside the box this Breville Spectra came in, I found my beautiful shiny and trendy looking kettle, a base unit for setting my kettle on, a useful instruction booklet (that's easy to read by the way) and a little guarantee card that you really need to fill in and post off, just incase your kettle breaks down, but I did not bother doing this.

A little about this kettle
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The Breville Spectra Kettle is a 1.7 litre capacity kettle which is very good in my opinion and it also has a 3000w fast boil element in it. It is a very useful cordless kettle I find that allows me to just lift it off its base and move it freely to wherever I want it. It has an easy, removable, anti scale filter inside the kettle also.

The Base Unit
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The base unit to the Breville Spectra kettle is well made and off thick black plastic. It is round in design and cannot be seen when the kettle is resting on it. It is used instead of a plug that fits into a kettle, which allows your kettle to be cordless. It really is a good base unit. You do not need to set your kettle central on it. You can plunk it down on it, in any direction and it will still work when you hit your on button.

The only fault I find with the base is the cord that plugs into your wall socket is only about one foot long and you are really restricted to having your kettle right beside and up against your plug socket really. I don't really have enough plugs sockets in my kitchen though, so I guess it would not be a problem if you do. Your slightly short cord can also be stored in the base unit if needed.

Overall a good sturdy base unit that does not move around, sits firmly on my work top and is easy to just plug in to install. It is very easily wiped over with a soapy damp cloth also.

The Kettle.
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I really was very pleased when I first unwrapped this Spectra kettle after I bought it. It really looked very stylish indeed. The kettle in finished in a lovely shiny stainless steel finish that is very eye-catching. It's stainless steel coat runs right around the kettle and this finish stops when it gets near the handle. Just before the handle the kettle is made off a thick translucent plastic that runs in a V shape around either side and you can see the amount of water in your kettle through this. This part is also where the kettle is illuminated when it is sitting on it's base unit. The whole effect is really nice and blends very well together (especially when it is lit up).

On the very front and back (the kettle can be reversed in design to suit left and right handed people) This is a good touch, as my last kettle only had the gauge and badge emblem on the front (or one side) so it is nice to see that when my husband sets it down left handedly, that it looks the same and there is a gauge drawn on for both sides. Well on the front and back there is a little Breville badge in the middle and an easy to see water gauge to the side.

The water gauge is printed onto the kettle in black and is very clear to make out the water levels on it. It has six water levels printed and three are off little cups, so it is very easy to see how much water is inside through the see through plastic underneath. Eight cups is the maximum on this kettle or 1.7 litres.

Moving around to the very nice comfy grip handle on the kettle that is half made of the translucent plastic (which lights up also) and half made of a matt silver, thick plastic. It is very thick, well designed and feels really strong. This kettle is really very nice to hold with the softer comfy grip black rubber that's incased into the silver plastic. This really does secure a strong, yet comfortable grip when I personally fill or pour from the kettle.

Underneath the handle you will find the on and off switch. It is more a flick switch, than a button. It is very easy to press down, is made of thick black plastic and pops up automatically when your water is boiled.

On top of my Breville Spectra kettle is the lovely stylish and easy to use lid. The lid is finished half in shiny stainless steel and half in thick black plastic. It really is a joy to fill this kettle compared to my last kettle. Towards the handle at the far side of the lid you will find a really useful black plastic button that you press down with ease and up pops your hinged lid, that fits perfectly underneath my cold water tap. I really am pleased with this flip up lid. It closes down again with a gentle press on the little black rubber pad near the spout.

A little feature that I was not aware off when I bought this kettle was that it had a keep warm system onboard it. What this means is that when you boil your kettle you can then press down the little clear button on the lid and the remaining water in it can be kept at boiling for you without having to re-boil your kettle. It says in the instruction booklet that the water will stay at 77oC. I love this feature a lot and get great use out of it. I fill up my kettle to max in the mornings, boil it up, make my tea and hit the keep warm button. I can then go fifteen minutes later and have my coffee by just pouring from the kettle without boiling. Off course I keep this button switched on all morning as one cup is never enough for me. It says in the instructions that the keep warm function will keep the water boiling hot for up to twelve hours. I don't know about this though, as My kettle is always being used, but I am sure it does.

Well the keep warm button lights up red when it is on. The water in my kettle really does stay at boiling with this feature and I would say it probably is more efficient than re-boiling your kettle a few times. A great feature I am really pleased with.

The spout of the kettle is made of the same thick, see though plastic as the illuminated bit around the water gauge. The spout unfortunately does not light up like the other clear plastic parts, but this looks fine to me and it blends in well the whole design of the kettle. Well the spout is well made and has taken many a knock of my water tap when I have been filling the kettle, but it really seems thick, strong and has held up well. It pours the water into my mugs perfectly also with no uneven drips.

The illuminating effect from this kettle.
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Well one of the reasons I bought this kettle was because it basically lit up when it boiled. Well so I thought. It actually lights up from the second you set it on you plugged in base unit. Even when your kettle is not boiling this kettle displays a beautiful spectrum of interchanging colours that is really nice to watch and especially at night when my kitchens dark. The clear plastic water gauge and part of the handle turn from red to blue, to green through to yellow and purple. It really is very beautiful to watch this in the dark and certainly looks amazing and funky in my kitchen. Lots of my friends and family have admired this feature.

When you fill this kettle, hit the on button and it's boiling, it lights up red the whole time until the button pops when its done and then it goes through the colour changing spectrum again. Well I have my kettle illuminated permanently. You could switch it off at the wall to save energy, but I just love it lit up all the time in my kitchen.

Overall Boiling feature.
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I find the boiling feature on this kettle is really super fast. Well it says on the instructions it is a rapid boiling kettle. Even when I have this kettle filled to the maximum eight cups it really is boiled in just over a minute. The water is always piping hot and compared to my old kettle, this one is much hotter at boiling I find. Well my tea is always piping hot. My old kettle did not heat this hot to me. When the kettle is only needed and filled for say two cups of tea. It boils in seconds. Honest. The Spectra also has a dry boil safety feature. If you pop the kettle on and there's no water in it, it soon pops back off again. This kettle also has an automatic switch off when the waters boiled.

Noise Of The Kettle When Boiling
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Well I thought I would include this as I know my old kettle made an awful racket when it was boiling. This kettle does not. It really is super quiet because it has a whispering effect feature onboard and it really is a very good feature also. I can pop this kettle on when the kids are in bed, with no worries of waking them up. It does make a noise, but a very gentle boiling noise that's pleasant to hear.

Anti Scale Filter
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The Breville Spectrum comes with a useful built in anti Scale filter. It can be found fitted inside of the spout, is made of clear thick plastic and is easy to pop off. I just click it out and wash it with warm soapy water, give it a rinse and pop it back in again. A good useful feature also I find with this kettle.

Cleaning and Maintenance
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I find my Breville easy enough to clean. I switch it off at the wall, wipe in down with hot soapy water (I do not use any cleaning products on it) Leave it to dry and buff the shiny silver stainless steel up with a dry cotton tea towel.

The inside is easy enough to rinse out and clean with a little washing up brush I find. I just give it a good rinse after this. Overall the kettle is easy to look after. Just make sure you clean and take out the anti scale filter every now and again also. Everything else like the base and plug can be wiped over with a damp cloth.

The Breville Spectra also comes with one years Guarantee. You can find Breville online at www.breville.co.uk This site is good for any problems that might arise and for parts etc if needed.

My Overall Opinion Of The Breville Spectra.
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Well this really is the best looking and most efficient kettle I have ever had. I have been using it every day and boiling it up at least three times a day and it is still going strong after three years. I have usually only gotten two years out of my other previous kettles and I found my last kettle started to loose heat or something and did not boil hot enough to me. Well this kettle is great. It boils twice as quick as my previous ones, looks amazing at night in my kitchen when it is lit up and the keep warm function is a great touch on it. It really does make a lovely cup of tea and coffee for me.

If my Breville Spectra kettle broke down tomorrow, I would be straight out buying this very same one. I really love it in everyway and certainly do highly recommend it to others. This is the best kettle I have used. The price at the time (even on offer) was slightly more expensive than other kettles, but this one caught my eye with it's illuminating function and I certainly would pay this money just to watch this. It really adds a lovely touch to my kitchen and I am extremely pleased with the Spectra.

I would give this Breville spectra 5/5 and I should really knock one star off for the base cord, but I am not going to as this is just my opinion and I have few sockets in my kitchen, so it gets full marks and a big thumbs up from me. A beautiful, fast boiling and stylish looking kettle indeed!

The Breville Spectra has £10 off it at the moment in Argos (09/09/09) and is selling at £43.79. It has gone up from when I bought it three years ago instead off of down. I can see why though. It is excellent! I just seen this kettle on eBay for £37.95 so do shop about actually if your interested in it.

Summary: A beautfully designed, illuminated, fast boling and very quiet kettle

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