Most of my life, my parents never really invested into a decent kettle. We'd usually buy one every four years from Argos, or somewhere that was holding a sale. These kettles worked, but they were noisy, heavy and annoying to refill - to refill with water, you'd have to click a switch on the top of the kettle to open it only for it to spray drops of it back at you.

I found this on Amazon with a matching toaster. I paid upwards of £50. So was it worth it?

Well, first off I'll discuss the appearance. Depending on the kitchen you have, the colour scheme of this kettle will either compliment it perfectly or stand out like a sore thumb. I found it suited ours and it looked pretty stylish as a result - well, as stylish as kettles can be anyway.

Still, don't let the above fool you. Some say the colour red is symbolic of danger, and if you're not careful, this could end up applying here with this kettle. The design has a fatal flaw - once it has boiled and you pick it up or put it down, then it will shoot, rather concerningly, a thin jet of stream towards your direction. After observing some other amazon reviews, I believe that this has affected a few other customers, however I can suggest one solution at the cost of a 100% piping hot cup of tea. Why not just wait a few minutes before pouring the water? That's what we've done and there wasn't really too much of a problem in that line of thought thereafter.

How fast does this kettle boil? Very fast, compared to some other kettles. Faster than cheap standard kettles which you might typically find in a workplace, at least. However, as previously discussed, that waiting period that you might want to choose will cancel this out, so if you're worried about being unpleasantly surprised by a burst of steam then that cancels that out, sadly - though if you're tough-skinned, you should be fine! It's just not a problem that I anticipated before I purchased it.

Is it heavy? Well, yes, it is when it's full of water. Of course it would be, a kettle full of water is not supposed to be too light! In all seriousness, it's not the heaviest of kettles. If you're over a certain age or have been told not to do any heavy lifting recently, then perhaps you would be comfortable with this kettle.

One interesting factor is its general ease of use. Unlike any other kettle I'd previously owned, it's got a swivel base which means that you can place it back down in any position you like - there's no set placement for it, which makes it comfortable in that respect. On an unrelated note, if you're used to plastic kettles then you may find that your tea/coffee has a slightly more chemical taste to it at first. Ways in which you can combat this is to either clean it regularly, or empty the water after each boil in order to avoid said situation. Alternatively, you could get used to it, as it really is only a minor factor - and if you're an avid tea/coffee drinker, I'm sure you will get used to it. This also may only effect a small percentage of users.

Finally, what does it sound like? Compared to a plastic kettle, it's a little loud, but for the average metal-type kettle it's not that bad. It's not going to drown out any kitchen conversations and it's not going to wake anyone up in the middle of the night unless they are woken up by the drop of a pin!

So in summary, for the price I paid for this kettle, I feel content with it and am sure it's going to last me a long time; a good few years in it yet. Maybe De'Longhi sacrificed a little substance for style in the steam-related issue, but I can't imagine any of the flaws that this kettle may have having a life-changing impact upon the user. If you're willing to pay the price and enjoy the appearance of this kettle, you are likely to be satisfied with it!