This one's fast. After all, if you want a cup of tea, you don't want to be hanging around, so that matters. It takes just under two minutes to boil 3 pints (1.7 litres) of water from cold. There's a 3kw heater powering all that.

It's stylish, in dark blue, with a cool blue light that comes on when the kettle is working.

Like all modern kettles, it sits on a round base, on which it can rotate without restriction. It's easy to put the kettle on it, and feels safe to use. It balances well in the hand, so you don't feel that there's any danger of spilling hot water accidentally. The water pours well, without any difficulty.

It's quite big, in the style known as a jug kettle, but I think it looks smart, and it has received quite a few compliments from friends.

There's a lever that opens the top for quick filling, or you can fill through the spout, which is quite a good idea from time to time, just to give the (removable) limescale filter a bit of a clean. You should take it out to clean every so often, especially if you live in a hard water area: this is quite easy to do, and a toothbrush does the job well. The kettle is on the tall side, though, so needs to be filled at the kitchen sink, with reasonable care.


There's an easily visible water gauge, so you can avoid wasting money and just boil what you need from half a litre upwards, enough for a single cup of tea or coffee.

Prices vary - we got ours for just under £30 from Tesco, and, depending on what colour you would like (blue, black, red or green) you can get one for as little as £25, including delivery elsewhere.