One good looking kettle! (Breville Lightning Kettle)

Member Name: xxsaraxxm

Product:	Breville Lightning Kettle
Date:	06/06/06 (449 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: see review

Disadvantages: see review

Making a kettle sound interesting and exciting is a pretty tall order – at the end of the day a kettle is just a kettle, a means to an end to get a cuppa, right? Wrong! The Breville Lightning Kettle is more exciting than your average fairground ride – its got the lot- flashing lights, eerie lighting effects, visual effects…oh and you can use it to make drinks too, which is more than you could say for the Ghost Train! How much excitement do you want for £38.50? …


I wasn’t desperately in need of a new kettle, I must admit, my old one was still functional, but then I saw my friends new kettle – the Breville Lightning and I was sold – ITS GOT FLASHING LIGHTS!!


DOES MY BUM LOOK BIG IN THIS? …


The first thing you notice about the Lightning is the size of it – it’s a big kettle holding 1.7 litres with a large bottom, which sits on a base plate. It looks attractive and feels weighty enough to be substantial without being too heavy. The handle has a rubber grip which all adds to the feelings of ‘kettle euphoria’ that this little beauty gives you.


It is made in a white plastic finish. A stainless steel version has just been launched but it is a different shape (it doesn’t have such a big bum!) and whereas the white version looks new and different the stainless steel version is very’ ordinary’ looking.


LETS TAKE A LOOK THROUGH THE BLOB SHAPED WINDOW…


On the front of the kettle is a window through which you can see the water boiling. This is tinted blue so unlike some of the other brands of clear boil kettles (the ones where you can watch your water boiling) this one never looks ‘dirtied’ by limescale even if like me you live in a very limescaly (I know that’s not a word but I think it should be and I think people living in very hard water areas would agree!!).
The window is blob shaped like a ghost (the stainless steel version is obviously aimed at more grown up kettle purchases because the window is a very sensible tear drop shape!) When the kettle is boiling the window lights up which is very effective in the dark (if like me you are easily amused that is!)


HUBBLE BUBBLE…


But looks aren’t everything of course – there wouldn’t be much point in a fabulous looking kettle that was no good at boiling water. I’d only heard of Breville before in reference to sandwich toasters…could they cut it in the cutthroat world of kettle manufacture?

It does boil very quickly even when it’s filled to its 8 cup capacity (although we must have large cups in our house because when I tried to be economical and only boil the right amount of water as indicated on the measure on the side of the kettle I didn’t have enough water!!) It has a 3kw Rapid Boil element (I don’t know or even really care what that exactly means but any kettle anoraks out there will no doubt be impressed!)

There is a water filter too which is easy to remove for cleaning.

The thing that sets this kettle apart though from all the other jug kettles on the market is the Keepwarm System that means you will always have hot water on hand.


NOW FOR THE SCIENCE BIT


This is the sort of science I like - its simple!!
The kettle sits on a hot plate that can be activated at any time during or after the initial boiling process to keep water hot so there is no need to re-boil the kettle if you need a cuppa in a hurry (Hooray!)
As the promotional blurb that comes with the kettle proudly announces this makes it idea for commercial breaks in the middle of your favourite TV programmes or ‘busy breakfasts’ (or in my case just sheer laziness!)
When the hot plate is activated a row of red lights around the bottom of the base flash so you can’t activate it by mistake and not realise. The flashing lights are one of my favourite bits!

You might have guessed by now I really like this kettle. It may be sad to get so excited about a kettle but this one is well worth the money. At £38.50 it certainly isn’t the cheapest model on the market but I think its well worth the money. It’s available from Argos or all electrical retailers.
The stainless steel version is £49.50 – unless you are really into stainless steel I’d say the white model is far better.
There is also a toaster available in the Lightning range but that doesn’t have quite the same level of exciting gimmicks as the kettle so I can’t get too enthusiastic about it I’m afraid!

Buy yourself a Lightning kettle at let off some steam!

Summary: Looks like it is going to take off!