Yippee, I own a Porsche (Siemens TW91100 Kettle)

Member Name: grannygarden

Product:	Siemens TW91100 Kettle
Date:	21/05/05 (880 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cool touch, reliable, quick

Disadvantages: none

This is by way of an experiment. I write on Ciao under the name of patriciat. Have been reading lots about dooyoo and have never posted anything and someone told me I could cross post here. So this will be a repeat of my Ciao review just to see how things work here.

I've been so devoid of inspiration lately that marmilady left three words in my guestbook which she hoped would inspire me to write something and those were succulent, opulent and miserable, so as a thank you to her I shall try and include these in my review.

I've been extremely "miserable" lately as I couldn't think of a single thing that I could write about and have drunk gallons of tea to console myself.

Then suddenly it occurred to me that my nice shiny new kettle was nothing short of "opulent" and I really ought to do a review on its merits.

The kettle in question is the Siemens Porsche TW91100 kettle.

It can be classed opulent for the price - it weighs in at a hefty £69.99 at Amazon .

You may think I am raving mad to spend that amount on a kettle but I had accumulated a fair number of Amazon vouchers for doing various surveys and things and I decided that I would spend them on some sort of luxury which I wouldn't normally consider instead of frittering it away on lots of books and dvds which is where the vouchers usually go.

It took my fancy when I was trawling around Amazon trying to find something to spend my vouchers on, not only for its name but for its stylish good looks.The Porsche bit of its name comes from the designer F A Porsche, and he probably has nothing whatsoever to do with the car manufacturer but being easily pleased, it impressed me anyway. I'm never likely to own a car by that name, but a kettle would do nicely thank you very much.

Instead of the usual shiny stainless steel finish of my previous kettle, which showed every little mark, this one comes in brushed chrome.

I didn't realise until I actually became the proud owner of this kettle how brilliant this brushed finish is. The kettle just sits there every day looking pretty and hardly ever needs a wipe down. Exceptions being when it is sitting too close to the hob when the sauce is bubbling a bit too vigorously and then I need to wipe my "succulent" sauce drips from its noble surface. This requires no effort at all and a quick whoosh with the dishcloth soon retores it to its former glory.

The kettle is very robust and takes knocks in its stride without suffering dents. You know, when you're half asleep in the morning and desperate for a cuppa and you bang the kettle on the tap when you're trying to fill it with bleary, not awake eyes, or is it only me and the man on the cornflake advert that are like this in the morning?

The kettle has a cordless centrepoint connector which means that you can place it in any position on its 360 degree base. Also very handy for when half asleep in the morning. No faffing about trying to line things up. Just plonk it on press the red button and away you go.

The base of the inside of the jug is made of stainless steel which probably accounts for the solid feel of it when it's picked up.

The sleek styling incorporates two buttons on the top, the red one to switch on and the clear one to switch off if you change your mind about needing boiling water, so you can stop it easily before it reaches boiling point. It will switch off itself automatically when it boils so no worries about it boiling endlessly when you go and answer the phone and forget about it.

In between the on and off buttons is a circular button which will automatically open the lid to a tilt to enable you to fill it up easily. If you need to take the lid off completely, once it is tilted it lifts out easily. You might need to lift it out to retrieve the pull out filter which sits above the spout which, if you don't replace it properly will sink like the Titanic to the bottom of the kettle. It is pretty easy to take out, wash and replace but I have had my moments when I've missed the grooves which it slots into and it slips beyond my grasp. This circular button is not raised but sits flush on the top of the kettle and doesn't detract from its good looks.

There is a water level indicator which shows the maximum the kettle can be filled to.

The kettle comes with a slim instruction leaflet written in 17 different languages with one page written in English, so nothing too taxing to read. It tells you not to scratch or otherwise damage the housing by banging it against anything. Ignore that, nothing has happened when I've hit the stainless steel tap with it, not to the kettle anyway.

It advises not to use to boil milk or the inside will become burnt, soup because it will boil over and leave a taste of grease behind, or boil preprepared drinks as they will stain the inside of the kettle. Do people really do these things with their kettles? Think they deserve all the stains and grease they get if they choose to use it for these purposes.

Also warns not to put the kettle in the dishwasher (as if) and to clean the inside by pouring some vinegar in and leaving it to stand for half an hour then clean out with a washing up brush.

Along with the instructions they kindly enclose a prepaid label, should you ever need to return the kettle within its two year guarantee period when it will be repaired if possible and if the fault can't be sorted out they will replace. I don't think many of my previous kettles has managed to last for two years so I found this pretty impressive. They must be quite confident in their kettles to guarantee them for two years, instead of the usual one which all my previous kettles have had.

The only techie stuff I can find for those who need to know is as follows:

1.5 litre capactiy
360 degree cordless base
Concealed heating element
Stainless steel inside base
Removable stainless steel filter
High safety features - only switches on when lid is closes
2 kW element

The manufacturer's description which was listed in the blurb on Amazon amused me, so I've included that as well:

"You don't have to blow the budget to show your partner how much you love them. Forget breakfast in bed! Whatever the occasion - be it a birthday or an anniversary - if you want to impress, simply treat them to breakfast in a 'Porsche'."

Think that sums it up quite nicely myself.

Summary: