I'm pleased to tell you that this is not a post on anything so mundane as buying a kettle, but actually a complex yet insightful way of looking at the sudden peaks and troughs of energy when... No, sorry, it's about buying a kettle.
A kettle that filled a very precise and non-negotiable set of requirements:
1) Not entirely offensive looking
2) Electric - no Agas here.
3) Cordless if possible
4) Have a minimum 1 cup fill (our current one is so broad at the base that its minimum fill level is about half a litre)
5) Not burn your hand if you have to refill it soon after boiling (so the lid has to come off without having to put your hand in the way of the steam)
6) As energy efficient as possible
You cannot imagine how hard it was to find something that fulfilled all of the above. If I was being blindly green I might go for something like the eco kettle, but since it is possibly the ugliest thing I have ever contemplated putting on my kitchen work top, something better had to be found.
After briefly contemplating a beautiful Alessi kettle, but swiftly discounting it on the grounds that it managed requirement 1 and none of the others, I finally hit upon the not-too-ugly-to-sit-on-the-worktop Magimix kettle (who knew they did anything other than mixers? not me). Not only does it have a minimum one cup fill level, it's also insulated, so when I boil the kettle and then five minutes later remember that I am not the only one in the house with requirements and that Teddy actually needs a bottle soon, any last dregs will still be as warm as possible for using or reboiling with more water. Ingenious. Might also prevent me causing Adam actual bodily harm when he (slightly) overfills the kettle for the thousandth time, as at least the water won't be stone cold again in five minutes flat.
A helpful friend tried to scupper my pleasure by pointing out that in winter it could arguably be useful to have a non-insulated kettle, as the radiated heat could help warm the house, but I am doing the shopping equivalent of putting my hands over my ears and going 'la la la la la'.
Weirdly, being so anal about my purchasing now gives me just as much retail satisfaction as my old shopaholic tendencies. One carefully researched and saved for purchase (or even better, finding a freebie!) genuinely pleases me more than buying half a dozen items at the limit of affordability. Isn't that nice?
A kettle that filled a very precise and non-negotiable set of requirements:
1) Not entirely offensive looking
2) Electric - no Agas here.
3) Cordless if possible
4) Have a minimum 1 cup fill (our current one is so broad at the base that its minimum fill level is about half a litre)
5) Not burn your hand if you have to refill it soon after boiling (so the lid has to come off without having to put your hand in the way of the steam)
6) As energy efficient as possible
You cannot imagine how hard it was to find something that fulfilled all of the above. If I was being blindly green I might go for something like the eco kettle, but since it is possibly the ugliest thing I have ever contemplated putting on my kitchen work top, something better had to be found.
After briefly contemplating a beautiful Alessi kettle, but swiftly discounting it on the grounds that it managed requirement 1 and none of the others, I finally hit upon the not-too-ugly-to-sit-on-the-worktop Magimix kettle (who knew they did anything other than mixers? not me). Not only does it have a minimum one cup fill level, it's also insulated, so when I boil the kettle and then five minutes later remember that I am not the only one in the house with requirements and that Teddy actually needs a bottle soon, any last dregs will still be as warm as possible for using or reboiling with more water. Ingenious. Might also prevent me causing Adam actual bodily harm when he (slightly) overfills the kettle for the thousandth time, as at least the water won't be stone cold again in five minutes flat.
A helpful friend tried to scupper my pleasure by pointing out that in winter it could arguably be useful to have a non-insulated kettle, as the radiated heat could help warm the house, but I am doing the shopping equivalent of putting my hands over my ears and going 'la la la la la'.
Weirdly, being so anal about my purchasing now gives me just as much retail satisfaction as my old shopaholic tendencies. One carefully researched and saved for purchase (or even better, finding a freebie!) genuinely pleases me more than buying half a dozen items at the limit of affordability. Isn't that nice?
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