The two kettle brands we steer clear of

Bryan Wall is our kettles guy at Consumer NZ and he says there’s something other than looks you should have front of mind – which kettle is likely to last you the longest.

“Reliability is important with kettles because they’ll all boil water for your cuppa, even if some take longer to do it or are noisier about it. But we don’t want to be throwing them away every couple of years if the element has failed, the lid has busted or the main switch broken off,” he says.

There are two jug brands that we have given a ‘terrible’ reliability rating to, based on what people who have owned those brands told us in our survey.

Smeg

As well as the Smeg brand getting such a terrible reliability rating, the two Smeg kettles we’ve tested in the lab didn’t impress us much – despite them both costing more than $300. The KLF03 was very noisy and KLF04 had to be tilted a lot to pour when it’s nearly empty, which can be uncomfortable.

Kitchenaid

We’ve tested two Kitchenaid kettles and one – the KEK1701 – didn’t do too badly in the lab. Yet, a Consumer member left a review saying their one stopped automatically turning off after a year and the replacement did the same.

We found a lot to not like about the other one – the KEK1222. It was noisy, the metal lid gets hot and there’s no water level indicator on the outside.

We’ve also found that spending hundreds of dollars doesn’t guarantee a good kettle. Our favourite brand makes some great ones that cost under $100.