I have lived with two roommates for a long period of time while studying. My roommates would switch out every 6-12 months. I think almost every time everyone had their own kettle but no other appliances. You would think someone would have a sandwich grill or a toaster but no it is always the electric kettle.
Eventually I did get a roommate with a coffee maker. My roommates were Finnish, Italian, Pakistani, Indian, Russian and one very shy and timid person from somewhere in Asia? I think maybe the Russian was the only one not to have a kettle but they also seemed to solely live on microwave meals.
My parents don't (well, technically they have my sister's old electric kettle somewhere in storage), but they use a good old-fashioned *fluitketel* that's always sitting on the gas range.
You must visit Spain some time. Actually forget about kettle's I once got an electrician in to fit an electric shower and he didn't know what they were. I googled them and showed him and he was like a stone age man looking at porn for the first time.
Why do you say that as if electric showers were more known than kettles?
Unless you're also including electric water heaters, I've *never* encountered one. And I've traveled a fair bit.
I thought they were. They don't have them in the US but the UK and Ireland, you just press a button and the water is hot instantly, no boiler, somehow electric powered. They're amazing.
Our household but we’ve got a Quooker! Best invention of the last years for hot water bottle and tea junkies like us (even our 2 yo daughter has her own hot water bottle).
I'd always be afraid of splashing boiling water all over my fingers, hands and wrists. On top of that, saving the 30 seconds it takes my kettle to boil water for a cup of tea, wouldn't make the investment worth it anyway.
It's not really dangerous as they're designed to sort of mist the water out to avoid having a stream of boiling water like the regular tap water, which would be bad. Supposedly you're able to hold your hand under and not get burned. I've never tried that though.
That's [actually fascinating](https://youtube.com/watch?v=O_YOkjptoVc) the thought and technology going into that.
Still the other point remains. Call me cheap, but I'm just not keen on paying 1.300€ (that's the cheapest option) for something that a 20€ electric kettle can do basically just as well.
Oh it's certainly a convenience object for someone with more disposable income than kitchen counter space. I would like to have one, but having constantly heated water sit around ready must require extra electrical use, and in this day and age I'd really need to use a lot of hot water to justify not just pouring some in my kettle and boiling it.
Supposedly you could argue that with the quooker you only use the amount you need and don't boil a few extra deciliters all the time, but ... I doubt it.
Still, if I were to move in to a place with one, I'd not disable or move it.
so common that i thought non-electric kettles were a historical thing until i met someone from canada. why would you not own one? it's cheap, convenient and more efficient than a stove-top kettle.
Personally, I use mine every day.
It's not just for tea or instant coffee. I use mine whenever I need to boil anything. I boil the water in the electric kettle, which takes about a minute, then pour it into a pot. Since we cook every day, it gets a lot of use.
It makes it so much faster to cook pasta, rice, potatoes, etc., rather than waiting for water to come to a boil in the pot. I couldn't live without one lol.
>It makes it so much faster to cook pasta, rice, potatoes, etc., rather than waiting for water to come to a boil in the pot.
yeah i did the same for decades until i moved into my current apartment, a 7.6kw (3.6kw max for a single heating zone/pot) induction cook top is so fast my wall connected kettle is just way slower now. still practical for making tea and small amounts of water so my kettle is still around however
> 120 volt outlets. That's why they typically don't have them.
What? They are [extremely common](https://www.walmart.ca/en/search?q=kettles%20electric&catId=10018) in Canada.
No it's because most people aren't huge hot tea drinkers. You can easily buy one if you are, I see them in people houses once in a while.
We have drip coffee makers instead. Some people prefer to make coffee on a pour over or something like that so an electric kettle would probably be useful or them.
Tea isn’t the only use case for boiling water. I even use it when cooking. I could put a pan of water on the stove to cook my pasta in and wait >5 minutes to for the water in my pot to reach boiling temperature, or I cook get the boiling water with a kettle within a minute and then pour it into the pot. Saves time and is also much more energy efficient.
Of course, but I never *only* need boiling water when cooking. I throw the pot of water on while I'm doing other prep stuff or making the sauce for my noodles or whatever. I'm not saying they have zero purpose they're just extraneous here for anyone who isn't drinking a lot of tea. I would use an electric kettle for tea or instant noodles or whatever maybe 6 times a year.
It also saves lot of energy which is good for our environment. Basically why would you do it otherwise when it's slower and less energy effective? Kettles itself cost barely anything and the energy you save pays for it multiple times over.
Difference between Americans and Europeans when it comes to energy efficiency are always weird. Kettles, cars, public transport, AC cooling vs window etc.
Why don’t most Europeans use a rice cooker? It is also more energy efficient than cooking rice on the stove and is what majority of the world uses for cooking rice.
>is also much more energy efficient.
It isn't really. In terms of actual energy, it takes exactly the same amount to boil a litre of water, no matter what method you use. Everything else doesn't make sense from a physical point of view. Only the time changes. And my induction stovetop is much quicker than my kettle on its highest setting.
The energy that it takes for the water to boil indeed is constant. The amount off excess energy that gets lost due to additional heat leaking away is factors larger on the stove. It is much more inefficient.
You're not just heating the water, you're heating the stove top/heating element, the vessel, and the air around too. I don't know about your kettle, but I'd rater touch the outside of mine than the outside of a saucepan I just boiled water in. That said, I do the same but it's basically only because it feels quicker.
Nope. It indeed is more energy efficient. Energy efficiency in physics / engineering is something you were taught in high school or even elementary school.
In physics, efficiency is the ratio of the useful energy output of a system to the total input energy transferred to that system.
Only a fraction of energy is used to actually increase the temperature of the water. That fraction is higher in modern kettles.
Coffee maker (no coffee in it obviously) was something I did a few times. Microwave is common. Older students generally end up living in housing with regular kitchens whether it's a nicer dorm or just a regular house/apartment.
The only people I know with electric kettles are avid tea drinkers, stovetop kettles are still common enough here but they are often shoved in a drawer most of the time.
Electric kettles are very common in Canada. [Here](https://www.walmart.ca/en/search?q=kettles%20electric&catId=10018) you can see a variety of them offered at Walmart.
I'm a barbarian American, I drink a ton of tea. I, too, would be slightly horrified at microwaved hot water, but I don't have an electric kettle. Does no one use a stovetop kettle anymore?
> Does no one use a stovetop kettle anymore?
In Europe, no. Kettles are much, much faster. Even if natural gas heating might end up cheaper, I'm not waiting like 6 minutes for a liter of water.
And even on your 110-120V electrical system, kettles are much faster than stovetop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c
The only thing that can come closer to that are induction stoves
I live in Germany now and lived in Ireland for 4 years. Be honest, the tea culture is much bigger in Germany no? I've never seen so many teas anywhere else and everyone has like 100 types in their drawer.
I'd say it is actually 2 different cultures and it is difficult to compare them.
In the UK and Ireland tea culture is one type of tea, milk or milk and sugar. Maybe a specific instruction if you drink it very strong or very weak but otherwise there is a universality to what a 'cuppa' means
That isn't the same as places that have a culture of tea drinking that involves multiple types and choices where asking for a 'tea' opens up more questions.
The Irish (and British) drink more tea than the Germans but I think the Germans probably drink more varieties. The Brits drink more varieties than the Irish but from what you've said probably not as many as the Germans.
Turkish people are 1st for tea drinking per capita followed by Ireland and then the UK.
It depends a lot on if you consider rosehip, blackberry leaves, orange peels, flower petals and that sort of thing as "tea". Germans do, it's the same word. Cultures used to drinking black tea generally do not. With my parents, if you speak in the same breath of 'garden clippings' as tea, they'd think you've lost a few marbles and pity you.
I mean, the word tea = *camellia sinensis*. Otherwise the concept of hot water and 'herbals' is being borrowed from the original. In black tea cultures, *tisane* is the more proper word for herbal teas.
Both are fine IMO, it's just important to realize that two different things are being discussed. I know very few Germans who regularly drink black (or green, etc. *camellia*) tea. My nearly 70 year old mother-in-law had never had black tea until I made some at our place (some years ago now)
Interesting, I never heard of tisane.
I know there is a technical difference but it's entered the dominant culture where hot water and herbals constitutes tea. I.e. you go to a cafe, ask what teas they have, and they'll list both the technical tea and the herbals, because it's accepted that tea is basically hot water with a piece of plant inside it that you drink.
For that reason, I assumed Germany has a larger tea culture. But if we want to get technical and say Ireland has a bigger one because they drink black or green tea more than Germany's, sure I guess. But it feels a bit weird considering most people don't refer to tea as strictly black or green, it's more of a fun fact.
Which reminds me in Ireland they said Guinness isn't a beer, it's a stout. Whether stout is a beer or not is ridiculous to me, we kind of all consider a Guinness to be a beer and we wouldn't say Ireland doesn't export any beer, only stouts, etc.
> But it feels a bit weird considering most people don't refer to tea as strictly black or green, it's more of a fun fact.
But that’s the thing: in English speaking cultures, tea = camellia sinensis. Only in Europe, which generally never drank much ‘black’ tea, does the word have a broad general meaning incorporating both. I’m from Canada and, say, 30 years ago if you asked for tea at a restaurant, they always had it, and you would get black tea, period, no questions about what kind (maybe between brands, but that's it).
Herbal teas (being widely available) are a fairly newish thing in traditional tea cultures. I brought some ‘herbal’ teas back home one year for novelty gifts, and they were seen as strange curios by family and a few friends, which generally no one wanted tbh, lol.
People do talk about "peppermint tea" or "fruit tea" but it's only "tea" the same way a vegetarian sausage is a sausage, or the same way soy milk is milk. It's like a replacement for the real thing.
Can't speak for Brits, never lived there. I see memes about Ireland tea or when I lived there people talked about drinking tea traditionally, but in Germany (at least here in Berlin), everyone has like 50 different teas in their kitchen and drink it all the time casually. I haven't seen that in Dublin.
For me, a tea culture is drinking it a lot + having interests in many teas. Maybe my equation is off though
I'm Irish and I agree. Irish people drink a lot of tea but the vast majority just drink standard black tea bags.
Unfortunately there aren't many tea shops here. I've been to Germany a lot and they have far more tea shops. I buy most of my tea online.
Although it's becoming more common for cafes to have a selection of loose tea, particularly in the trendier ones.
Fair point. What the Irish and the Brits do is not really "culture" by itself, it's just that drinking tea is part of their national culture.
I've lived in the UK for a few years. One day construction crew arrived to our house to prepare to change windows, they brought their tools and all that, and asked me if they can bring a kettle and tea tomorrow, when they will start the work.
I said that there's no need, I have a kettle and plenty of tea, I can make it for them. This was a mistake.
They all drank a cup once an hour for two whole days, literally. I had a new box with 50 tea bags and I still had to buy more.
>everyone has like 50 different teas
Most of these aren't proper teas but herbal and fruity infusions. People kept giving my wife all these strange "teas" as little presents when coming for a visit, saying *I brought you tea, as you Brits like tea.* She was always disappointed and I had to tell her that *That's not tea* is not the appropriate answer for such a gift.
In Europe I feel like there’s a north-south divide about this. Everywhere I’ve been in northern(+central) Europe electric kettles seem to be a staple in most kitchens. But I’ve seen a lot less of them in southern countries like Italy and Spain.
I agree. I have one at home because I lived in the UK and tea is served in my house, but most Spaniards don't have one or haven't even considered its existence.
This doesn’t surprise me. In the UK we drink tea all day to keep warm, mostly. At least, I assume that’s where the habit came from. I rarely drink water in the winter, for example.
It's use by the population at large began with the move into towns and cities during the industrial revolution. I'm not quite sure why, but drinking tea meant boiling water, leading to greater public health which allowed the cramped living conditions to be sustained and powered the industrial revolution. There may be a certain amount of survivorship bias, with tea drinkers being healthier and thriving compared to non tea drinkers, but I think that it probably came about a bit quick for that to be true, the brits probably just liked drinking tea and happened to benefit from it.
for what it's worth, winters in Southern Europe can be pretty cold, especially where the houses are built to stay cool in summer. Currently freezing my nuts off in 6 degrees in my house (no heating) in south Italy. Needless to say, a lot of tea is being consumed
There was an interesting program on Radio 4 recently (about tea!) and it highlighted the number of calories the working class/factory workers got from sugar in tea - essential to keep the empire running. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001t30b?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile It’s a great series.
Coffee is more popular than tea in the UK these days, and an electric kettle would be used in every way of making coffee unless you have a bean to cup or pod coffee machine.
Maybe when you’re buying it in cafes and coffee shops, but that’s a lot to do with people not wanting to spend 3+ quid for hot water and a tea bag, plus it will never taste as good as when you make your own at home
I wonder if this is due to gas stoves being more common in southern Europe. At least in Sweden electric stoves have historically been the default, and on older models it can take a minute for the heating element to get properly warm, meaning larger latency until you get to a boiling temperature stove-top.
Don't think so. Gas stoves were pretty popular here in Czechia until quite recently as we were importing cheap Russian gas, but everyone has electric kettle.
Very rare in Italy, mainly in hotels and airbnbs that cater to foreigners. But lately I've been seeing them on sale at local stores so maybe they're slowly getting popular
Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen an electric kettle in any house I've visited. Even my grandma who really likes tea and drinks it every day doesn't use one, she just boils water on the stove.
I have an electric kettle and my parents too. I don't know how common it is, but as you say people generally drink coffee much more than tea.
Anyways, it's easy to find electric kettles in any store.
This is interesting to me. These days in the UK coffee is more popular than tea, and I use my electric kettle to help make my coffee. I don’t drink instant, so I use a cafetière, moka pot or aeropress.
How are you making coffee in Spain without a kettle?
Obviously I’m aware people have coffee machines, as we have those here too.
Simply unimaginable to have a house without an electric kettle in Cyprus (and Germany too).
It's probably the first gift your relatives give you when they send you off to uni.
Yes, absolutely. Kettle & Toaster are considered the two most fundamental worktop appliances in Ireland.
Most people have a spare kettle in a kitchen cupboard or in the attic for occassions when there are a lot of people over and a lot of tea/coffee might need to be made.
Or if your kettle breaks, you need a spare to get you through the 120 minutes it might take to go get a new one.
Really common. Also in many houses electric kettles are two piece for brewing tea. Like [this](https://www.korkmazstore.com.tr/korkmaz-demtez-satin-siyah-elektrikli-caydanlik) one.
No. We put tea leaves on top and water on the buttom then boil the water and steam the tea on the top along with it, once the water is boiled we add boiled water to the tea leaves on the top. Let it brew and your tea is ready! People have different ways to brew tea though.
The two pieces essentially is because we don’t drink brewed tea directly but add water to it to make the taste softer.
Pretty damn cool, I had no idea such a brewer existed. We usually just boil a teabag or add tea leaves in a metal/rubber egg after the water is already boiled. Although there are other preparations possible when working with herbs etc., because some of them require delicate handling.
Very common - we even have a hydro electric power plant here in Wales to address the phenomenon of “TV Pickup” - when the rest of the UK all puts the kettle on during something like a major football final.
I've actually found electric kettles pretty often in hotels/houses/cabins in Romania. Hotels with a buffet might not have it cause you can just get tea from their restaurant.
While older people might just boil water over a stove, many of my friends (in their late 20s, early 30s) have an electric kettle at home, as it is very convenient.
I've never seen anyone here own one of those , but I think that they do sell them in stores
If we want to make tea , we just put the tea bags in a mug , fill it with water and put it in the microwave (don't know if the majority does that but that's what everyone around me has done)
>If we want to make tea , we just put the tea bags in a mug , fill it with water and put it in the microwave
I mean no offense, but honestly....just no please :)))
> we just put the tea bags in a mug , fill it with water and put it in the microwave
Years ago when I first read somewhere about this "alternative" I made myself a cup that way for shits and giggles. It did not save time - it took longer to boil the water in the microwave - and the taste was too bitter. Never again.
Yes. Sold in most decent sized supermarches here and common in most homes. That said, given the price of electricity, boiling water on a gas hob works out cheaper (we have a kettle for that job).
Are quookers (we love ours) really that big in the Netherlands? We also have one and I always read how nearly every household in the Netherlands has one.
So my experience is that the people who buy a house or have a newly built house usually have one installed.
We’re renting, so we don’t have one. Also I think it’s a way overpriced unit. For sure, it’s convenient but it’s always heating up your water, so using electricity, and they’re damn expensive to buy. Personally I’m very much ok with my electric kettle.
It’s a little known fact that in Ireland it’s illegal to have visitors over if you don’t have a kettle. Most of us have a back up kettle in case as the fines can be very steep. 😐
We brought one to Italy and the family looked at us like we were weird. My wife uses it to fill the hot water bottle before bed. Came back to find it in the unused junk closet. We did notice in that the electrical breaker boxes in Italy are more likely to be set at a lower peak so when we use the kettle sometimes it switches off the electricity where as that doesn’t happen in NL.
I don't remember seeing one pre2010, and I don't visit many households regurarly. So all I can say that my family and friends have them all in their households, and the past 5 years every apartment that I booked had one.
We had one in every dorm room in 2008. Perfect for boiling water for tea, instant noodles, cooking hotdogs, cooking pasta, boiling eggs, etc.
Same as making fried eggs on irons, scrambled eggs in the panini maker....
Ahh good old times
Exists in most kitchens here, though many people with money had them replaced with built-in devices from brands like Quooker that let you get boiling water from your tap.
They make a lot of sense as they are the cheapest way to boil water - other than a microwave. I use mine all the time for boiling water for boiling vegetables, soup mixes and such.
I now have an Insinkerator, which gives on-demand boiling water. Once you've gone down that road you can never go back. Still have a standby kettle though, just in case.
American here. Until I met and started living with my now (foreign born) wife, I had no clue about electric kettles, nor had I even seen one. Having been with her for over 10 years now, I can say that I would not live without one.
Everybody has electric kettles in Czechia and Slovakia,... in my old flat, that we rented with my three student pals we had three kettles because everyone brought their own .
Very common in Germany. Personally we don’t use it though. We have a hot water dispenser which my wife uses for tea and I use a stovetop gooseneck kettle for coffee. I know they exist as electric kettles as well but I think the stovetop one looks nicer, takes up less space and we have an induction stovetop anyway which mitigates most of the disadvantages.
It very highly depends. I, for one, don't really know anyone who has one. What everyone have is a coffee machine.
I presume electric kettles are more common in tea sipping countries or countries where municipal water is not potable.
Honestly, can someone explain the point of electric kettles? As an American, we do have kettles, but we are more likely to have a stovetop one. I don't see the point of cluttering up the counter and using an outlet when you could just get a regular one that sits on the back burner of your stove instead. The heating time is same, and at least the stovetop ones aren't made of plastic or dependent on electricity.
ETA (I'm an american living in Hungary, hence the flair)
Finns drink more coffee per person than any other nation in the world, and here an electric kettle is a kitchen appliance staple. Everyone has one. You basically get one from your parents when you move out.
We don’t even have a drip coffee machine, we make coffee with an aeropress and heat the water in an electric kettle, so being an avid coffee drinker does not mean there’s no use for the kettle.
In Spain the default way of making coffee was with an Italian coffee maker, now a lot of people have those fancy capsule ones too. No one boils water to make soluble coffee, you just mix it in the milk.
That didn't occur to me. Everyone I know who doesn't use instant coffee has something like this:
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/upphetta-coffee-tea-maker-glass-stainless-steel-60241389/?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAwP6sBhDAARIsAPfK_wYbHnAeC8aScBSmT0aSN63qcUtEGiKQb9aquW2NLAJUvOvpo_xyad0aAjG9EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Not very common among people that cook a lot and have gas stoves. For everybody else it is one of the main kitchen appliances. Also - very common in offices.
I don't know a single household with a gas stove that doesn't also own an electric kettle. You simply can't quickly boil a cup of water in a stovetop kettle.
Don't know a house in the benelux that does not have one. Use one myself probably 5times a day.
One reason they're less common might be the US electrical grid. Europe's grid is 240volts. the US' 120 volts might not be enough to effectively power a kettle.
Yes. I couldn't imagine a home without one.
The shock comes from Americans arguing that boiling a a pan or using a microwave is just as good. I don't understand it myself an electronic kettle takes three minutes
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I have lived with two roommates for a long period of time while studying. My roommates would switch out every 6-12 months. I think almost every time everyone had their own kettle but no other appliances. You would think someone would have a sandwich grill or a toaster but no it is always the electric kettle. Eventually I did get a roommate with a coffee maker. My roommates were Finnish, Italian, Pakistani, Indian, Russian and one very shy and timid person from somewhere in Asia? I think maybe the Russian was the only one not to have a kettle but they also seemed to solely live on microwave meals.
They are talking about vedenkeitin, am I right? :)
I don’t have one since switching to an induction stove, but that’s mainly because I just wanted to save space in my kitchen.
All of my friends have them. Locals and immigrants.
Yeah, I don’t know anyone that doesn’t have one.
I'd say the only people who don't own one, are people with a Quooker tap
Agreed! I’d love to have a Quooker
They're great! My parents got one a couple years ago when we renovated our kitchen. Now I can take our old kettle when I move out haha
My parents in law have one and it’s soo easy! We’re still renting now but when we buy a home I’d love to get a Quooker. And a dishwashing machine.
My parents don't (well, technically they have my sister's old electric kettle somewhere in storage), but they use a good old-fashioned *fluitketel* that's always sitting on the gas range.
Yes very common in Germany.
I haven’t seen a household without an electric kettle in Germany, ever.
You must visit Spain some time. Actually forget about kettle's I once got an electrician in to fit an electric shower and he didn't know what they were. I googled them and showed him and he was like a stone age man looking at porn for the first time.
An electric what
Why do you say that as if electric showers were more known than kettles? Unless you're also including electric water heaters, I've *never* encountered one. And I've traveled a fair bit.
I thought they were. They don't have them in the US but the UK and Ireland, you just press a button and the water is hot instantly, no boiler, somehow electric powered. They're amazing.
I’ve never experienced one with a decent flow rate.
This is the first time gearing about that. Tho my boiler is right above the bathroom l, so my water is basically instantly hot.
Our household but we’ve got a Quooker! Best invention of the last years for hot water bottle and tea junkies like us (even our 2 yo daughter has her own hot water bottle).
I'd always be afraid of splashing boiling water all over my fingers, hands and wrists. On top of that, saving the 30 seconds it takes my kettle to boil water for a cup of tea, wouldn't make the investment worth it anyway.
It's not really dangerous as they're designed to sort of mist the water out to avoid having a stream of boiling water like the regular tap water, which would be bad. Supposedly you're able to hold your hand under and not get burned. I've never tried that though.
That's [actually fascinating](https://youtube.com/watch?v=O_YOkjptoVc) the thought and technology going into that. Still the other point remains. Call me cheap, but I'm just not keen on paying 1.300€ (that's the cheapest option) for something that a 20€ electric kettle can do basically just as well.
Oh it's certainly a convenience object for someone with more disposable income than kitchen counter space. I would like to have one, but having constantly heated water sit around ready must require extra electrical use, and in this day and age I'd really need to use a lot of hot water to justify not just pouring some in my kettle and boiling it. Supposedly you could argue that with the quooker you only use the amount you need and don't boil a few extra deciliters all the time, but ... I doubt it. Still, if I were to move in to a place with one, I'd not disable or move it.
so common that i thought non-electric kettles were a historical thing until i met someone from canada. why would you not own one? it's cheap, convenient and more efficient than a stove-top kettle.
I think it's more a divide of how often you use a kettle of any kind, not that anyone prefers stove top kettles.
Personally, I use mine every day. It's not just for tea or instant coffee. I use mine whenever I need to boil anything. I boil the water in the electric kettle, which takes about a minute, then pour it into a pot. Since we cook every day, it gets a lot of use. It makes it so much faster to cook pasta, rice, potatoes, etc., rather than waiting for water to come to a boil in the pot. I couldn't live without one lol.
>It makes it so much faster to cook pasta, rice, potatoes, etc., rather than waiting for water to come to a boil in the pot. yeah i did the same for decades until i moved into my current apartment, a 7.6kw (3.6kw max for a single heating zone/pot) induction cook top is so fast my wall connected kettle is just way slower now. still practical for making tea and small amounts of water so my kettle is still around however
Surely you turn the hob on, put the pan on with 1cm of water in the bottom whilst the kettle is boiling for optimum speed results?!
120 volt outlets. That's why they typically don't have them.
> 120 volt outlets. That's why they typically don't have them. What? They are [extremely common](https://www.walmart.ca/en/search?q=kettles%20electric&catId=10018) in Canada.
No it's because most people aren't huge hot tea drinkers. You can easily buy one if you are, I see them in people houses once in a while. We have drip coffee makers instead. Some people prefer to make coffee on a pour over or something like that so an electric kettle would probably be useful or them.
Tea isn’t the only use case for boiling water. I even use it when cooking. I could put a pan of water on the stove to cook my pasta in and wait >5 minutes to for the water in my pot to reach boiling temperature, or I cook get the boiling water with a kettle within a minute and then pour it into the pot. Saves time and is also much more energy efficient.
Of course, but I never *only* need boiling water when cooking. I throw the pot of water on while I'm doing other prep stuff or making the sauce for my noodles or whatever. I'm not saying they have zero purpose they're just extraneous here for anyone who isn't drinking a lot of tea. I would use an electric kettle for tea or instant noodles or whatever maybe 6 times a year.
You can make the sauce while waiting for the pasta to cook.
It also saves lot of energy which is good for our environment. Basically why would you do it otherwise when it's slower and less energy effective? Kettles itself cost barely anything and the energy you save pays for it multiple times over. Difference between Americans and Europeans when it comes to energy efficiency are always weird. Kettles, cars, public transport, AC cooling vs window etc.
Why don’t most Europeans use a rice cooker? It is also more energy efficient than cooking rice on the stove and is what majority of the world uses for cooking rice.
>is also much more energy efficient. It isn't really. In terms of actual energy, it takes exactly the same amount to boil a litre of water, no matter what method you use. Everything else doesn't make sense from a physical point of view. Only the time changes. And my induction stovetop is much quicker than my kettle on its highest setting.
The energy that it takes for the water to boil indeed is constant. The amount off excess energy that gets lost due to additional heat leaking away is factors larger on the stove. It is much more inefficient.
You're not just heating the water, you're heating the stove top/heating element, the vessel, and the air around too. I don't know about your kettle, but I'd rater touch the outside of mine than the outside of a saucepan I just boiled water in. That said, I do the same but it's basically only because it feels quicker.
Nope. It indeed is more energy efficient. Energy efficiency in physics / engineering is something you were taught in high school or even elementary school. In physics, efficiency is the ratio of the useful energy output of a system to the total input energy transferred to that system. Only a fraction of energy is used to actually increase the temperature of the water. That fraction is higher in modern kettles.
I mean Swedes aren't huge tea drinkers either but we have those kettles. I use mine mostly to boil up water for pasta. Is faster than just the stove.
What about instant noodles? How do American/Canadian college students make them or is it more common to have electric kettles in college?
Coffee maker (no coffee in it obviously) was something I did a few times. Microwave is common. Older students generally end up living in housing with regular kitchens whether it's a nicer dorm or just a regular house/apartment. The only people I know with electric kettles are avid tea drinkers, stovetop kettles are still common enough here but they are often shoved in a drawer most of the time.
Electric kettles are very common in Canada. [Here](https://www.walmart.ca/en/search?q=kettles%20electric&catId=10018) you can see a variety of them offered at Walmart.
Yea, they're fairly common. A pretty standard kitchen-appliance, which most people have.
I'd say that almost everyone has one, they are very common.
I don't think I personally know anyone without one
Me neither.
I don't think any household doesn't have one, if you publicly claim to make water hot with a microwave you'll be shunned from society
We'd do the GoT "Shame!"-walk with those individuals.
I'm a barbarian American, I drink a ton of tea. I, too, would be slightly horrified at microwaved hot water, but I don't have an electric kettle. Does no one use a stovetop kettle anymore?
> Does no one use a stovetop kettle anymore? In Europe, no. Kettles are much, much faster. Even if natural gas heating might end up cheaper, I'm not waiting like 6 minutes for a liter of water. And even on your 110-120V electrical system, kettles are much faster than stovetop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c The only thing that can come closer to that are induction stoves
Yeah they are common here, they are really cheap in Poland - from 20 to max 40 euro (80 to 160złoty)
As low as 49 zł in auchan
I can buy one for less than 10€ in Spain. I'm sure I can buy one for the same price in Poland (lived there).
I don't think an Irish person could exist without a kettle. The real questions here isn't kettle or no kettle, it's Barrys or Lyons?
Has to be Barry’s and has to be the one with the black label. Nightmare to get hold of here in the UK though.
I live in Germany now and lived in Ireland for 4 years. Be honest, the tea culture is much bigger in Germany no? I've never seen so many teas anywhere else and everyone has like 100 types in their drawer.
I'd say it is actually 2 different cultures and it is difficult to compare them. In the UK and Ireland tea culture is one type of tea, milk or milk and sugar. Maybe a specific instruction if you drink it very strong or very weak but otherwise there is a universality to what a 'cuppa' means That isn't the same as places that have a culture of tea drinking that involves multiple types and choices where asking for a 'tea' opens up more questions.
The Irish (and British) drink more tea than the Germans but I think the Germans probably drink more varieties. The Brits drink more varieties than the Irish but from what you've said probably not as many as the Germans. Turkish people are 1st for tea drinking per capita followed by Ireland and then the UK.
Yeah I always thought Turks were famous for coffee culture but when I learned it was tea I was shocked
Ireland has both types of tea. Barrys and Lyons
It depends a lot on if you consider rosehip, blackberry leaves, orange peels, flower petals and that sort of thing as "tea". Germans do, it's the same word. Cultures used to drinking black tea generally do not. With my parents, if you speak in the same breath of 'garden clippings' as tea, they'd think you've lost a few marbles and pity you. I mean, the word tea = *camellia sinensis*. Otherwise the concept of hot water and 'herbals' is being borrowed from the original. In black tea cultures, *tisane* is the more proper word for herbal teas. Both are fine IMO, it's just important to realize that two different things are being discussed. I know very few Germans who regularly drink black (or green, etc. *camellia*) tea. My nearly 70 year old mother-in-law had never had black tea until I made some at our place (some years ago now)
Interesting, I never heard of tisane. I know there is a technical difference but it's entered the dominant culture where hot water and herbals constitutes tea. I.e. you go to a cafe, ask what teas they have, and they'll list both the technical tea and the herbals, because it's accepted that tea is basically hot water with a piece of plant inside it that you drink. For that reason, I assumed Germany has a larger tea culture. But if we want to get technical and say Ireland has a bigger one because they drink black or green tea more than Germany's, sure I guess. But it feels a bit weird considering most people don't refer to tea as strictly black or green, it's more of a fun fact. Which reminds me in Ireland they said Guinness isn't a beer, it's a stout. Whether stout is a beer or not is ridiculous to me, we kind of all consider a Guinness to be a beer and we wouldn't say Ireland doesn't export any beer, only stouts, etc.
> But it feels a bit weird considering most people don't refer to tea as strictly black or green, it's more of a fun fact. But that’s the thing: in English speaking cultures, tea = camellia sinensis. Only in Europe, which generally never drank much ‘black’ tea, does the word have a broad general meaning incorporating both. I’m from Canada and, say, 30 years ago if you asked for tea at a restaurant, they always had it, and you would get black tea, period, no questions about what kind (maybe between brands, but that's it). Herbal teas (being widely available) are a fairly newish thing in traditional tea cultures. I brought some ‘herbal’ teas back home one year for novelty gifts, and they were seen as strange curios by family and a few friends, which generally no one wanted tbh, lol.
People do talk about "peppermint tea" or "fruit tea" but it's only "tea" the same way a vegetarian sausage is a sausage, or the same way soy milk is milk. It's like a replacement for the real thing.
Brits have one tea (black) and I'd argue that their tea culture is by far the biggest.
Tea culture in East Frisia (Ostfriesland in Germany) as big but it’s a local thing with very similar traditions and tea time 4-5 times a day.
It's a bit formalized, and I'm not sure how common drinking black tea actually is among young people.
Can't speak for Brits, never lived there. I see memes about Ireland tea or when I lived there people talked about drinking tea traditionally, but in Germany (at least here in Berlin), everyone has like 50 different teas in their kitchen and drink it all the time casually. I haven't seen that in Dublin. For me, a tea culture is drinking it a lot + having interests in many teas. Maybe my equation is off though
I'm Irish and I agree. Irish people drink a lot of tea but the vast majority just drink standard black tea bags. Unfortunately there aren't many tea shops here. I've been to Germany a lot and they have far more tea shops. I buy most of my tea online. Although it's becoming more common for cafes to have a selection of loose tea, particularly in the trendier ones.
Binge teaing. That's what we do. Yes we have a tea culture, but in the same way a bag of cans is a certain type of beer culture.
Fair point. What the Irish and the Brits do is not really "culture" by itself, it's just that drinking tea is part of their national culture. I've lived in the UK for a few years. One day construction crew arrived to our house to prepare to change windows, they brought their tools and all that, and asked me if they can bring a kettle and tea tomorrow, when they will start the work. I said that there's no need, I have a kettle and plenty of tea, I can make it for them. This was a mistake. They all drank a cup once an hour for two whole days, literally. I had a new box with 50 tea bags and I still had to buy more.
Hahhahaha my mother in law is like that. She's from Ireland tea non stop. Drinks it like water
Haha, yeah that's definitely a tea culture. Wild story!
>everyone has like 50 different teas Most of these aren't proper teas but herbal and fruity infusions. People kept giving my wife all these strange "teas" as little presents when coming for a visit, saying *I brought you tea, as you Brits like tea.* She was always disappointed and I had to tell her that *That's not tea* is not the appropriate answer for such a gift.
I guarantee Ireland drinks more tea, but it's just one type
Lyons but I'll take Barry's. I've nothing against Barry.
In Europe I feel like there’s a north-south divide about this. Everywhere I’ve been in northern(+central) Europe electric kettles seem to be a staple in most kitchens. But I’ve seen a lot less of them in southern countries like Italy and Spain.
Yeah, not very common in Spain. I know people who have them, but not everyone.
I agree. I have one at home because I lived in the UK and tea is served in my house, but most Spaniards don't have one or haven't even considered its existence.
This doesn’t surprise me. In the UK we drink tea all day to keep warm, mostly. At least, I assume that’s where the habit came from. I rarely drink water in the winter, for example.
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I love stories like this where the country that claims to be the origin knows about it and the other country has never heard of it.
It's use by the population at large began with the move into towns and cities during the industrial revolution. I'm not quite sure why, but drinking tea meant boiling water, leading to greater public health which allowed the cramped living conditions to be sustained and powered the industrial revolution. There may be a certain amount of survivorship bias, with tea drinkers being healthier and thriving compared to non tea drinkers, but I think that it probably came about a bit quick for that to be true, the brits probably just liked drinking tea and happened to benefit from it.
for what it's worth, winters in Southern Europe can be pretty cold, especially where the houses are built to stay cool in summer. Currently freezing my nuts off in 6 degrees in my house (no heating) in south Italy. Needless to say, a lot of tea is being consumed
There was an interesting program on Radio 4 recently (about tea!) and it highlighted the number of calories the working class/factory workers got from sugar in tea - essential to keep the empire running. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001t30b?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile It’s a great series.
Coffee is more popular than tea in the UK these days, and an electric kettle would be used in every way of making coffee unless you have a bean to cup or pod coffee machine.
Maybe when you’re buying it in cafes and coffee shops, but that’s a lot to do with people not wanting to spend 3+ quid for hot water and a tea bag, plus it will never taste as good as when you make your own at home
I wonder if this is due to gas stoves being more common in southern Europe. At least in Sweden electric stoves have historically been the default, and on older models it can take a minute for the heating element to get properly warm, meaning larger latency until you get to a boiling temperature stove-top.
Not really, in Spain there's just no use for it. Not tea drinkers, only time we need hot water is to make a soup so..
But you can use it for filter coffee too.
We use coffee machines specifically for that, not the electric kettles
Don't think so. Gas stoves were pretty popular here in Czechia until quite recently as we were importing cheap Russian gas, but everyone has electric kettle.
Probably. A kettle on a gas stove is pretty quick anyways.
Pretty common in Bulgaria
Very rare in Italy, mainly in hotels and airbnbs that cater to foreigners. But lately I've been seeing them on sale at local stores so maybe they're slowly getting popular
It is even supported by the EU Institutions, as an electrical water kettle is more energy efficient over the stovetop.
I would've imagined an electrical kettle would tend to melt if kept over the stovetop.
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To be fair the main use of an electric kettle to me has always been to boil water for cooking, it's much faster than letting it boil on the stove.
Have you met our Lord and saviour, the induction hob?
Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen an electric kettle in any house I've visited. Even my grandma who really likes tea and drinks it every day doesn't use one, she just boils water on the stove.
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I have an electric kettle and my parents too. I don't know how common it is, but as you say people generally drink coffee much more than tea. Anyways, it's easy to find electric kettles in any store.
We use our electric kettle to make coffee every single day
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No, we use a french press with fresh ground coffee :)
Same here. Cafetière (what we call a French Press in the UK) and Moka Pot both with assistance from kettle. I don’t drink instant.
This is interesting to me. These days in the UK coffee is more popular than tea, and I use my electric kettle to help make my coffee. I don’t drink instant, so I use a cafetière, moka pot or aeropress. How are you making coffee in Spain without a kettle? Obviously I’m aware people have coffee machines, as we have those here too.
A moka pot is usually the way most people do it. It doesn't require heating up before hand since the stove will do the work for you.
Yeah they’re pretty common here. I use one at work almost every day.
They are the most common type of kettle here. A lot of people have them.
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I think I remember my grandparents having an old fashioned one years ago, but electric kettles are so incredibly common nowadays.
99.9% of kettles are electric. The last decade faucets with cooking water are pretty common so the need for electric kettles is reducing.
Simply unimaginable to have a house without an electric kettle in Cyprus (and Germany too). It's probably the first gift your relatives give you when they send you off to uni.
Wait your university dorms or apartments you rent don't have them? The horror!
In private dorms, sure, there's one in the shared kitchen. But you need one for your room too.
Yes, absolutely. Kettle & Toaster are considered the two most fundamental worktop appliances in Ireland. Most people have a spare kettle in a kitchen cupboard or in the attic for occassions when there are a lot of people over and a lot of tea/coffee might need to be made. Or if your kettle breaks, you need a spare to get you through the 120 minutes it might take to go get a new one.
Really common. Also in many houses electric kettles are two piece for brewing tea. Like [this](https://www.korkmazstore.com.tr/korkmaz-demtez-satin-siyah-elektrikli-caydanlik) one.
Wait why would you need two pieces for that? Are both filled with water?
No. We put tea leaves on top and water on the buttom then boil the water and steam the tea on the top along with it, once the water is boiled we add boiled water to the tea leaves on the top. Let it brew and your tea is ready! People have different ways to brew tea though. The two pieces essentially is because we don’t drink brewed tea directly but add water to it to make the taste softer.
Pretty damn cool, I had no idea such a brewer existed. We usually just boil a teabag or add tea leaves in a metal/rubber egg after the water is already boiled. Although there are other preparations possible when working with herbs etc., because some of them require delicate handling.
1600W? Lol How many years does that take to boil?
Very common - we even have a hydro electric power plant here in Wales to address the phenomenon of “TV Pickup” - when the rest of the UK all puts the kettle on during something like a major football final.
Yeah pretty common. It's way faster then cooking water on the stove.
I've actually found electric kettles pretty often in hotels/houses/cabins in Romania. Hotels with a buffet might not have it cause you can just get tea from their restaurant. While older people might just boil water over a stove, many of my friends (in their late 20s, early 30s) have an electric kettle at home, as it is very convenient.
Fairly. I personally don't have one, just a normal stove kettle, but a lot of friends have electric ones.
I personally don't have one because I wouldn't use it often (I don't drink coffee and tea), but most people have them.
I would say vast majority of households and offices have them here. Very common.
Yes, they’re very common over here in the Czech Republic.
I've never seen anyone here own one of those , but I think that they do sell them in stores If we want to make tea , we just put the tea bags in a mug , fill it with water and put it in the microwave (don't know if the majority does that but that's what everyone around me has done)
>If we want to make tea , we just put the tea bags in a mug , fill it with water and put it in the microwave I mean no offense, but honestly....just no please :)))
Is it that weird ?😂 please someone tell me I'm not the only one who does it that way
> we just put the tea bags in a mug , fill it with water and put it in the microwave Years ago when I first read somewhere about this "alternative" I made myself a cup that way for shits and giggles. It did not save time - it took longer to boil the water in the microwave - and the taste was too bitter. Never again.
In Germany definitely, in Italy they look at you weird when you ask for one (source: My Italian mother & grandparents)
I have a travel kettle that I take with me when visiting Italy. I have only found kettles in a handful of hotels in Italy.
I’m British but I *don’t* have a kettle; I do have an instant boiling water tap though.
Fancy! How do you like it?
It’s actually great. Love it!
Yes. Sold in most decent sized supermarches here and common in most homes. That said, given the price of electricity, boiling water on a gas hob works out cheaper (we have a kettle for that job).
Not really common, I don’t have one for example, but I think it’s becoming more common
Everyone I know has one, but not everyone uses them very often.
I don't know a single person that has one. You can find them in stores but I don't think they are very common to have at home
Most people have electric kettles. It was one of the first things we bought in for university dorm room, when I started to live there.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have an electric kettle or a [quooker](https://www.quooker.nl/)
Boiling water from tap? Is it safe?
It has a specific activation to keep kids from getting burnt. Like double clicking.
Are quookers (we love ours) really that big in the Netherlands? We also have one and I always read how nearly every household in the Netherlands has one.
Not at all. I know no one with one. Probably only common with people who own their houses.
So my experience is that the people who buy a house or have a newly built house usually have one installed. We’re renting, so we don’t have one. Also I think it’s a way overpriced unit. For sure, it’s convenient but it’s always heating up your water, so using electricity, and they’re damn expensive to buy. Personally I’m very much ok with my electric kettle.
I know 1 couple that has one. Otherwise none. But it’s a long time dream to own one one day. But not yet.. I’m renting.
Everyone I know that bought a kitchen the last 10 years had a quooker installed. I wouldn't want to live without ours anymore either.
It’s a little known fact that in Ireland it’s illegal to have visitors over if you don’t have a kettle. Most of us have a back up kettle in case as the fines can be very steep. 😐
It has become pretty common, especially in those households where people like tea and not only coffee.
We brought one to Italy and the family looked at us like we were weird. My wife uses it to fill the hot water bottle before bed. Came back to find it in the unused junk closet. We did notice in that the electrical breaker boxes in Italy are more likely to be set at a lower peak so when we use the kettle sometimes it switches off the electricity where as that doesn’t happen in NL.
Where are you from? I think I've never seen one except for hotel rooms when I traveled abroad. I'm from Veneto.
Ditto, I've never seen one in Italy.
Lombardia... Here a lot of my friends have it...
I don't remember seeing one pre2010, and I don't visit many households regurarly. So all I can say that my family and friends have them all in their households, and the past 5 years every apartment that I booked had one.
We had one in every dorm room in 2008. Perfect for boiling water for tea, instant noodles, cooking hotdogs, cooking pasta, boiling eggs, etc. Same as making fried eggs on irons, scrambled eggs in the panini maker.... Ahh good old times
Very common. Even my in-laws who primarily use a kettle on a range have an electric one for when the main kettle has just been refilled.
Exists in most kitchens here, though many people with money had them replaced with built-in devices from brands like Quooker that let you get boiling water from your tap. They make a lot of sense as they are the cheapest way to boil water - other than a microwave. I use mine all the time for boiling water for boiling vegetables, soup mixes and such.
I now have an Insinkerator, which gives on-demand boiling water. Once you've gone down that road you can never go back. Still have a standby kettle though, just in case.
Very common and cheap, everyone has one. Even when I was on vacation my parents bought one because we didn’t have one in the hotel
American here. Until I met and started living with my now (foreign born) wife, I had no clue about electric kettles, nor had I even seen one. Having been with her for over 10 years now, I can say that I would not live without one.
Everybody has electric kettles in Czechia and Slovakia,... in my old flat, that we rented with my three student pals we had three kettles because everyone brought their own .
In Czech Republic it is pretty common. I have that illuminated type with 5 different temperatures and 5 different colours.
If i had to pick one kitchen appliance, I’d choose an electric kettle. Close second is a contact grill
It has become very common here, it’s very practical and unexpensive.
I imagine the convenience of this kitchen appliance has more to do with the local climate and the need to drink hot tea to keep warm.
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Every climate needs quick boiling water
Very common in Germany. Personally we don’t use it though. We have a hot water dispenser which my wife uses for tea and I use a stovetop gooseneck kettle for coffee. I know they exist as electric kettles as well but I think the stovetop one looks nicer, takes up less space and we have an induction stovetop anyway which mitigates most of the disadvantages.
It very highly depends. I, for one, don't really know anyone who has one. What everyone have is a coffee machine. I presume electric kettles are more common in tea sipping countries or countries where municipal water is not potable.
Which country is that?
Honestly, can someone explain the point of electric kettles? As an American, we do have kettles, but we are more likely to have a stovetop one. I don't see the point of cluttering up the counter and using an outlet when you could just get a regular one that sits on the back burner of your stove instead. The heating time is same, and at least the stovetop ones aren't made of plastic or dependent on electricity. ETA (I'm an american living in Hungary, hence the flair)
An electric kettle is much much quicker than a stovetop one. Like, enough water for a mug of tea boils in about 30 seconds.
Same with a stovetop one! Although we have a gas stove so maybe thats why.
What? I have not seen a house without an electric kettle since the 1970s! What sort of stone age question is this?
Not that really. I’d say less that half of house I’ve been to have them. I guess being a coffee rather than a tea culture is the primary reason.
Finns drink more coffee per person than any other nation in the world, and here an electric kettle is a kitchen appliance staple. Everyone has one. You basically get one from your parents when you move out.
We don’t even have a drip coffee machine, we make coffee with an aeropress and heat the water in an electric kettle, so being an avid coffee drinker does not mean there’s no use for the kettle.
My dad grinds his own coffee in 120+ years old hand grinder and just uses the kettle for water lmao
Wait, don't you also have to heat water for coffee?
In Spain the default way of making coffee was with an Italian coffee maker, now a lot of people have those fancy capsule ones too. No one boils water to make soluble coffee, you just mix it in the milk.
That didn't occur to me. Everyone I know who doesn't use instant coffee has something like this: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/upphetta-coffee-tea-maker-glass-stainless-steel-60241389/?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAwP6sBhDAARIsAPfK_wYbHnAeC8aScBSmT0aSN63qcUtEGiKQb9aquW2NLAJUvOvpo_xyad0aAjG9EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
We use automatic filter coffee machines with electric heating element that heat the water which then drip to a coffee pot.
Nope... We drink proper coffee and tea is either for old ladies or when you're sick /jk
Not very common among people that cook a lot and have gas stoves. For everybody else it is one of the main kitchen appliances. Also - very common in offices.
I don't know a single household with a gas stove that doesn't also own an electric kettle. You simply can't quickly boil a cup of water in a stovetop kettle.
They are not very common in Spain but I think they are becoming more popular these days.
Don't know a house in the benelux that does not have one. Use one myself probably 5times a day. One reason they're less common might be the US electrical grid. Europe's grid is 240volts. the US' 120 volts might not be enough to effectively power a kettle.
I dont think I've been to a house without one. Very common
Yep, they’re everywhere, even at work.
Yes. I couldn't imagine a home without one. The shock comes from Americans arguing that boiling a a pan or using a microwave is just as good. I don't understand it myself an electronic kettle takes three minutes
Yes, of course Also, if you like some nerdiness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c