Sunday, November 23, 2014

Review of Brentwood 1.2L SS Cordless Tea Kettle Brushed

Brentwood 1.2 Liter Stainless Steel Tea Kettle Model KT-1770
Customer Ratings: 4.5 stars
List Price: $45.00
Sale Price: $20.30
Today's Bonus: 55% Off
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I drink tea every morning. Until a couple weeks ago, I was heating water in the microwave every morning. Then my brother-in-law informed me that was the least efficient way to heat water, I did some research and found he was right. I was very excited to get this electric kettle. I looked for one that could be lifted off the corded base, had an auto-shut-off, boiled water quickly so I could get out the door quickly in the morning, was not expensive, and did not have plastic in contact with the water that could leech BPA or other dangerous chemicals. I took a chance on this one based on what I saw and read here.

In most ways, this kettle works great. There's a light indicating when it's on, it heats 16 oz of water in a little over two minutes, is easy to handle, use, and pour. The plastic locking lid is a little awkward sometimes, just pushing it down does not always close it tightly, sometimes you have to pull the lock back with your finger at the same time.

But on the bottom of the box there is the California Proposition 65 warning (from the 1980s) that this product is made with chemicals known by the State of California to cause cancer or infertility. Ok, fine -which chemicals and are they going to leech into the water or are they say just on the lid or handle? I was unable to find any explanation or answer to that question.

On top of that, there is a strong odor inside this electric kettle when it gets hot. It is strong enough that if you boil water, pour the water out, open the lid, put your nose up to the top and take a deep breath, you will recoil a bit. It's not a disgusting or especially bad odor. I'm not able to identify what the source is, whether it's from hot plastic, or hot silicone, or something else. But in combination with the chemical warning (and I'm glad to be warned if it's not safe), I'm not willing to risk my health on a cheap electric kettle that might not be safe for the daily long-term use I intended for it.

I am trying to return the kettle. Since it was sold by an Amazon partner instead of Amazon proper, I am still waiting to hear whether that's possible and how to do so.

--UPDATE ---

Thank you for your comment. They accepted my return request within a few days.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I bought this for my boyfriend because he didn't own any form of kettle (crazy!!)

He uses it now to boil the water for his ramen noodles and instant coffee and he loves it!

The only thing is he says it takes a while to boil the water and maybe doing it by stove is faster than this kettle. It also doesn't keep the water hot long after it boils. It's good for him because there is only the plug and on/off switch so his technophobe mother can use it without freaking out :D

Good item for the price. Stainless steel helps prevent the plastic taste of water like the plastic kettles and doesn't leave residue like glass kettles after a while :)

-Water indication level when you open the top and look on the inside, there are rims indicating the minimum and maximum and something in between also.

-The Kettle detaches from the heater that gets plugged in at the bottom.

-Its very lightweight but it gets the job done. Once water is boiled, it shuts itself off.

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Hi all,

For years I have warmed up water for instant coffee and tea bags in the microwave. After seeing a similar, but larger, kettle that our son had, we decided to give this a try. It heats a cup of water to boiling in the same time as the microwave and we don't have to reach up to get the cup out of the microwave a plus since both of us are not tall. The auto-cutoff works as advertised. I recommend it without reservation.

Ben

Honest reviews on Brentwood 1.2L SS Cordless Tea Kettle Brushed

Will this water ever stop tasting like plastic? After six weeks of boiling water twice daily in the Brentwood tea kettle, it still tastes like plastic.Thinking it had to be from condensing water dripping down from the inside of the plastic cover, I tried leaving the cover open and blocking it with a china teapot lid. No luck, the boiled water still tastes like plastic, not my favorite flavor!

I had an aroma tea kettle of similar design which worked great and produced water flavored water, but it died suddenly after only a year of use. So I thought I would try a different brand and bought the Brentwood version.

If you want boiling water for washing your dirty socks, the Brentwood is for you;the toxic flavor may help kill the cooties in your socks, too. But for drinking or cooking, forget about it!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Brentwood 1.2L SS Cordless Tea Kettle Brushed

The kettle was a replacement for a plastic kind that I had used previously. After my "old" kettle broke down (the water level window popped off) I had decided to aim for something a bit better built without any windows or weaknesses where water could eventually find its way through.

Picked this kettle as it seemed to fit the criteria. No plastic cheap viewing window, won't break easily if dropped (not tested) unlike the glass kettle(s) and reviews seem favorable. Bought the kettle and put it to use as soon as it arrived on June 23rd 2011 (literally minutes after it arrived I had washed it, boiled one max fill and poured it down the drain to prep the kettle).

It has been used on daily bases (multiple times) up until about 3 days ago when I noticed that kettle is displaying curious symptoms, namely I will turn the kettle on and it would not boil water until I turn it off and then on again. Also sometimes it will start to boil the water but then cut out half way through or turn on and off in random cycles. It is still usable, simple turn off and on usually fixes the problem and kettle boils the water as expected.

It has lasted Almost 10 months without any issues, no spills, no leaks and nothing broke off (yet!). For the price I'd say it served it's purpose well enough although product life expectancy might be something to be longed for in this case. Having said that I am giving this product 4 stars out of 5. Others might have had better luck with their orders of this product however, so I would recommend basing your decision on more than one review.

UPDATE (December 3rd 2012): It has been almost a year and a half since I bought this kettle so I believe I can comment on it's performance and life-expectancy a bit better. Since the kettle is still operational (with occasional glitches described above) I have upgraded the rating to full 5 stars.

The kettle still works as well as it did when I wrote the original review. An occasional mishap when the kettle fails to turn on or cuts out during the use before it finishes the job it has survived through is not enough of an issue. It's more of a nuisance that I have learnt to accept. The kettle works as well as expected for a product that was designed by an imperfect being (a human I hope?).

The upgrade of the rating is due to the simple fact that the kettle has not developed any additional issues (no leaks, no broken parts or bits missing) ,it looks exactly as it did when it arrived 12.5 months ago (maybe not as clean I'll admit, since I can never get into little nooks an crannies around the handle).

UPDATE (March 15th 2013): A curious development with the kettle. The issue that I had described before where it would fail to turn on or it would turn off too early etc. has now vanished. Kettle is still performing as when it was when we first got it which actually amazes me as I am one of those people that think companies nowadays tend to design their products to fail within a certain period of time and therefore make us buy products more frequently. The kettle did not develop any new issues after being used every day on average about 4 times (sometimes more often). If I HAD to pick one thing to complain about I'd say that the base is too light which means that the heavy duty cable will move it about depending on how you have it positioned. Obviously this is picking at straws so to say, honestly it has lasted longer than any kettle I've used before (and I've used a few back in the UK). This one's definitely recommended if you want something that will last you.

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