Russell Hobbs KE5550BKR Retro Style 1.7L Electric Kettle, Black & Stainless Steel

I love the color and shape of my kettle on the counter. It doesn’t really match anything in my kitchen but it seems to make it all the more charming. I love how handy it is to turn on or off. Just the flick of a little lever. Works great. I keep it filled so it’s always ready to make a cup or a pot of tea. Today I made instant oatmeal without messing up the microwave. So cute and a good quality. It is thinner metal than I expected but at least it keeps it lightweight for my arthritic hands. It’s adorable and handy. I use it every day.

I've been very pleased with this kettle after using it heavily over the past few weeks. Operation is single-button simple, the kettle heats water quickly and retains the temperature for a decent length of time, and the enamel-like finish is very attractive. The kettle is a large vessel, but the weight is balanced in such a way that you can fill and pour without giving yourself carpal tunnel syndrome. My favorite feature is the low-profile heating base the kettle rests on. When the water finishes heating you can remove the kettle from the base, but the base itself remains completely cool. This is a nice feature, as you aren't leaving behind a hot element to worry about. This kettle is a pleasure to use, and well-worth the price.

I bought this several months ago and use it at least twice a day. I love the Heavenly Blue color, the retro look, and the front dial showing the water temperature. I typically only use this for tea on a cold day, but I also use it twice a day to heat up water for my dog's kibble. It takes several minutes for the faucet to produce warm water and I used to microwave my water, but now it's just so much more convenient with an electric kettle. Now I just flip down the switch on the Hobbs and it's done in a matter of a minute. I can switch it off when it hits a certain temperature, or just let it turn off automatically when it's done. You really can't miss what you've never had, but after having one of these, I will never be without one.

I found this when looking for kettles with variable temperature controls for making different kinds of tea. I liked the way it looked and thought that even though it didn't have the temperature presets and automatic controls that others did, the large temperature gauge would be a workable alternative. The kettle does in fact have a nice, unique look. It heats water quickly and has a great, smooth pour. So far so good. For me, it fell short when it came to controlling the temperature of the water. My plan was to watch the gauge and turn it off when it got to the desired temperature. You can do definitely do this, but it's not as easy as I'd like. The markings are 9 degrees apart and that reduces precision. More importantly, I found that I had to look at the gauge at eye level in order to get a decent reading. Since I'm a taller than my kitchen counter, this got old fast. I ended up returning the kettle. Verdict: It's a nice kettle that works well. But, if you're obsessive about controlling the temperature of your water like I am, it's not ideal.

After going through 2 cheap $20 electric kettles within 5 months -- first one lasted 3 months, the other two, before they each developed a short -- I decided to upgrade in the hopes of having a kettle that would at least last through the end of the year. I really like this Russell Hobbs. It holds plenty of water for two coffee and tea loving people (and enough to supply the entire family at Sunday brunch). The water heats up fast, within 5 minutes even when filled to the top line. And I like the retro styling which fits in with my farmhouse-style kitchen. I've even been able to use the temperature gauge to heat water to a precise temperature for bread making -- not that I'd recommend it, because it hits that low temperature in about 30 seconds -- but I gauged it against my instant thermometer and the temperature matched. So it's very accurate. So, fingers crossed that this lovely kettle will last for much longer than a bargain-store kettle. I'll keep you posted.

Beautiful, fast, lots of hot water. Love this! We purchased this after I broke my pretty ceramic kettle. We’ve had this one for a few months now and I’m really happy with it. Every time I see it I think wow, that’s a good looking kettle! It holds a lot of water so I don’t have to refill often and o can make plenty of tea or coffee for guest. I like the thermometer so I can have brew tea at the ideal temperature. I also like that it’s short and wide vs tall. It’s also very light so I’m handling mostly water weight vs kettle weight. Thank you!!!

The QC for this product is trash. Customer service is unresponsive. I replaced my first one since it is lacking a screw on the lid, making the lid hard to open. The second one seems good. But it started leaking right after 1 month of usage. The water enters temperature gauge and leaks out from it. Then the temperature gauge turned rusty due to the water in it not coming out. So both product I received are defective. I contacted their customer service and created a ticket. They only got to contact me after 3 days and never got replied in the same day. They required me to send money order of $7.5 for the product replacement. I sent it a month ago and they NEVER MAKE ANY UPDATE to me. So I sent email for the status, and was told my requirements are met and that I need to wait for email of a tracking number. I have waited 3 weeks for the email notification but nothing had come, even though I sent one asking for update. But now the customer service is not even replying to any of my email. The customer service is just a scam and the product has the worst QC I have ever met. (never met defective products two in a row, and asking for my money to cover their problem)

This product seems about the same as any other electric kettle as in, it does the job. I do appreciate the temperature gauge feature since I just learned that you should brew different teas at different temps. Good features~~ *clean look, not modern clean but clean simple look (shiny, I like shiny) *brings the water to a boil quicker than the stove which is fine, not in a big hurry but no complaints and it shuts off automatically. I put refrigerator cold filtered water in to the limit and it took two minutes so it's pretty quick if that matters to you. *ergonomically comfortable--it is not heavy even with the water. By the look, I thought it would be heavy but not so. The handle is comfortable and secure feeling. *plentiful volume at 1.7 liters (main reason I wanted one since my little gooseneck stove top kettle is barely a liter) *doesn't spatter when boiling. Does get hot to touch so beware if you have little people, hairy counter walkers or forgetfuls around. *easy as anything to clean (wide opening in the top and easy to remove lid) *recommendation is to clean with a good soak of vinegar monthly to keep the hard water from mucking up the works (seems reasonable) Meh features~~ * I expected to be more excited about the look and feel but it is just so-so. I would never pay the full price at around $80. This is no better than a $30 Hamilton Beach or similar. I ordered one from amazon warehouse that supposedly had a bit of minor damage to the lid or side but there is no damage--got lucky. More good than Meh I guess. If you love the look, the functionality is what you would expect.

Súper bonita y calienta muy rápido. Su capacidad excelente para toda la familia

Tengo 3 meses usándola y hasta el momento no ha fallado, esta muy bonita y es super producto lo recomiendo ampliamente.

Es muy fácil de usar, la limpieza no es tan sencilla ya que debes dejarla toda la noche con vinagre para limpiarla aún que es una vez al mes como mínimo

Me encantó el diseño, hierve el agua en poco más de 5 minutos! Es súper fácil de usar. El asa no se calienta en absoluto, el lugar en donde la colocas no se calienta en absoluto. El cuerpo de la hervidora si se calienta es lógico, pero lo curioso es que la parte de abajo de la hervidora cuando la quitas de la base después de hervir el agua solamente queda tibia lo cual es genial porque la puedes colocar en cualquier lado después de hervir, de cualquier forma yo pongo una base para cosas calientes. Sí la recomiendo no te arrepentirás!

Excelente producto , bonito , elegante y de gran calidad