Full description not available
B**E
Boiling Lessons
Ok, I am on again with my latest water kettle. This time seems different ... that is, better than other brands I have tried over the last one year. Four other manufacturers. AICOOK is the current maker. Model KT-Z1 to be precise.This kettle seems to be a higher quality than the aforementioned references. The prospect of "to the degree" temperature control has this coffee drinker anticipating various loose tea varieties infusing themselves into perfectly uniform filtered and heated water. But first, the boil test. Basic necessities. My home - thus the kettle - are situated about 4850 feet above sea level. At this altitude, the Boiling Point is about 203-204 degrees F. 212 degrees F is the sea level boiling point temperature. The instructions state if the kettle is used above 2000Meters, to fill the carafe with no more than 1500ML of water. The volume lines are clearly marked, and I poured to the mark. Turned the temperature selection knob until it indicated "Boil". Clicked the "On" button. Heard a beep. And saw an icon indicating a heating element. And away it climbed the temperture ladder powered by a 1200W heating element. Noticably slower than the 1500W models I had previously owned, but very acceptable nevertheless. In a short time (about 5 minutes) the 1500MLs of water reached 203-204F as indicated by the real time digital readout. Boiling test passed. Perfect score. I registered my purchase on the AICOOK website for an additional 1 year warranty extension. 3 year coverage in total. Of course, 20-20 foresight not being in my domain of skills and abilities, the longevity of both this particular reviewer and of this product are yet to be determined. If anything develops that should warrant a reduction of the Star rating and an amendment of this review, I shall do my utmost to bring this posting current.For the sake of being complete, I did utilize the temperature control at "Coffee" setting with success (good tasting pressed coffee). The "Keep Warm" function functions fine. I silenced (muted) the beeping, but turned the beeping on again because I liked the feedback when reaching the desired temperature setpoint. My wife loves the way the kettle looks and so do I. Happy brewing and infusing to you!
D**.
A nice improvement on our old kettle!
My husband bought me a Magic Mill electric kettle several years ago. I loved that thing and used it nearly every day (if not multiple times a day) for years. Sadly, last week it died and since they no longer make it, I had to find something new.There were a few non-negotiables: It had to have custom temperature control (my old one could adjust by 10 degrees). It needed to be glass. And it needed to have a "keep warm" feature.After scouring the internet, it boiled down (ha!) to this and one other kettle that met the basic criteria (and weren't ridiculously overpriced, like the Breville). What ultimately gave the nod to this one was that it could control to the +/- 1 degree. I probably won't use that a ton, but as an avid tea drinker, I love the control.The new kettle came in last night, and I'm very impressed so far! There are several notable improvements over our old kettle. First, it looks much more premium than our old kettle. I also really like that the digital display shows you the presets, in case I want to quickly pick the right temperature for, say, green tea. I like that it has the ability to turn off the beeping. I also love that the opening is very wide for easy cleaning (my last one I couldn't fit my hand into). And, unlike my last one, I can actually fill this one directly from the refrigerator water dispenser (even with just the small tea strainer lid removed). I thought I would miss the flip-top lid on my old one, but because I can fill it from the fridge, I find this is no longer something I miss. I was also pleased to see that this model comes with a grounded plug, whereas our old one did not. Also, there is no "lip" inside the Aicook (unlike our old one), so water flows easily and fully out of the kettle. No need to shake it out when emptying/cleaning.The feel of the kettle and controls is nice. The glass feels thick and durable. The water pours out nicely from the spout. The buttons click firmly. The adjustment wheel has a little more play in it than I would prefer. The wheel itself feels a bit wobbly, and the clicks aren't very distinct. But I haven't had any issue fine-tuning my adjustments with it, so as long as it remains durable I can live with this. The kettle rotates easily on the base, so you can point the handle in any direction you choose.There are a few things that are disappointing, but I can live with. First and foremost is that my old kettle was 1500 watts, and this one is 1200. I could not find a kettle with my other non-negotiables that was also 1500 watts, so I was forced to settle. Sadly, I can already tell the new one doesn't boil quite as fast as the old one. But it's not excessively different. I tested how long it takes to boil on the new one (I'm a little above sea level), and if I have water at the MIN line it takes about 4 minutes. At the halfway point it's about 8 minutes. And at the MAX line it took 11 minutes. Most of the time I am only boiling enough for a cup or two, so 4-5 minutes is not an excessive wait. My last one felt like I'd dump the water in and turn away to get the tea and it would practically be done boiling. Not a dealbreaker... but I do wish this were 1500 watts.In the more minor disappointment category, there's the lack of a filter at the spout, which my old one had. We have pretty hard water, and even with using filtered water in the kettle, we still develop a lot of scale fast. It's nice to have that filter just in case. Then again, since this one has a big, wide mouth, cleaning should be a lot easier and thus done more frequently, so maybe that won't be as much of an issue. My old kettle also had a light in the kettle which added a nice glow, and confirmation from afar that it was on/heating. This one does not have such a feature. Again, not a dealbreaker, though I have already had an instance where I thought I set and started heating on the new one, and it didn't actually start (I think I forgot to hit the start button again), but on my last kettle, I would have had a quicker clue that I had missed something.The tea strainer it comes with seems like it has a very fine mesh. It attaches to the small lid by just pushing it on. There's no hook/catch or anything to secure it. It just pushes on and holds on because the fit is snug enough. I never use the strainer to make tea in the kettle (I like to switch up my flavors throughout the day, so my kettle is only used for boiling water), so this isn't a big deal to me. But if I did, I might keep an eye that nothing expands or contracts over time, making the fit less secure.Overall, despite the few disappointments, I'd still give this 5 stars. If I could fine-tune it, I might give it 4.5 just because of the 1200 watt thing. But regardless, this seems like a very solid choice for a very reasonable price!
Trustpilot
1 day ago
1 month ago
