Aroma Housewares AWK-115S Cordless Electric Kettle

I am a tea drinker, I'll even go so far as to say I'm a tea snob. I drink a lot of tea throughout the day and having an appliance to deliver water for hot tea is a must in my house.

I used to use a drip through coffee maker to heat up water, I just didn't put anything in the filter area and used the hot water as someone else would drink coffee but after it had a good long life, it went to appliance heaven and I needed a replacement.

I shopped at a couple of stores and didn't really see anything that tripped my trigger but chose the Aroma X-Press Electric Water Kettle because of the functionality and the price (around $ 35 at Target).

Blurbs from the box -
Exceptional Speed, with the touch of a button, boil up to 6 cups of water in just minutes.
I agree with that, I timed it and it took 5 minutes, 20 seconds to heat 1.5 liters (6.5 cups) of water to a full rolling boil. And I do mean a full boil.

Built-in Safety, Stay-cool handle and base, dripless spout, and automatic shut off with boil-dry protection ensure safe operation.
I'm kinda iffy on this blurb, the handle and the base of the unit do stay cool but the body of the kettle conducts the heat of the water and stays hot for quite awhile after the heating operation has ended. If you don't know the pot has been activated recently and touch it, you could get burned.

Ultimate Convenience, Kettle lifts off base for completely cordless pouring.  Easy-clean, removable filter reduces mineral impurities in your water.
I agree with that. The heating element is in the bottom of the kettle and the base that it sits on is really just the electric connection for the heating element. A plus is that there is a space in the base for you to wrap unused cord around so you don't have it stringing across your counter when you don't need it. When you pick up the kettle you don't have a dangling cord to worry about. I filter all the water I use for cooking already so the filter is nice but not necessary for me. 

Modern Finish, Sleek stainless steel design with black easy-grip handle.
I agree with this. The handle attachment and construction is sturdy and stays cool and even with I have the pot filled to the Max level I've not had any qualms about picking it up and carrying anywhere. And if you're into a 50s stainless steel coffee pot look, this definitely fits the bill. The water level indicator is built into the handle and it only has metric markings on it.

Now, the stuff they don't tell you.
The first time that I used the Water Kettle after purchasing it, it was vibrating enough that other items on the counter started vibrating too. I really thought I was going to have to take it back to the store just because of that but tried it again and things were a bit quieter.  Now after a month of using it, nothing is dancing around.

When they say 'boil' they do mean 'BOIL'. The water gets to a hard rolling boil before the unit shuts off.  There is a lot of steam coming out of the spout for about 20 seconds before the shut down. That's good for instant oatmeal, jello and other fixings that need boiling water but I don't always want that hot a water in my tea. Fortunately the button that depresses to turn the heating element on can be manually flipped up to turn it off before the water gets too hot.

This unit is on or it's off, there's no 'keep warm' setting. This is an irritation but not a drawback to the unit.

There are only metric measurements on the water level indicator in the handle. For some people this will be an irritation, for me it has a measurement mark where I need one.  The tea cups that I use are not standard cup size, they're mugs. After I've used the unit for a bit I'll know exactly how much water I need to splash in there for one, two or more cups of tea. It won't matter whether it's marked in cups or liters.

The lid is attached to the unit and when you fill it, it sits at a 90 degree angle. I much prefer this to the openings on some kettles that are under the handle construction and almost impossible to fill without spilling water. The lid opening is small, plenty big enough to get water into but you won't be able to get anything other than a cleaning brush in there to clean the interior. I'm not really worried about that since I only put filtered water in there, a run of hot vinegar water on a regular basis should be sufficient to keep the interior clean.
Also the ring on the lid opening stays cool right after the unit has been used.  You can heat water, use it up and fill it up again with no worries about touching the opening ring.  And the lid Has to be completely closed for the shut-off to work correctly.

Everyone knows what boiling water sounds like. And when you put it in an echo chamber, like this stainless steel pot, the sound gets multiplied. So while in operation the unit can be noisy if you're in the same room. But I don't think it's any noisier than the coffee-maker I had or some other water kettles that I've heard at friends houses. A drawback is that there's no indicator noise letting you know when the water has boiled and the heating unit shut down.  I have wandered off to do something else and come back into the kitchen a half hour later after the unit has shut down and then remembered 'oh yeah, I was fixing tea.'  But sometimes the water is still hot, the heating element and the stainless steel pot can keep the water hot longer than you would expect.

So it's not the unit I used to use, there are differences between them.  If I had to make the purchase again, I'd spend the money on the Aroma X-Press Electric Water Kettle. It safely gives me plenty of hot water for tea and that's what I brought it into the house for.