So Far, So Good

Since living in the constant cold of dreary Southern New England, I've taken to drinking more hot beverages like tea and coffee especially. After a few cups of tea, I decided that the gas stove is not gonna cut it for a quick cup of anything so I went in search of an electric kettle.

I'd read reviews and opinions on various brands and settled on the Krups FLF2. It wasn't as cheap as some of the generic brands, yet cheaper than the all stainless models. My research concluded that there were no ill tastes resulting from the interior plastic (stainless inside bottom) of the Krups so I went ahead and picked one up.

The unit is fairly simple to use. You plug in the base, fill the pot, lock the lid on, set it on the base (which has a knob so you don't worry about lining anything up), press the button on the handle and wait. The pot makes a little hissing noise before the water gets to boil, then everything gets quiet until the water is boiling after which the device turns itself off. The blue light on the on/off button is nice if you like to keep the lights dim like I do. Keep in mind there is no safety mechanism so you can turn the thing on without water inside and possibly cause issues. I turned it on after emptying and it started to sear the leftover water instantly. The heating base inside the pot has to cool naturally so I have taken to letting it cool before rinsing it.

The pot can rotate 360 degrees on the base so it's nice for cramped spaces but since the retracting spout opening lets steam out, it's wise to leave it out in the open instead of under a cabinet or such. A button on the handle opens the spout so you can pour the water. Water will still flow with the spout closed, however, so there is the potential for spillage if the unit is knocked over or handled carelessly.

There are markings for cups and ounces on opposite sides of the pot (up to 7 cups/54oz) with a clear window that makes it easy to see how much water is in the pot. Also marked on both sides are minimum and maximum fill spots.

While boiling a few initial pots of water that I dumped, the boiling came out to less than six minutes on a full pot. For my morning cup of coffee, I usually fill to the mark between 16 and 32oz and the water is ready by the time the beans are ground and in my press pot. That's between two and three minutes.

There is no plastic taste to the water that I can detect and after two months of use at least once a day (with filtered water), no buildup. In fact, I haven't washed the thing since I initially took it out of the box. Just rinse, drain, and let air dry with the lid off. The water heats just as fast as it did brand new.

It's pretty simple. No temp gauge -- it just stops when the water is boiling. No fuss no muss.

Things that can be improved are following. The lid contains the retractable 'tongue' that closes the spout. On a couple of occasions, the tongue has popped to the closed position (tongue sticking out) while the lid was off the pot. This makes it difficult to put the lid on so I've had to angle it in to close it. Seems if it's knocked, this can happen. The power button seems to work fine, although I will admit that it is of flimsy built. There is no solid feel to it -- feels rather mushy in fact -- but it still works fine. Finally, with the lip of the pot the way it is, it's hard to pour the last bit of water in a tight spot. I use it to fill my water filter container in the fridge (one of the big ones that has a tap) and it's a bit tricky to maneuver it. This also means it doesn't completely drain as well when it's ready to be stored. A little bit of water always remains so I drain it upside down before putting it away.

I honestly don't think electric kettles are that complicated -- and really shouldn't be in my opinion. The Krups does what I want it to do with little fuss. That's about all I can ask for.