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If you don't have an electric kettle in your kitchen, you're missing out. Not only are these appliances slightly more energy-efficient than using a stovetop, but they're portable and boil water more quickly. These days, electric kettles come in various sizes with different kinds of spouts, and you'll often find models with customizable temperature settings too—allowing you to set the perfect brew temp for your pour-over coffee or loose-leaf tea.
But there are a lot of electric kettles out there. If you're looking for the best bang for your buck or one that's particularly great for coffee, we've done the hard work for you. We've been using over a dozen models in our lives over the past year to find out what's the best and what's junk. These are our favorite electric kettles worthy of your countertop.
For more kitchen guides, check out the Best Espresso Machines, the Best Latte & Cappuccino Makers, the Best Air Fryers, and the Best Chef's Knives.
Updated May 2024: We added the Aarke Stainless Steel Electric Kettle and Breville One-Touch Tea Maker. We also added new slides on our favorite tea accessories and how to properly descale your electric kettle.
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The Beautiful Electric Kettle packs every feature we look for in an electric kettle. It has an insulated, double-walled body (to keep you from accidentally burning yourself), four preset programs (which takes the guesswork out of boiling the perfect cup of tea or coffee), auto shutoff, a “keep warm” mode, and a charming aesthetic (with a matte finish available in fun colors like sage green and cornflower blue)—all for an affordable price.
We particularly love the touch-activated display, which only appears when the kettle is being used. With zero buttons or knobs, the kettle is unobtrusive and blends in nicely with the rest of the appliances on my countertop. Simply tap on a preset program or manually set a specific temperature using the plus and minus buttons. It lets out a few short beeps when it's done, but it also displays the exact temperature in real time as it boils. The kettle lives up to its claims too. The company says it can boil a full pot in under seven minutes, and we heard it beep after five and a half minutes.
The Cosori is affordable, easy to use, and durable. Made of borosilicate glass, it can withstand high temperatures. While it's heavier than the stainless steel kettles we've tested, the rounded handle offers a sturdy hold (even with my smaller hands).
The bottom of the kettle has a built-in blue LED, which turns on when the water is boiling and off when it's done—it automatically shuts off when it's done boiling. The LED is really convenient for when I'm moving around my apartment; we just glance over at it once in a while to see whether the light is still on or not. The Cosori is on the louder side, but it boils quickly. We boiled a little more than one liter of water in just four minutes. Best of all, it pours quite smoothly.
Breville (Sage in the UK and Australia) has carved out a niche in the small-appliance market as a purveyor of high-quality products—far from cheap, but not too premium—and this 2,400-watt kettle epitomizes Breville's approach to form and function. It feels good, looks good, works well, boils quickly, and should last for years. It also teaches you the correct temperature at which to brew better-tasting drinks, with five presets including those for green tea, oolong, coffee, and black tea. Yes, there are loads of buttons as a result, but all of them make sense.
In WIRED contributor Chris Haslam's test kitchen, lined up alongside the KitchenAid, Hay, and Wolf options, it was the undisputed champion of repeat use—which, given the quality of the competition, is saying something. The pour was consistently easy and smooth. There’s genuinely nothing to fault here, and while the price point is high, it’s not extortionate. We should note here that we tested the brushed metal version, which is now harder to find in stock. But the IQ Kettle Pure pictured here has the same controls and capacity but with a thermal glass kettle instead.
Boils up to 1.8 liters (1.7-liter Sage version)
Fellow's Stagg EKG kettle has a gooseneck spout—it quite literally looks like a goose's neck. It's the perfect option for those who love making pour-over coffee because it gives you precise control when pouring water over the coffee grounds. But WIRED reviewer Jaina Grey recommends it for anyone, whether you brew coffee or not. Thanks to the temperature control knob and LCD display, you have the luxury of heating up water at any desired temperature. It's great for tea lovers who prefer steeping at specific temps or bakers who need a narrow spout for certain recipes.
There's a smart version, the EKG+, complete with Fellow's iOS companion app (there's no Fellow Android app, but you can use the Acaia Brewmaster app). The app functionality is minimal (and is generally clunky). You can use it to turn the kettle on and off, change the temperature, and keep an eye on it without needing to head to the kitchen. That's about it. We recommend skipping the “smart” version and sticking with the regular Fellow Stagg EKG to save some cash.
★Another great gooseneck kettle: The Bonavita Digital ($130) is similar to the Stagg EKG. It has a gooseneck spout for precise pouring, a temperature dial, a display, and a 0.9-liter capacity. You'll have the option to program up to five presets for your most-used temps. It's also slightly less expensive.
If you've got kids who love to touch everything on the kitchen countertop, we recommend the Enfinigy Cool Touch Kettle Pro for peace of mind. It has a heat-insulated double-walled body—the water stays hot on the inside while the kettle remains cool on the outside. You won't have any worries about burning your prints off when touching the stainless steel kettle. The dock you place the kettle on features a touchscreen display with six presets you can cycle through, including specific temperatures for tea and coffee from 140 degrees up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit. There's also a dedicated button for baby formula, which heats up water to a specific temperature safe to pour into the formula, and another button keeps the water warm for up to 30 minutes. It's quick to boil and quiet—letting out a couple of short beeps when it's done.
My only gripe? The touchscreen display can be finicky; occasionally I (Brenda) had to tap it a few times to wake it up. That's easy to forgive because this is arguably the sleekest-looking electric kettle I've tested so far. I tested it at my parents' house, where my mom has a tendency to stash away appliances she deems unattractive. This one remained on the countertop. In fact, she liked it so much that she bought a matching toaster that now sits next to the kettle in the kitchen.
Former WIRED contributor Jeffrey Van Camp has been using Cuisinart's PerfecTemp for at least two years now and he's been happy with it. It's especially great for tea lovers because it comes with six preset buttons for green tea, white tea, oolong tea, and black tea, plus a “delicate” button for light and spring teas that boils the water to 160 degrees Fahrenheit (the sixth preset is for French press coffee). There's a backlit water window that lets you see how much water you're filling it with (helpful if your kitchen doesn't have the best lighting), and a blue light indicates when it's boiling water and on what setting. There's a mesh filter near the pouring spout you can remove and clean as well.
Unfortunately, there's no simple way to mute the alarm that goes off when it's done boiling water. It's a little too loud and runs a smidge too long. (You can mute it, but it requires taking the kettle apart, which isn't endorsed by the manufacturer.)
Breville's Tea Maker is a great option for those who prefer drinking loose-leaf tea instead of using tea bags. As someone new to the world of loose-leaf, though, we were very intimidated when we first unboxed the Tea Maker—mainly because of all the buttons on its base. There are buttons denoting auto-start, keep warm, “basket,” hot water, and tea, along with a built-in display with up and down arrows on both sides and two additional unmarked buttons. But we quickly learned this is a perfect choice for beginners because it's foolproof. (We do suggest reading through the manual first.) With the ability to customize your settings (choosing the temperature, strength, time), it's a solid choice for experienced tea lovers as well. It's expensive, but worth the price for the extensive functionality.
Simply remove the basket, fill the kettle with water, fill the basket with your loose-leaf tea using the included tea scoop (Breville suggests one scoop of tea leaves per cup), clip it back to the inside of the kettle (it attaches magnetically), and click through the preset tea settings on the base. On the left, you can use the button to cycle through green, herbal, black, oolong, white tea, or a custom setting. On the right, you can choose the strength: strong, medium, mild, or custom. That way, you don't have to second-guess whether you're boiling it at the right temperature and for the correct amount of time. There's also a dedicated “basket” cycle button that you can press to increase the infusion rate for stronger tea. It's important to note that because of the display and included buttons, the base is larger than the ones we've tested on other electric kettles. So, you might have to designate some extra counter space for it.
Founded in Ohio in 1919, KitchenAid is the original “retro” small-appliance brand. While best known for its die-cast metal mixers, KitchenAid has evolved, and its old-school appliances are well worth a look. Stovetop aesthetics aside, there’s nothing retro about this 1.5-liter design, as it has a sliding 122- to 212-degree-Fahrenheit adjustable temperature gauge, keep-warm function, and dual wall insulation, meaning it remains cool to the touch while the water stays hotter for longer. There’s even a second temperature dial on the kettle, so a quick glance can tell you how hot the water is inside. It also comes in a variety of colors including black, red, and white.
But what was noticeable in our tests was just how quiet it was when boiling compared to the competition, with a gentle “finished” tone, rather than an aggressive beep. If you’re always up first or are a sensitive soul in the morning, this is the kettle for you. It also has an easy-to-remove-and-clean limescale filter, and the whole package is well thought out. It lacks a bit of the premium feel of the Breville, and is heavy and spendy in comparison, but if you’re sold on the look, the kettle will serve you well.
Looks matter, and if you want a stylish kettle in your kitchen, look no further than Smeg. Its kettle comes in a variety of different colors (I opted for pink). It adds a really fun, bright pop of color next to the more bland-looking appliances in my kitchen. At around 3.6 pounds, it is on the heavier side for an electric kettle. It makes up for this weight by boiling very quickly—so much so that I often just waited for it to finish boiling (it does come with an automatic shutoff feature, so you can safely leave it unsupervised too). On the back is a small window that lets you see exactly how much water you're pouring in.
Despite the high price, it doesn't come with all the bells and whistles as other electric kettles on this list. There's no connected app or dial for precise temperature settings, and there's no LED or sound to let you know it's done boiling. As a casual tea drinker, I didn't miss those features. It's just a cute, spendy, and reliable electric kettle. There is a slightly pricier Smeg ($220) with some of those features, including preset temperature settings and a keep warm function, but we haven't tested it yet.
This is the fanciest electric kettle we've tested—it even comes with an Aarke-branded microfiber cloth. And for $259, it's also one of the most expensive. But it does look like something you'd see in Architectural Digest. The rounded, modern design looks crisp and clean, and the stainless steel feels high-end and durable. It's also compact enough that you won't have trouble fitting it between other countertop appliances.
It's fairly bare-bones when it comes to features. You have the choice between various temperature settings—140 degrees to 212 degrees Fahrenheit—that you cycle through by pressing a button on the base (the LED lights show you which temperature you're on). There's a memory function, so it automatically lands on the last setting you picked when you turn it on, and it'll also show the current temperature as it cools down over time. It's one of the quietest kettles we've tested too (at one point I had to double-check that it was on), and it's fast—boiling almost a full pot to 212 degrees Fahrenheit in five minutes. As with the Zwilling Enfinigy Cool Touch Kettle Pro and Beautiful Electric Kettle, it has a double-walled body, but it does get hot to the touch closer to the top. Out of caution, I wouldn't recommend this one if you have kids running around. It is, however, a great option for those who want to invest in an appliance that works well and elevates the rest of your space.
To anyone with even a passing interest in cooking gear, the chunky red control dial found on Wolf range ovens is a symbol of big budgets, swanky kitchens, and the pinnacle of professional-grade home appliances. The Wolf True Temperature shares these traits, and if you’ve already invested in the brand, you won’t balk at the price. For everyone else, it may seem a bit excessive, but there’s no denying it’s a very good kettle.
It’s built like a tank (reassuringly, it also comes with a five-year warranty), and every aspect screams “professional kitchen.” It’s easy to clean; the removable lid has a huge, easy-rinsing water filter; the body is double-walled stainless steel for excellent insulation; and it feels great to pick up and pour. There are also pinpoint precision temperature controls from 95 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, so if you demand your coffee is brewed at 199 degrees Fahrenheit, you’ve got it. You can also set it to keep warm for up to an hour after boiling. It’s wildly expensive, but it does buy you entry to a very exclusive culinary club.
Here we have 3.5 pounds of all-metal, super quiet water boiling from one of the UK's longest-running small-appliance brands. Dualit has been hand-making toasters since 1945, and this modern kettle is still made in Britain. It’s expensive and lacks some convenience features, like adjustable temperature settings, a pop-up lid, and keep-warm functions, but it is repairable. If the heating element breaks, the company can easily swap another one in for you, extending the kettle's life far beyond that of its rivals. Dualit even sells a range of refurbished appliances at discounted prices.
The 3-kW kettle boils quickly and is much quieter than most—it has even been awarded a Quiet Mark from the UK-based Noise Abatement Society. The spout is angled in such a way that you don’t have to lift it too high to get it pouring, and it rarely drips. We also really like the double windows, with one side showing cups and the other liter increments. Yes, it'll run you a couple hundred bucks, but you won't find a better-made or longer-lasting kettle.
There’s a reason you’re familiar with the Hay Sowden kettle. It is the poster child for sexy water-heating and appears in a ridiculous number of interior-design-focused photoshoots and magazine features. It boasts a selection of understated, considered, and totally on-trend colorways that you simply don’t expect with small appliances. Unquestionably, it is the most beautiful kettle available.
But here’s the thing: Beauty, in this instance, is only skin-deep. The contrasting and complementing colorways and minimalist aesthetic mask the fact that it’s a basic plastic kettle. The wireless base is pitifully lightweight, the casing feels cheap, and the clunky button and opening mechanism belong on a $30 kettle. There’s no variable temperature control and the boil speed is average at best, but … it looks so good, and for some people that’s enough. It's currently out of stock at Sowden, but you can find a few color options through third-party retailers.
We've tested a number of kettles, but not every model deserves a top spot above. Here are a few others that do work well, but aren't standouts.
Art and Cook Electric Glass Kettle for $39: When I first unboxed Art and Cook's electric glass kettle, there was one red flag: Typos on both the box and instruction manual. That made me a little hesitant, but my experience over the past six months has been perfectly fine. There's no LED light like on the Cosori to indicate when it's boiling, but it does hold slightly more water (1.8 liters as opposed to 1.7). It has an automatic shutoff feature, but overall, I found it a little slower to boil.
Elite Gourmet Cordless Electric Programmable Water Kettle for $55: There's a digital temperature display (with five preset temperatures you can cycle through), a “keep warm” button, and color-changing LED lights to delineate specific temperatures, making this quite the feature-filled kettle for the price. I find it hard to memorize which temperature corresponds to which color, but you might pick it up faster over time (and if you're a visual learner). Elite Gourmet has several other models, but the particular one we tested is currently sold out.
Our electric kettle recommendations are made of either stainless steel or glass. If you're wondering which to choose, there are pros and cons to both materials.
Glass electric kettles are easier to maintain. You can spot buildup in and around the kettle more clearly, though that might mean you'll be cleaning it more often. Glass kettles are less likely to get rusty over time too. Since they're see-through, they're easier to fill with water, and you can keep an eye on the boiling process. However, they are fragile—even if they're made of durable glass, you still have to be careful.
Stainless steel electric kettles tend to hide any kind of mucky buildup, but that doesn't mean they're a hassle to clean. They're more durable and often don't get as hot as glass kettles, so they're a little safer to hold. Generally, there are also more styles and colors to choose from. However, it's not as easy to check water levels since the body isn't see-through, and the exterior can often feel hot even if it has a double-walled body.
It's important to maintain your electric kettle for a variety of reasons—it'll increase its longevity, let your tea and coffee taste fresh, and keep the kettle itself looking its best. But as with other kitchen appliances, you can't simply throw it in the dishwasher or scrub it with some soap and water. Below, we answer all the common questions that come with descaling an electric kettle.
Why do I need to descale my electric kettle?
Water contains natural minerals like calcium carbonate and magnesium. When boiling water, the heat causes those minerals to precipitate into a white, chalky deposit inside the kettle known as limescale buildup. Descaling your electric kettle removes that buildup. While limescale isn't dangerous to your health, it can damage the kettle and affect its efficiency—causing it to take longer to boil water. It can impact the taste of the water too.
How do you descale an electric kettle?
You can descale your kettle using a water and vinegar solution—the mild acidity helps to break down the buildup of minerals. Add equal parts water and vinegar to the kettle and bring it to a boil. If you don't have vinegar on hand, you can also use baking soda or lemon juice. When using baking soda, you should add one to two tablespoons to two cups of water and bring it to a boil. For lemon juice, you can either cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juice out or use ¼ cup of lemon juice. Then, add the juice to one cup of water, mix it, and bring it to a boil.
Depending on how much mineral buildup there is, or how long it's been since you've descaled your kettle, you can let your solution sit inside the kettle for as little as 15 to 20 minutes or as long as overnight. Then, pour the water out and wipe the inside with a sponge, soft cloth, or soft-bristle sponge. You can repeat the process if you still see limescale.
How often do I need to descale my electric kettle?
If you live in an area with hard water (which is water with a high mineral content), you should descale your kettle every three months. If you live in an area with soft water (which has a low mineral content), you can wait a little longer. However, you should also descale it if you notice mineral deposits in the kettle, your tea or coffee tastes somewhat off, or you see grainy sediment at the bottom of your mug.
Whether you already own an electric tea kettle and want to upgrade your accessories or you're buying a new one and want to stock up, we've got you covered. Below, we've highlighted some WIRED-approved options, all of which you can find in our guide to Best Tea Accessories guide.
Oxo Brew Tea Infuser Basket for $15: This is our go-to accessory for brewing loose-leaf tea. The stainless steel is durable and doesn't impart any flavor to the brewing process, and the hole pattern does a solid job of keeping most of the tiny particles out of the hot water. We particularly love that the lid not only retains heat but also doubles as a drip tray.
Kotubuki Matcha Tea Whisk for $24: If you're a fan of matcha, this is a great whisk to have on hand. Equipped with 80 bamboo bristles, it'll help to create a nice froth that brings out all the bright, grassy notes for a delicious cup of matcha.
East Fork the Mug for $44: These mugs are expensive, but they're consciously crafted. WIRED product reviewer Jaina Grey says they “feel sturdy, with a gently sloping grip that's big enough for most hands and feels smooth and balanced when you pick it up.” They also come in various fun colors (seasonal options included). You can buy a single mug or a four-pack for $150.
Hydro Flask 32-Ounce Wide Mouth Vacuum Flask for $52: WIRED senior editor Michael Calore uses this to keep freshly brewed tea hot throughout the afternoon. Even after four or five hours, the tea remains piping hot. He considers it an essential item for those who drink their tea on the go. For more options, be sure to check out our guide to the Best Travel Mugs.
The Tea Spot Sampler Tea Subscription for $20 (Monthly): This is a great subscription for new tea drinkers. Each box includes three different seasonal samples per month (with about five servings per sample) and one single-serving sample. You'll also get educational postcards with information on where each tea is from.
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