Breville Stratus / kettle

Breville Stratus

(category: kettle)
by

Breville

We bought a new kettle, in 2009

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

It's a cord-free kettle. It boils water. There's not much more, on the "plus" side... So let's consider the facts which make me dislike this kettle.

This kettle is supposed to turn itself off when the water boils. How long are you willing to wait? It boils, and boils and boils... Full, vigorous roiling & boiling... Then, finally, it will turn off. Sure, it works -- eventually. I would prefer to see a kettle which boils and then turns itself off. Then there's the lid. Press a button and the lid pops open -- barely. There is a spring but the spring is far too weak. If the lid is going to open, it should open all the way. As it is -- if you want to fill the kettle from the tap -- you press the button and then manually lift the lid the rest of the way.

Oh yes, there is one more "plus": If you lift the kettle off its power supply, it does switch off. So if you lift up, pour hot water, put it back on the base -- the kettle will not continue to heat. That's a sensible safety precaution.

But with a dodgy lid and slow-to-react cut-off, I will be looking for a better kettle, next time.

Addendum (June 2010)

Remember the slow turn-off when it boils? And the weak spring helping to open the lid? (I hope you remember... It's what I wrote about, just a few paragraphs above this...)

There's yet another problem... the catch to hold the lid closed, is too weak.

When the kettle boils -- it boils on and on. Long past the point at which a person would have said, this kettle is boiling, turn off. There is plenty of time for the steam in the boiling kettle to build up pressure. That steam pressure -- forces the lid open!

If you let the kettle boil -- expecting that the auto-shut-off will automatically shut it off -- then the lid may pop open. It pops fully open -- the steam pressure has more power than the worthless lid-opening spring.

Worse yet: with the lid now open, the kettle will not stop boiling. So the kettle will boil on... and on... and on. Presumably, till it boils down, catches fire, burns the house down and starts a repeat of the Great Fire of Wherever-you-live.

Look, I would love it if you followed the link to Amazon, bought a kettle (or anything else) and earned me a small commission. And yes, the link is to a Breville kettle. Just make sure that what you buy is better than a Breville Stratus.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.