KitchenAid Gourmet Essentials 2-Quart Tea Kettle, Stainless Steel
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of KitchenAid Gourmet Essentials 2-Quart Tea Kettle, Stainless Steel
Customer Review: It's a great tea kettle if you follow the directions
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, this kettle looks great. It's designed nicely and it looks nice on the stove. I've read all of the negative reviews, which all seem to point to how hot the handle gets and how crappy the whistler is. I experienced the hot handle one time, and only once. The whistler... well, I learned my lesson from the handle incident. Let me share my experience:
Rule #1: Read the directions and follow what they say. After my handle was indeed way hot, I decided to read the directions rather than simply thinking, man all those people were right. Guess what? The directions clearly say to heat the kettle over MEDIUM HIGH heat, not over CREMATE. I was thinking I wanted that tea NOW and so I had the heat turned way up. The handle got blistering hot, no doubt. But when I lowered the heat for the next pot, and the next, guess what? No hot handle. You can easily pour with your bare hands. It gets warm, but that's because of the conductive properties of stainless - and that's also why you can't just cremate the pot. The conductivity of the metal will overheat that handle, so keep the temp at the proper range.
Rule #2: Refer to Rule #1. Keeping the water level at the proper line prevents the whistler from getting goofed up. A lot of people were also commenting that the whistler worked one time, but after they drowned it (had the water level too high when it boiled), it never worked again. I don't know about that because after the first incident of the hot handle due to not following directions. So after that I paid attention and did not overfill the pot. As to needing to remove it from heat the instant it whistles, well, I was indisposed at the moment that it whistled, and it continued whistling merrily until I was able to get there. it has not ruined the whistler. Maybe because the whistler never got overfilled with boiling water.
So the moral of the story is, if you want to get the intended results, you need to follow the intended use instructions. My teapot looks grand, works just like a teapot should, and I couldn't be happier with it!
Customer Review: A Huge Disappointment
Summary: 1 Stars
I love Kitchenaid products. The handmixer, manual can opener and the mini chopper are all great products. This is not. This is only the second product I've ever ordered from Amazon that I am returning. This tea kettle is a thing of beauty...elegant and sturdy with quality construction. My love affair ends there.
It seems that "the look" was the most important feature to the designer of this kettle because nothing else was considered. Makes me wonder how and who tested this product. They should have called me. It doesn't matter that this tea kettle is lovely to look at if it's not functional. It is almost impossible to add water to this kettle via the spout which is the fastest and most efficient way to add water to a kettle. The reason you can't easily add water is due to a design flaw. The lid on the kettle is made so deep that you cannot completely open the spount without taking the lid off. So, if you have to take the lid off to fill the pot, you may as well fill from the lid opening. It's a huge annoyance if you want to boil water for a quick cup of tea or coffee, and it's also a major design flaw. The other major annoyance is that it spews water on the stove as it begins to whistle and you end up with a puddle of water. I've tried different water levels to no avail. So not only will it take you longer to fill this kettle, you'll also have to clean up the water it spews. I've owned many tea kettles in my lifetime. None of them cost over $15 and none of them ever spewed water all over the place. I think for $39, a consumer should expect a quality tea kettle, not just a pretty pot. If I could have rated this with a minus star, I would have. What could have been another great product from Kitchenaid is a huge disappointment. I am shocked that Kitchenaid would offer such a poorly designed product. There are other reviews for this pot listed under the enamel (colored) versions. Many of those reviews expressed the same problems I have encountered with this kettle. I wish I had heeded their advice.
Customer Review: Not 18-10 stainless and other issues.
Summary: 1 Stars
This is not 18-10 stainless steel. (It may be 18-0 to 18-8; chromium % - nickel %) Also, it's made in China (what isn't these days?) so we're a bit concerned about the "heavy metals" content (lead, mercury, etc). The surface is rather extensively "brushed" and not as smooth & shiny as the product photo indicates. (a noticable amount of grey metal particulate was on the white paper towels from first cleaning prior to using) The handles & spout lid frame are cast aluminum and the 'soft' inserts are high-temp silicone compound.
KitchenAid 'branded' products are not what they used to be (again, what is these days?). Their counter-top mixers and some other products remain of significant high quality, but their tagline "For the Way It's Made." has lost it's way. (in addition to the aforementioned mixers, we also own a KitchenAid fridge, KitchenAid dishwasher, KitchenAid food-processor, KitchenAid coffee maker, etc.) (the coffee maker, by-the-way, was recalled & KitchenAid disenfranchised that entire product line)
For the rather high price this should be nothing less than 18-10 Stainless & should have a much smoother 'low-sheen' brushed appearance, if not a typical full gloss polish. (example: the Farberware Classic Tiburon here on Amazon and at half this KitchenAid price!)
(one last note: our previous KitchenAid tea pot, the red porcelain enamel version of this one (also sold here on Amazon), rusted at several areas within a week or two of light-to-normal use & a few particles of the enamel detached)
Probably will return this, unfortunately. (great style, though. if only looks were everything!)
Customer Review: Great Kettle
Summary: 5 Stars
I read some of the reviews, and also I am not sure why it received low marks from some folks. I love this Tea Kettle. I registered for this tea kettle three years, and through some fluke, I ended up getting two of them.
I use this tea kettle every day. My husband and I make coffee in our french press, and love the fact that the whistle on this kettle is loud, so it interrupts us when we should be paying attention to a hot kettle on the stove. I also have a glass top stove, and the stainless steel works perfectly, although to be honest, I didn't even know the other ones wouldn't work, so I guess it was providence.
My kettle has not rusted, even with daily use; sometimes multiple times a day. I do not find the handle to get hot at all. I am not sure why some folks are having that problem. The kettle is heavy, but it is supposed to be that way. I actually got this from Linens and Things before they went out of business, and I went through the tea kettles and picked each of them up to make sure they had some good weight. I didn't want it to burn out on the bottom or get a metallic taste after long term use.
I gave the extra one I received to my sister and she also loves it. No problems for either of us.
One note, if you over fill the pot, the boiling water will come shooting out of the spigot because it is too full. That is due to user-error, and not a defect in the kettle. Also, if you leave the spigot top open, the water will also start shooting out. Make sure you have the lid on tightly and the spigot closed, otherwise the kettle will not whistle.
Customer Review: just another pretty face
Summary: 1 Stars
My new Revere tea kettle expired after one year's use. It wasn't the great one from years ago but the cheap, lightweight one made in China version. Someone needs to come up with a really good copy of it just different enough to pass the patent laws.The opener on the cheap version apparently just breaks off regularly as clockwork, has been doing it for years and no changes have been made. I called the Revere people and was told, very politely, that was just the way it was. No replacement parts available. I might check eBay. ????
So off to Amazon for a new one. I saw a gorgeous Kitchen Aid 2 quart whistling tea kettle and ordered it. It was lovely to look at. That, unfortunately, was it's only good quality. To get hot water out of it you must press a cumbersome and hot lever and hold it. To fill it, you must wait carefully until the water in it cools or you could receive a really bad steam burn when you take the lid off. It is heavy, hard to fill and appeared to have been designed for some use other than a tea kettle. Just because I was lazy and it DID heat water I decided to keep it. 3 days after I got it, the whistle stopped whistling. This pot has bad karma. Dear Amazon did send me what I needed to return it and quickly credited it to my account. I cannot imagine how this pot came into existence. Ergonomics apparently were never taken into consideration. I did order a new, cheap, unreliable new Revere and I am thrilled with it. I decided that at $20 a pot, a new pot every year wasn't impossible and it is just so wonderfully easy to use. One hand needed to open, pour and refill. What can i say?