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If you would have asked me a year ago if I needed an electric kettle, I would have replied with a quick and emphatic no! I don’t drink much tea and I’m not a pour-over coffee person, so to me it just seemed like yet another unnecessary waste of valuable counter space—especially because I already had a cute Le Creuset stovetop kettle I rarely touched.
Then in 2024 I updated BA’s electric kettle testing, which meant using multiple models at home for a few weeks. Now I can’t imagine living without one. Not because I’ve switched to tea (I haven’t) or become a pour-over person (I haven’t), but because a good electric kettle offers boiling water practically on demand, and it’s turned out to be quite handy for cooking, cleaning, and even enhancing a cup of not-pour-over coffee.
Fellow Corvo EKG Electric Tea Kettle
The kettle in my kitchen is the Fellow Corvo EKG in matte black—which I admit I initially chose for aesthetic purposes since it wasn’t the winning model in my tests. But it’s still a high-end kettle that can be adjusted to the single degree and will keep water at the target temperature for up to an hour. And I use it multiple times a day.
Here are five (of many) “off-label” ways I use my electric kettle. And, yes, these are things I could accomplish with a stovetop kettle, but the electric version is so much more convenient. It works quickly, chirps delightfully instead of whistling incessantly when it reaches the target temperature, then holds it there for up to an hour.
Preheating my coffee mug
My Ember mug (another thing I thought I didn’t need until I got one) died last winter, and without a battery-operated warming mug, I immediately noticed how quickly my coffee would go cold. But instead of spending upward of $100 on another temperature-control mug, I decided I would just preheat my regular old mug with boiling water so the ceramic didn’t absorb the heat from the coffee. Now the first thing I do when I get to the kitchen in the morning is tap the knob to turn on my kettle (I fill it up before bed). The water boils quickly and makes the mug piping hot in less than a minute. I do it at least a few times a day—and I love that I can put my coffee mugs in the dishwasher again (smart mugs and dishwashers do not mix).
Making foolproof late-night ramen
Most instant ramen noodle brands list microwave and stovetop instructions on the package, but I use my electric kettle to do my own little take on the Cup O’ Noodles method.
