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List Price: $49.99
Sale Price: $37.40
Today's Bonus: 25% Off
I've been looking for a programmable kettle that didn't cost an absurd amount, and I think I've finally found it. This replaces my old on/off boil kettle also made by Hamilton Beach the fact that kettle lasted for 5+ years (and was relatively cheap when I bought it) was a strong factor in my decision to buy another Hamilton Beach.
Pros (some of these comparing to some other kettles I've tried):
1) Nice brushed stainless exterior.
2) Push button handle to open the lid a nice change from the detached lid my previous kettle had.
3) Pour can be controlled fairly well for pour-over coffee.
4) Temperature adjustment in 5 degree increments. That means I can set this to 195F and get exactly the results I want. Others I've tried only had a few settings.
5) Fairly accurate thermostat. I've tested this with my old standby the probe thermometer (which I've used to make coffee for years as well), and this kettle is always within a degree of my other thermometer. Both might be horribly inaccurate, but at least they are consistently inaccurate together.
6) Live thermostat reading on the display. This tells you exactly how hot the kettle is while it's heating up. That's handy for timing things.
7) 1 hour "keep warm" setting which periodically re-heats the water. Either this works really well, or the carafe holds the heat in better, but I'm experiencing no heat loss during the time it takes to make coffee. My old kettle would lose 10 degF in the time the pot took to brew. Either way, I'm loving this kettle.
8) Solid feeling. It's not super heavy, but it doesn't feel cheap.
Cons:
1) Hard to read LED display this thing's a pain under our under counter lighting in the kitchen. It's *good enough*, but crap. An LCD display would have been a *lot* better.
2) Really unresponsive and hard to use UI. There's a few buttons to press to change target temperature and if you get it wrong, you'll set a start timer instead. The display flashes between two pieces of info a lot of the time, so it can be annoying to wait for the info you want.
All in all, given it's "only" $50, I'd say this kettle is a great deal.
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Ever since seeing a programmable kettle in a store I've wanted one. I make anything from Cold Brew coffee (212 F or boiling), French Press coffee (best at 180 F), Black Tea (Boiling again), to green tea (175 F to 180 F). The cost was always a factor though since I already owned a cheap GE kettle that has lasted five years and still going. I saw this on sale and decided it was time. It works really well. You just put the kettle on, click the program button till you find the temperature you want, then click on/off button. It boils a little slower than my GE, but it gets to the programmed temperature and then holds that temp for an hour, which can be nice. You can program it to turn on in the morning, which seems a little more complicated with only four buttons, but I haven't had the need so I haven't used it. The temperature has been right on, you can't go wrong with this. The inside is all metal, so no plastic taste in the water.
Best Deals on Hamilton Beach 40996 Programmable Kettle, 1.7-Liter
I purchased this tea kettle at my local box store for $10 off list price when it was on sale. I was skeptical that a kettle in this price range would be any good and I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, the clock setting is annoying but I just waited until noon and uplugged it then set the clock. I don't think I will ever use the time delay program because it heats so fast that I can turn it on in the morning and in a couple of minutes it's ready. It literally seems like by the time I get my cup & tea ready I've got hot water. Love that this is stainless steel, that there are temp setting for all kinds of tea (especially green which is my tea of choice) and that the kettle will keep water warm for 60 minutes after it's first done. When you take the kettle off the base the temp display will disappear but as soon as you put it back on the base the temp will reappear and the 60 minute count down will continue. I was considering spending $130 for a kettle with similar features and I'm so glad I did not and I have $90 more in my pocket. I highly recommend this especially if you get it on sale.
Honest reviews on Hamilton Beach 40996 Programmable Kettle, 1.7-Liter
This kettle arrived in three days as promised well packed and in good condition. I've never had an electric kettle before and I was thrilled to have it. I noticed the cord was shorter than I'd like (about two feet, I think) which limits me but I found a place for it. I noticed my hand would not fit inside the opening so I wondered how I was supposed to wash it then I read the instructions and they say to boil water and discard several times to clean it for use. That was easy and very quick, especially when starting with hot tap water. The base instantly told me the temperature of my tap water and as soon as I hit the power button the temperature started climbing, I think about a degree every second. It didn't take long to boil a full pot five times. After that, I used cool filtered water to boil a liter. It was quick enough and made making tea easier than my previous arrangement of heating a mug of water in the microwave. It allowed me to pour the hot water over my tea rather than dropping dry tea on top of hot water. I still haven't tried using it for temperatures below boiling yet but I can barely wait to make some green tea.
Now I've made green tea. The kettle works as advertised, preset temperatures adjustable with the plus and minus buttons. It worked better for my green tea than I'd been managing with a microwave. I've used this appliance several times each day now for several days. It came in handy to add boiling water to soup.
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I have been searching high and low for an electric kettle that I can set the temperature on. Most of the ones I found were too pricey or the cheap ones had horrible ratings. This one seemed to be a good fit, it was not expensive and the rating was good. I had a Hamilton Beach regular kettle before and never had an issue with it, so I feel comfortable with this brand.
I only used this kettle 3 times so far, so this my first impression. I will update it if anything changes my opinion.
THE GOOD:
*Comfortable to hold, even when full of water.
*Easy to read water level
*Heats the water very very quickly. It was ready by the time I had my cup and tea ready and waiting.
*Convenient 5 temperature presets.
*Shows you the current temperature of the water
*Very accurate temperature gauge. I took the temperature with my digital thermometer and it was within 0.6 degrees fahrenheit of what I set it too.
*Holds the water temperature very very well. After I heated the water to 190 degrees, I turned off the kettle and hours later the water was around 120 degrees. This is convenient since it will heat the second batch even quicker.
THE BAD:
*Terribly non-intuitive controls. This is something I rarely recommend, but please take the 2 minutes time to read the small manual. With the instructions, setting the time and temperature was not too difficult. Once, you learn how to control it, its pretty easy. But don't try learning it yourself.
