A smart kettle is one of those household items you don’t know you need until you’ve tried one. And once you’ve tried one, you can’t live without it.
Yes, you still have to fill the kettle with water all by yourself, and you’ll still have to pour the water out once it’s boiled, but everything in between, and more, can be done remotely, pre-set, or done to your exact requirements.
What is a smart kettle?
Smart kettles arrive with varying smart features, from the fairly basic to the more complicated. They allow you to control the temperature the water boils at, and, most crucially, you can control them from your mobile phone.
If this sounds like laziness gone too far, it really all depends on your lifestyle and situation. For example, new mothers will find them extremely useful when it comes to boiling water for formula milk.
Smart kettles can be pre-set to boil when you need them to, so the water will be hot and ready for your baby’s next feed. You can set your kettle to boil for when you wake up in a morning, or for when you’re walking through the door after a long day at work.
How to choose a smart kettle
Which smart kettle you choose will depend on what you’d like it to do, but here’s a few things to consider before you buy. Most smart kettles are compatible with Android and iOS, and some are also compatible with Alexa and Google Home.
If all you want to do is set your kettle to a timer so it works with your schedule, you can choose one that just works with your mobile phone, but if you want to boil your kettle from anywhere in your home without going to the kitchen, opt for one that works with Alexa or Google Home.
Some smart kettles will also keep the water at a set temperature. If you’re really into tea, and specific teas, you can set the water to boil at the right temperature for that particular tea. For example, green tea should be brewed using water at a lower temperature to black tea to make the perfect cuppa.
To help you choose which smart kettle is right for you, here’s our pick of the best ones on the market right now.
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Smarter iKettle
The iKettle has all the features of a smart kettle – temperature control and boil settings from your mobile phone, voice commandments via Alexa and Googe Home – but it’s a much sleeker, more attractive looking kettle.
One of the things that often puts people off buying a smart kettle is the design. If you prefer an aesthetically pleasing kettle, you might find smart kettles a bit clinical looking. This can’t be said about the iKettle though.
It looks like an expensive coffee pot and would sit nicely amongst any other kitchen appliances. The kettle holds 1.8 litres of water and has a special ‘formula mode’ for making up baby’s bottles. The iKettle also has a no-spill spout designed not to spill that hot water.
You can set your kettle to heat at between 20 degrees and 100 degrees and it has a fast boil function to up to 100 degrees.
Buy now £89.00, Smarter
The WeeKett Smart Kettle
Perfect for anyone with a busy life, for new mothers, for anyone with mobility issues, and for anyone who just loves a cool piece of kit, The WeeKett does everything you’d expect from a smart kettle. You can control the temperature and set the kettle to switch on at certain times, from your mobile phone, or you can simple shout out, “Alexa, turn on the kettle”, and your water will start to boil. It also has a special feature for anyone who forgets to fill the kettle before switching it on. The dry-boiling protection programme will shut off the kettle when there’s no water, or not enough water, in there. It will then send an alert to your phone telling you. You can boil water at between 40 degrees and 100 degrees, depending on what you need it for. You can also set the kettle to cool naturally to 70 degrees and stay at that temperature for up to an hour, making it perfect for baby’s formula bottles.
Buy now £115.99, eBay
The Sage Tea Maker
The Tea Maker from Sage is less of a smart kettle and more of a digital teas-made. It doesn’t connect to your mobile phone or Alexa, we’re not quite there yet, but you can pre-set it to do what you want it to do. Using the controls on the base you can set the Tea Maker to the temperature you’d like, depending on the type of tea you’re making, and you can set it to boil at the time you want it to, meaning your cup of tea will be ready when you get up in the morning. The great thing about the tea maker is it’s all done in one pot. You pop your tea bag into the internal cannister. Fill the jug with water, and when it’s time to make tea the water boils and the canister lowers into it. There’s also a section for loose leaf teas. This one is definitely for those who are serious about tea.
Also available at Harrods.
Buy now £200.00, Amazon
Russell Hobbs Digital Quiet Boil Kettle
If you’re just dipping your toe in the world of smart kettles, this digital kettle is a great place to start. It’s very affordable, especially compared to the more high-tech smart kettles, and it has some great features. While you can’t connect it to your Wi-Fi or command it to boil by the power of your voice, you can set the temperature you want it to boil at. This makes it a good choice for new mums and dads who don’t want the expense of the multi-function smart kettles, as it does work well for making formula. The stand-out feature on this kettle is the quiet boil. It’s 75 per cent quieter than regular kettles, giving it another tick for new parents. This could also work well for other lifestyle issues, like working from home ands shift workers. It has a 1.7 litre capacity jug, giving you plenty of boiling water.
Buy now £39.99, Currys
The Sage Smart Kettle
The Sage Smart Kettle is a really popular kettle, especially with coffee drinkers. Most smart kettles appeal to tea drinkers, but this one has a big following amongst coffee drinkers.
This is due to the temperature control settings and the fact that the buttons show the different temperatures you can set the kettle to boil at and what that temperature of water is best used for. There’s a button for black tea, green tea, oolang tea, white tea, and yes, coffee.
The serious coffee drinkers will, of course, be using a dedicated coffee machine, but for instant coffee lovers or those who use a French press, this is a nifty feature. No one wants to burn their coffee with water that’s boiled to too high a temperature.
The kettle also has a boil dry protection feature, which means your kettle won’t boil if there isn’t enough water in the jug.
Also available at Argos.
Buy now £99.95, John Lewis
Drew and Cole Digital Kettle Pro
The Drew and Cole Digital kettle looks just like a regular jug kettle, and in many ways, it is. But it has the added bonus of being digital.
You can’t order this one to boil just by telling it to and you can’t hook it up to your mobile phone, but you can see exactly what your water is doing as it boils. You can set the water in the jug to boil at the right temperature for your tea, or coffee, and Drew and Cole even offer advice on the temperature to boil your kettle to make the perfect hot lemon, perfect for when you have a cold.
But perhaps the best thing about this kettle, apart from its simplicity, is that the digital display shows you what temperature the water is reaching as it boils. So, if you change your mind halfway through boiling and decide you want green tea and not black tea, you can stop the kettle when it reaches the temperature you need.
Buy now £49.99, Amazon
Tefal Smart N Light Jug Kettle
This one is a very affordable smart kettle, but it’s also pretty simple in its design and in its functions. Set the kettle to boil at one of four temperature options, up to 100 degrees.
It doesn’t do a lot more than that, but the temperature display is so clear and so large on the jug, you can get on with what you need to do anywhere in the kitchen and you can still see what temperature your water is at.
This means you pretty much know how long you have until the water is ready. The other plus point is, the kettle has a stay warm function, which you can pre-set, and it will keep your water at the same temperature for half an hour.
Buy now £63.99, Currys
The Sage Smart Tea Infuser
The Sage Smart Tea Infuser is a little cheaper than the brand’s Tea Maker and, at first glance, you might think it has less functions and is a simpler model. In a way, that’s true, it does have a simpler digital display with less options, but it also has something the Tea Maker doesn’t have. The setting for the steep time.
If you’re a serious tea drinker, you’ll know what this is. Otherwise called the brew time, the steep time is how long you like your tea to sit in the hot water, or how strong you like your tea. You can set the steep time to how you like it, weak or strong. So, if you’re very particular about your tea and you like it just how you like it, this is a great function.
It also has a bigger jug capacity at 1.7 litres.
Buy now £112.00, Amazon
Verdict
There isn’t much to separate the WeeKett and the iKettle, including price, they both do a similar job for a very similar cost. We liked the WeeKett’s dry boiling protection programme and the fact that it keeps the water at the same temperature for an hour if you want it to, but for us it all comes down to appearances.
It’s understandable why many people find smart kettles ugly, but you really can’t say that about the iKettle. Even without all of its time saving and cool features, it’s a lovely looking kettle. You can also heat the water as low as 20 degrees, which is pretty unusual. And, the fact that you can order an iKettle in a range of colours and finishes brings them out top for me. This is a smart kettle that looks smart and fits with any kitchen design.
