BKE820XL IQ Kettle Water Heater, 7 Cup, Brushed Stainless Steel

If you love all varieties of tea (green, white, black, herbal, oolong) this is the tea kettle for you. It heats water to the perfect temperature to ensure the tea is brewed to maximize its flavor. I bought my first Breville IQ 3 years ago and it’s still performing beautifully. Since then I have given several as gifts to my tea loving family (along with delicious smith tea maker teas ) much to their delight! Breville makes a quality product that stands the test of time.

I purchased this kettle in December 2009 from Amazon after owning several other kettles. The other kettles did the job of boiling water but I was tired of using a thermometer for making green tea. I got the Breville Lift And Look toaster as a gift and was impressed with the thoughtfulness of the design, so I included Breville in my search for a new kettle, even though it was pricey (at least three times what I was looking to spend). I wanted something for green tea, coffee (love the keep-warm feature), and for various jobs like making jello, hummingbird food, getting a jump on boiling a pot of pasta water, and filling the dishpan with hot water rather than letting the faucet run and waste water. Even though I initially questioned myself for spending this much, the investment paid off because we utilize all the features and put it to heavy use morning and night. We also like the lighted buttons that are easy for large man-fingers, hideaway cord feature, the fact that the base does not skid on the counter, and the plug with the big hole to easily unplug it with no strain on the power cord. We have no problems with build-up, even after 2-1/2 years, because we use nothing but filtered water in it. (We keep several tap water filtering pitchers on the counter at all times.) In 2011, I started having intermittent problems with the kettle leaking. Also, the kettle would occasionally keep boiling and not shut off, but this may have been due to water leaking into the electronic base. Upon careful examination, it seemed that the water was coming out from the handle somewhere. I worked around the problem by taking the kettle off the base and setting it on a folded kitchen towel immediately after each use, and unplugging the kettle for safety reasons. The plug's design (big hole for finger in the center) ensures that constant plugging and unplugging doesn't put wear on the power cord, helping to avoid further problems or safety issues. After removing the leaky kettle from the base daily, the electronic problems stopped. A few days ago, I had a pretty big flood from the kettle and heard a rattle. When I looked inside, I saw that one of the screws holding the handle on had fallen off completely. Time for a new kettle. The less-expensive variable-temp Cuisin*rt PerfecT*mp looks like a nice alternative, but I was concerned about the electronics being up in the handle where I could easily ruin them with water, instead of on a base away from the sink. Since I love this kettle and it does everything I want (and the price has gone down), I decided to re-purchase it. When I looked inside the new kettle, they had redesigned the way the handle is attached... no screws to fail (probably the source of the leak). I am packing the old kettle and base away for a spare in an emergency. There are less expensive variable-temp kettles out there of good quality and design. However, this one has become my favorite, I have the matching toaster, and I have a spare base now. UPDATE as of 10-02-2012: So far I've had no problems with my second kettle. I still unplug it daily just in case, and I'm still hanging on to the previous base. I'm a fan, but a cautious fan who puts safety first. UPDATE as of 01-15-2013: Still no problems. UPDATE as of 09-04-2013: Still no problems.

I have to give a shout out to the NYTimes for their full-throated endorsement of this product. It's outstanding. Easy to use, clear guidance and it's quick to heat water, to boot. Much better than my old kettle water heater.

Great if you need or want one of the features, if you just want to boil water, probably not worth the extra cost. Features include: slow opening lid (if you are tired of tiny drops burning you when you open the lid to refill it), specific buttons and temps for different drinks (if you need or want that?), three pronged plug, extra wide base to include the fancy temperature buttons. I really wanted that slow opening lid. Very attractive design as well.

Many reviewers have commented on this kettle for tea. I hardly drink tea, but still find it very useful. I am a fanatical coffee drinker. I prefer to buy freshly roasted coffee from small roasters, store the beans at room temperature in an airtight container, measure the beans with a digital scale, grind the beans before brewing with a conical burr grinder, boil my water to precisely 192 degrees, and brew the coffee in an insulated french press. Well, except when I was making a small amount of coffee with the AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker . Then I wanted the water to be 185 degrees. (At this point in the review, I feel it is necessary to remind the reader that I am a FANATICAL coffee drinker.) Water temperature makes a huge difference in the taste of your coffee. Higher brewing temperatures extract more acidic and astringent compounds. Brewing coffee with boiling water makes it taste more harsh and bitter, brewing with cooler water makes it more mild. Through trial and error, I've found that I prefer my coffee to brew for a long time with moderately hot water. With the coffees I prefer (usually Indonesian and African, roughly full city roast), 192 degrees works best. I bought this kettle because brewing the water to the right temperature was very frustrating with my old kettle. It would take a great degree of diligence and multiple temperature checks with a digital thermometer to get the water to the right temperature. As promised, this kettle will brew your water to a specific temperature. It has saved me a small amount of time and aggravation every morning. I have only a few things to criticize about this product: - There is a button labeled "French Press Coffee" that brews water to 200 degrees. Do not use this setting for french press coffee. Brew the water to 195 degrees instead. - The kettle resets to 212 degrees (a full boil) if you unplug it. This can be a minor annoyance; more than once, I have accidentally forgotten to reset the temperature and boiled the water. - I'd really like a 190 degree setting. 195 degrees is a little too hot for some coffees, and 185 is too cold. - It's tough to get all the water out. A little water tends to get stuck in the lid and filter. If you measure water before boiling (I do, in order to expedite boiling), you may find this annoying. - The "hold" mode is confusing if you don't read the manual. Once, my wife misread the kettle, and accidentally added lukewarm water to a coffee pot. The kettle indicates that it is done by beeping and changing the color of an LED. I think it would have been better to add an LED light explicitly labeled "at brewing temperature" rather than assigning two purposes to the light around the hold button. These may be minor quibbles, but this is a very pricey kettle. If you're looking for a well made kettle that brews water to different temperatures, this is probably your best bet. If you don't care about the multiple temperatures, you can find much more economical options that are just as functional.

So much better than our previous two kettles which we donated. This one is expensive but it works great!

We've had this kettle for about a month now and we're very pleased with it. We use it four or five times a day. I use it primarily for making coffee with the Aeropress and for green tea. My wife and son use it for various teas. The primary reason we bought this Kettle is for its accurate temperature control and we are not disappointed. I've taken a couple of temp measurements at the 175 and 185 degree marks and it's always been within 2% of the target temp. It’s also fast at reaching temperature, but I haven’t timed it so no feedback there. I’m usually doing other things when I’m in the kitchen and it’s usually reached temp before I’m ready. It's also a good looking appliance and we're also Breville fans. We've had their high-end juicer with the blender attachment for two years and it's been a champ. We use it every day and it shows no real signs of wear. We had to use customer support one time about a blade issue and they were very responsive and sent us a new one for free, so we trust that they'll step up if there are issues with this kettle. It's very easy to clean and we have high calcium in our water so I use vinegar once a week to clean out the deposits. I try to keep the base and bottom of the kettle dry, I don’t think a little moisture will hurt it but I figure it will last longer if we keep the electrical components dry. It is a little loud; it is a thin stainless steel container so you can hear the water heating and it’s louder than an enamel stove top kettle. I don’t consider this a big source of BPA. Most of the surface area is stainless steel, but there is a little plastic in the kettle and you can probably remove the strip that holds in the calcium filter. If you’re really concerned with BPA there are other ways to reduce your risks like stop drinking OJ, milk, eating yogurt and everything else that is packaged in plastic. Other kettles that we looked at with temp control had fairly poor reviews on accuracy. If you drink a variety of teas or use coffee presses and need accurate temperature control, this kettle is great and worth the extra money. If you just need boiling water this may not be the kettle for you, there are cheaper kettles with very good ratings that boil water.

I looked at just about every single electric kettle and all their reviews. The general consensus with reviewers seemed to be the Cuisinart model with this a close second, their main reasoning being this was more expensive. I am willing to pay slightly more for real quality and my mother has had the same Breville kettle for over six years now and it is still perfect. Hers doesn't have temp control, just straight forward boil. I wanted the variable temp feature for my tea habit and went with this one. Really like it. Looks super sharp, super easy to use, boiled quickly and all the different tea temperatures are accounted for. Two small qualms I have with it. The windows for water level aren't lit. I know its minor but my mother's has a light and I rather like the look of it. When it's heating it's lit, when it's done it dings and the light goes off...a silly cosmetic feature with some practical use (you can see it across the room at night) but I like it. This one's buttons light up which can also be seen. My main problem was with the lid. It has a slow opening lid which prevents steam or hot water hitting the user. Mine just never really sealed shut. It would clamp closed but stay open around the edges on one side as if warped. I highly doubt they are all like this which is why I still have five stars. Get one yourself, try it, but I had to return it and will try out the Cuisinart. Whenever that one dies I will go back to Breville and see what they have out then, they are a quality company.