Hi Turtlemeng,

I'm really not one to ask since I've never had one but I do know I'm not going to get one. (We're in the building planning stage right now).

You are right, freshly drawn water is best - we have well water (we live in Alaska) & it's SO good. I just boil my coffee/tea water in a little pot on my gas stove.

But...a friend has turned me onto an electric kettle - it brings the water to a boil SO much faster than my gas stove - I couldn't believe it so I think I will get one of those. Save energy & it would add some charm to my kitchen at the same time :)

Good luck in whatever you decide - I'll be sure & read all the input you get - interesting question!

I'll post a link to a tea kettle - this one has great ratings at Amazon & it has a separate base from the pot which my friend highly suggested. I'm sure there are lots more good ones out there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Electric tea kettle

I really wanted one when we embarked on our kitchen renovation. My KD says she doesn't recommend them to clients anymore because they are prone to leaking (hot water on wood floors - lots of disasters). So I was sadly talked out of it. I will check out the electric tea kettle linked above though because we make tea every night! Plus that will be great when we are under construction.

We love ours. When we remodeled in a former house, we didn't go for it, wondering why anyone would. A few years later we moved, and there was one in the new house, and we all decided we couldn't live without one again! We use it for tea, pasta, cleaning, defrosting. If it doesn't get used every day, it's close to that. There have been other threads where folks have discussed the safety issues of the tank, etc, and I don't remember the specifics, but have never read anything that made me want to stop using it. As for the leaks, well, the sink/faucet plumbing is likely to leak, too, and that doesn't keep us from putting them in!

We've had one in our last three homes, and wouldn't be without one. We are in the planning stages of our new home and I was shocked to see how much they have gone up...nearly $500 now. Seems ridiculous for such a small little thing. But DH says, "It costs what it costs"!

We love ours. We use it all the time. We absolutely wouldn't consider living without it. Let's see...in the a.m. I use it to make my coffee (I use one of those cone drip things), my husband uses it to make tea. My daughter uses it for hot chocolate and ramen (no, not together). It's one of those glorious things that makes life easier.

I think the newer ones have Stainless Steel tanks. That should minimize leaks and probably explains the higher prices.

We just bought a place with one, but haven't moved in yet. However, we are removing it for the sole reason that we are worried kids will push on it, burn themselves and it will be a big headache.

Maybe if it were just adults in the house...

thanks for responding, however, it seems the opinions are quite divided...hmmm....sigh....

I almost crossed it off the list but DH said he wanted it -- so it stayed in the plans and we use it several times a day most days even in the summer and more in the winter. I had a leak right where the tubing connects to the tank -- I cut it off and reconnected it. No big deal, and I discovered it because of the low pressure coming from the tank so it let me know without any damage to cabinets, floors, walls, etc.

We have one in our new house. My parents have 2 and have had them since I was little, so I grew up spoiled to the convenience. I hate waiting for water to heat up in the microwave to make coffee or hot chocolate, or having to microwave my apples n cinnamon oatmeal. LOL I also use it when I'm brewing a gallon of sweet tea or boiling water to cook in (gives me a head start).

BTW, my builder claimed he had never heard of such a thing. I don't know what rock he's been living under...

V

PS
Our kids are 5 and 2.

We are having one put in with our renos. It will have a double spigot--one for the instant hot and the other for cool filtered water. Several of my friends have the instant hot and they say they would never be without them.
They also use a dishcloth moistened with the hot water to do cleanup on counters, taps etc.
I believe they come with a safety feature now that will prevent small children from being able to turn them on inadvertently.

Laurarenos can you please post info on your double spiggot? That sounds intriguing.

In threads gone past in 2009 and 2010 many people said they loved the instant hot.
Even on ikeafans which is populated more by low budget.

--

search key words are

instant hot water

and you will see the double faucet.

Every manufacturer has them.

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For the people who have/love it, do you have a water filter connected to it?

I grew up with the idea I will drink either filtered or boiled water. Although it's a given water quality here in LA is actually pretty good...(laced with a bit of prescription drugs, maybe)

Love ours too. Use it everyday. Anything I am going to boil I get the water there first. Makes everything cook a bit quicker. Its a nice convenience....Would definitely do it again.

Like nursetammi, I also use it for filling pots where I'm going to steam or boil something. I love being able to make tea or hot chocolate without pulling the kettle out of the cupboard ... haven't used a kettle in the year we've had instant hot, and haven't missed it.

My favorite use though is for quickly pre-heating a cold ceramic mug (especially in winter) before pouring coffee.

I don't have one, but I DO have an espresso machine that serves the same purpose--hot water whenever I want it. I've become spoiled by the convenience. Tea, a little hot water to melt some sugar, instant hot chocolate for the kids (if I don't steam it for 'em), it's just handy to have around and I use it a couple of times a day. And that's not even counting for coffee! :-)

Cj

I use mine daily, often enough it doesn't sit around. It's filtered so it's better than boiling tap (although my water isn't bad anyway).

Today I used it for coffee in the morning (French press), someone had instant oatmeal, and it was used for pasta and corn on the cob at dinner. Usually I have several cups of tea throughout the day, but today I was out shoppin'.

I've had it a year and still use it frequently. Some brands get hotter than others--mine is an Insinkerator and gets water to about 210 F. Any colder and it wouldn't be that great for tea and coffee. (Put 210 F water on an induction cooktop and that's the fastest boil you're gonna get).

I like it!

We've had one for 15 years and never had a leak or safety issue and we use it all the time. We are big tea drinkers. Our 10yo son even started drinking tea several times a day since it's so easy to make. Oatmeal, pasta, cleaning...I wouldn't be without it. DH unplugs it when we go on vacation and has it on a timer so it's not heating water all night long. He's all about saving energy. Just thought I'd mention that tip. If you like tea and hot drinks, you will really appreciate it.

we had one in our old house and we've been without one for the last five years -in our temporary house. i miss it every day and i can't WAIT to have one again! i used it ALL the time.

I use my instant hot every day. We got our first one about 15 years ago when I had granite installed and it was suggested (had only heard a little about it before) and it finally stopped working about 6 to 8 months ago so we got another one. Then, we just did a full gut kitchen remodel and we were without it for about 7 weeks...really missed it! When we had the new kitchen installed, we did get the hot/cold combo unit (so my folks will be getting the one that was only 6 to 8 months old).

We have R/O water and it runs through the unit for both the instant hot and the cool water. The tap has a push down tab on the left with a red tip for hot and one with a blue tip on the right for cool. We got the Insinkerator
HC-WAVESN-SS. It looks fine and I really like not having "three" faucets at the sink like we did before (regular faucet, R/O faucet and instant hot faucet).

Many of the dispensers do NOT come with a tank, you have to buy that separately. We were happy to see that ours is one of the few that DOES include a stainless steel tank and it says it can dispense 60 cups of instant hot water per hour.

I found it at Lowe's online only (at least where we live in Arizona) and thought the fast shipping was a bit much. The Great Indoors price was upwards of $200 higher but they price match plus give you 10% of the difference off plus give you free shipping, so that's what we did.

Like others, I use it for pasta, tea, jello (boil it first, of course but it boils so much faster). One thing I do daily is fill a small 1 cup size glass prep bowl about half full and put in my wedding ring and tennis bracelet. Just putting them in the hot water for a few minutes each day keeps them sparkling clean and I don't have to be quite so careful about washing my hands with soap or not letting my ring touch hand lotion when I put it on after applying lotion.

I love love love my instant hot.
I find i am drinking more these days, including just hot water with lemon.
use it when cleaning pots/dishes etc
especially when item has just had the hot food removed, - since pot or whatever is still hot there is no difference in temp to worry about that might ruin the article.
also speeds up cooking for soups and pasta and even eggs

My DH is saying we should put one upstairs when we do the bathroom remodel and have a little beverage station upstairs!

Does anyone know how much power they use? Is there was way to shut them down at night automatically? I imagine they waste a lot of energy by always being ready. Is there an Energy Star rated one?
I'd be interested if they were environmentally friendly. I can see that one would be handy. I just wonder how much they cost in electric each year.

Someone asked what double spigot system we have so here it is.
Insinkerator instant hot water tank w/fresh water filtration

Insinkerator instant hot water dispenser (Indulge contemporary)

everpure H-300 drinking water system

My parents have one and I use it all the time at their house so really wanted one when we redid our kitchen.

I put together our system with components from a few different places... we have filtered cold (but not chilled, just "ground temperature" from the well) and instant hot filtered water from one faucet.

The cold water supply goes first to the filter. I have a Culligan US-EZ-4 which I bought from Amazon for about $60. (This came with a cheapy plastic faucet which we did not use.)

Then the filtered water is either dispensed as cold water or it goes into the instant hot tank.

I bought a Quick-and-Hot (think this is same one sold at Costco) hot water tank and a Westbrass hot and cold water dispenser faucet. They were sold together on eBay for less than $200.

Instant hot filtered water is dispensed from the left faucet and filtered from the right. I was so happy to get rid of the Brita pitcher on the counter and this filter takes out must more than the Brita filters did. It's great for making pitchers of iced tea or hot drinks/oatmeal/cream of wheat for the kids.

Love ours, too! We've never had one before, and it turns out we use it all the time.

We don't use it much for pre-heated water for cooking, but do take full advantage of it for hot tea, hot chocolate, instant oatmeal and grits, and those kinds of things.

As an added bonus, we tend to entertain a lot and also have a lot of houseguests, so it's nice to have a quick and easy way for them to do tea, chai and other non-coffee drinks whenever they want. Also great for kids and their friends, too.