Many reasons for variable temp. It shuts off at the perfect set temp for various kitchen needs like pour-over coffee, most, if not all, teas prefer a less than rolling boil. Used for baby food, etc...I have to wait and test temp for miso since it is naturally fermented and high heat will destroy the beneficials.

Wish I had one. I use a stove-top kettle and now know how much time I need to let it rest for the right temp.

Breville is usually a nice over-all small appliance manufacturer but I bought their cordless elec kettle and it runs at full steam for 10 seconds before shutting off...just long enough to drench the cabinets and steam the entire kitchen including windows. If it was variable temp I could set it to go off sooner and have a better temp for coffee. Should have sent it back but took it to the beach house where we need some humidity having a wood cook stove. (that home is DRY)...thank you Breville for the humidifier/steam facial.

It was also important to me that it have no cheap plastic parts where boiling every day did not cause early failure or unknown health risks...knowing where most elec appliances are made these days.

I found this one on ebay for $75 including shipping: Breville, BKE820XL, 1.8 Liter Stainless Steel Electric Tea Kettle

This one has five temp. settings. I can't tell if there is any plastic that contacts the water.

That is the one I should have purchased. Not many on this forum have a variable temp that I know of from past discussions.

My Breville has no plastics in contact with water.

My wife and I drink various kinds of tea and I also want to transition from automatic drip coffee to Melita.

A few of us here roast our own coffee beans and us pour-over Chemex. Boiling water temps are not good for that but the filter wetting and sterilizing the Chemex time...perfect hot kettle temp for us. It was life changing, (lol). Very zen and so much healthier not using stagnant water sitting in a plastic holding automatic drip that never ever dries out. Microbial soup it is. The water that feeds by tube into your elec drip is room temp and the drip water is not hot enough to kill the molds. ....

I stopped drinking coffee all together thinking it was a digestive irritant. Not a problem since switching 10 yrs ago.

About a year ago we purchased a Cusinart 1.7 L stainless Steele electric tea kettle with variable temps and a keep warm. It was a $99 item at Bed n Bath on sale for $80 and then used a 20% off coupon plus free shipping. We feel like it was a good purchase and would do again.

Reason for buying, I was using a stove top tea kettle for boiling water on a new 3week old electric range, I got side tracked and the steam was rolling out and directly on the touch pad...not good that was, it burned the touch pad out. We were out a stove for two more weeks. The electric tea kettle was DH idea, he picked it out, he is such a Breville fan I am surprise he missed that.

I've been using the microwave to heat water to the temperature that I want, and I check it with an instant read thermometer. After a few tries, I know how long to microwave a certain quantity of water to the temperature that I want.

The one we have now is an Ovente, we had a smaller one before, I don't remember the brand. They both work fine and this one is over a year old with no problems. No problems with the other one either, but Elery wanted a bigger one, as we bought a bigger Chemex.

Like sleevendog, I roast my own coffee beans and use a Chemex to make pour-over coffee. I also find that the time it takes to wet the filter and warm the carafe before making coffee gives me just enough time for the water to cool to a suitable temperature for making the coffee.

Neither of my kettles were variable temperature, though, but now I will look at those if/when I need a new one!

Annie

I've had a Russell Hobbs kettle now for at least 18-20 years. They no longer make the same style, but if the quality is still the same, it can't be beaten for reliability. I couldn't live without mine!

For less than $20.00, you can get a motor speed controller to control your electric kettle temperature. Continuously from 0 % to 100%.

The controller can also be used to get better control of your other cooking appliances of the resistance heating type (not for induction or microwave, or anything digital)

Can also be a light dimmer for incandescent lights.

dcarch

https://www.amazon.com/Yescom-Variable-Controller-Settings-Hydroponics/dp/B00U3LD1WA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1521635829&sr=8-6&keywords=router+speed+controller

I have a dualit that I bought 8 years ago (because it was what was in our houses that we rented in England) and I love it -- it brings the water just to the boil and then shuts off. No whistle and no bells -- it just heats water. I bought it from Amazon while in England so that when we arrived home it was there for us. If anything happens to it, I would buy another!

The one in England -- obviously 220

The one we bought from Amazon -- 8 years ago!

I have had the Breville, BKE820XL for about 6 years. We love it.

Thank you, WalnutCreek. That is what I needed to hear. I guess I am going to order that one. Until now I have been using Lars' microwave method to make tea. My wife mostly uses the electric kettle.

I used to use the microwave until a person who used to be a Gardenweb member, who was very scientific oriented, did a comparison of electric cost and fastness of heating and posted the results on here. The quickest heating and using less electricity was the electric kettle. I had been considering getting one and when she published the results of her study, I ordered one.

FWIW that former poster also recommended glass over stainless for a cleaner taste.

Thanks to all who posted here. I just ordered the Breville 820XL. As my wife is accident prone, glass was not considered.

I was told that Bodum is a good brand for an electric kettle.

The Breville has become a disappointment. After 2 1/2 years is has started to malfunction frequently. What a waste of money! We probably have averaged once a day over that time.

Sorry your purchase turned out to be a disappointment.

That's why I recommend a motor speed controller (PWM controller) to control temperature.

A resistance heater cannot be adjusted, it is either on or off. The thermostat controls how often the heater get turned on. The thermostat contacts frequently gets worn out because of the high power the heater draws.

dcarch

dcarth, I don't see how a speed controller could be used for temp. control. Doesn't lowering the setting just mean it takes a kettle longer to heat up?

You are correct. I misunderstood. I thought you wanted to change the temperature of the heating element.

If you want to control the temperature of the water, then you can spend about $20 and get a PID temperature controller. It will control the water temperature to within one degree of accuracy.

The system comes with a controller, a SS relay, and a temperature probe. You will need to hook them up into a box. Plug your kettle into the PID system and set the temperature and stick the probe into the kettle. The water will be heated to that exact temperature.

With that, you can also do sous vide cooking.

dcarch

I am surprised to hear that someone's Breville is a dud.

We have this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008P8LAK8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is over 5 years old and still works great!

It looks like that one doesn't have temperature control.

Any brand, except the cordless ones. I always put mine away after I use it. I bought a cordless one and it was a real PIA picking up both pieces to put away and then lift both pieces out again. I sold it and bought a regular electric kettle.