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Hi all,

anyone can report directly experience with the KITCHENAID ARTISAN 1,5L 5KEK1522CA or the glass version ARTISAN KITCHENAID 1,5 L 5KEK1322SS ??

Specially i'm very curios on the first one, because i like the design, and also i'm wondering how the caratteristi to keep water warm for sometime away from the base is really "working".

Thanks a lot.

Links to the products:
http://www.kitchenaid.com/shop/countert ... KEK1522CA/
http://www.kitchenaid.com/shop/countert ... KEK1322SS/

Those look interesting, but no experience with them.

I own the KEK1322SS. It works very well. There are some reviews on Amazon about bad odors and tastes coming from the kettle, but I have not experienced any problems like that. I bought it for its all glass design and the temperature settings. It is a bit heavy, so I may start filling my gooseneck kettle that I use for my pour-over coffee, and using it for tea as well. Overall, I think it is the best variable temperature kettle available. I've owned it for a year with no problems.

Shane wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 24, 2017 8:21 pm

Overall, I think it is the best variable temperature kettle available. I've owned it for a year with no problems.

Just curious about the comparison you're making here: what other variable temp kettles have you owned or used?

I've still got one of the three original Pino Digital Kettle Pros that I bought back in 2010: one just stopped heating, and the other one developed a problem with the control pad. They weren't UL-listed, and the company stopped making them, so replacing them was not an option by the time the first one died.

Then I bought two Bonavita gooseneck kettles, one of which works flawlessly, after 3 years of daily use, and another of very similar vintage has a problem with the temp control meaning that I sometimes set it to heat, and return to find an overtemp warning that requires turning it off and on to clear. So one excellent kettle and one semi-lemon out of two.

The Bonavita is much easier to handle, and the preset temps from which I can dial up and down by single degrees are very handy--click to 140°F and bump up to 160 for a first infusion of sencha, and for the 3rd infusion, one click instead of 16 takes me to 176, but the 1.5 L of the Pinos is nice for work, when I often want to heat enough water to fill my 1 quart thermos and make 2 cups of tea before I take the thermos for an afternoon in the workroom, and the temp adjusts by single degrees from 104 to 205 but you have to click & hold to watch it dial up and down degree by degree, no presets. So I'm always looking out for the next best thing....wishing for a 1.5 L kettle with a gooseneck that lets me set temps by single degree from 110 to 212, and has an option to jump by 10 or 20 degrees at a time as well, and that has very reliable button/dials/keypads/displays.

I have not owned a lot of kettles, but a couple of things that I believe support my opinion of the KitchenAid being the best variable temperature kettle is because it is glass. Glass does not add any flavour to the water. Almost every tea shop I visited in China used a glass tea kettle.
Another is brand reliability.
I should be entitled to an opinion, right?

Shane wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 24, 2017 8:21 pm

I own the KEK1322SS. It works very well. There are some reviews on Amazon about bad odors and tastes coming from the kettle, but I have not experienced any problems like that. I bought it for its all glass design and the temperature settings. It is a bit heavy, so I may start filling my gooseneck kettle that I use for my pour-over coffee, and using it for tea as well. Overall, I think it is the best variable temperature kettle available. I've owned it for a year with no problems.

Thanks a lot @Shane

debunix wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 25, 2017 12:19 pm

Then I bought two Bonavita gooseneck kettles, one of which works flawlessly, after 3 years of daily use, and another of very similar vintage has a problem with the temp control meaning that I sometimes set it to heat, and return to find an overtemp warning that requires turning it off and on to clear.

@debunix i also owned a Bonavita, not so bad, but my main issue with this Kettle is that anytime i have to open to check how much water there is inside ... it could seem stupid, but the lack of water control feature is very annoying me. Most of the time open, be sure that there is enough water ... No way.

The best kettle i owned till now where dirt devil aquagrad but now seems not possible to find. I had two of that but after a decade of daily use both of them start to had problems and i were not able to find a new one . So i tried several, then now Bonavita, that is not bad, but does not satisfy me at all.

Shane wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 25, 2017 9:26 pm

I have not owned a lot of kettles, but a couple of things that I believe support my opinion of the KitchenAid being the best variable temperature kettle is because it is glass. Glass does not add any flavour to the water. Almost every tea shop I visited in China used a glass tea kettle.
Another is brand reliability.
I should be entitled to an opinion, right?

Shane, thanks for the opinion which came with the disclosure about your kettle ownership. When one calls anything "the best", he invites doubt. I don't know but suspect that Kitchen Aid brings cake mixing to mind, not tea. (And has no exotic, imported connotations.)

If your kettle makes you happy for years and years, this discussion will not matter. The price is too high for some of us, no matter how good your favorite kettle is. I continue to have no problems w/ the bonavita that I bought when the variable temps by them first came out. I don't mind lifting the pot up entirely or just the lid to know if it holds enough water. I don't notice any tainting of the water that the kettle heats.

There are new brands of variable temperature kettles coming out frequently. If price matters to a buyer, I'd wait for a couple of months or so of positive reviews and then buy one that seems reliable. To my surprise, a gooseneck spout now seems a requirement for me.

Shane wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 25, 2017 9:26 pm

I should be entitled to an opinion, right?

I'm so sorry to have offended you. I did not mean to challenge your right to an opinion in any way. I was simply trying to find out what other kettles you might have experience with to compare it to, because I'm trying to learn about what else is available.

Ethan Kurland wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 26, 2017 9:30 am

I don't mind lifting the pot up entirely or just the lid to know if it holds enough water.

Actually, this is another annoying feature of the Bonavita, because after lifting from the base to heat it, or to bring it to the tap to refill it, I have to hit the buttons again to restart the heating, and I often forget, and then realize, just as there is barely enough time to infuse & drink one more cup before I have to leeave, that it is not hot. A window or clear walls would be very nice.

Still, I'm not the most graceful person, and my only glass kettle did not last very long before meeting an untimely fate.

I guess maybe there are too many variables when it comes to electric kettles.

I was simply giving an opinion on the KitchenAid because I own one. I did not see the OP mention any other brand or type. I only saw specific model numbers.

I did not mean to imply that the pot that I own is the best and nothing compares, it just works best for me at the moment. I would love to have a gooseneck kettle made of glass, but that’s probably a dream that will never come true.

Also, you shouldn’t compare apples to oranges.
I believe that a glass kettle and a stainless kettle and a plastic kettle should all be in different categories.

debunix wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 26, 2017 10:31 am

A window or clear walls would be very nice.

debunix, You say you are not the most graceful (re: breaking glass kettles) but perhaps have too much grace, that is, neatness, to make your morning tea preparations easy. My table has filtered water, the bonavita, teapots, gaiwans, cups, and tea spread on it. Most of the times that I want to drink tea, I don't need to go to a cupboard or sink to initiate preparation. When I return the kettle to the base of the bonavita, I have a habit to touch the button that keeps water at the last heated temperature. (If I am switiching teas & thus parameters, it is quick to lower temperature with some water or raise it with a touch of buttons from heated water than room-temperature or fresh tap water.) If I do not make more tea, the kettle shuts off in an hour on its own.

However, I am alone in my studio and like the look of my table for tea that would be a mess for others who might also dislike seeing a kettle keeping water hot though it may not get used.

Shane wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 25, 2017 9:26 pm

<...>
Glass does not add any flavour to the water.
<...>

Steel is a stable and inert compound that does not add anything to the water either.

This thread derailed quickly. Maybe we should stay on topic. I don’t have scientific testing to back my claims, but stick your nose in your stainless kettle full of water, and tell me that you don’t smell metal.

Shane wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 28, 2017 4:57 pm

This thread derailed quickly. Maybe we should stay on topic. I don’t have scientific testing to back my claims, but stick your nose in your stainless kettle full of water, and tell me that you don’t smell metal.

Then it is finished probably. You don't like stainless steel. Others do. I may smell metal; I don't taste it. Cheers.