Customer Reviews

Aroma AWK-115S Hot H20 X-Press 1-1/2-Liter Cordless Water Kettle

5 star:		(560)
4 star:		(177)
3 star:		(59)
2 star:		(45)
1 star:		(69)

 

 

[Originally review January 2009 (3 stars), Updated July 2010]
We bought one of these for our home and liked it so much I got another for my office. It is a quick safe way to boil water. It works much better than our teapot on our conventional stove and you can leave the room without worry about all the water boiling out and a possible fire.
It is so efficient that we often use it to heat up water before putting it in a pan on the stove. It is much faster. When we are making pasta we will put a small amount of water in a large pan and fill the teapot. The water in the pot is boiling before the water on the stove. The pot is light, even when full, and has no aftertaste like I have read some of the plastic ones do.
HOWEVER, we had owned our home pot for less than six months when the 'on' switch broke off. The pot was still usable, but you have to reach in and activate it with a fingernail. It was under limited warranty, but that involved mailing it to San Diego at our own cost and sending them a check for $8 to have it returned. Including the time and materials to package it up and then drive to the post office and have it gone for 2-4 weeks wasn't worth the effort.
I have concluded we just got a lemon. Because this happened and the warranty policy was so cumbersome, I originally gave this 3 stars. But our other one is working fine and the broken piece has turned out to be a small inconvenience, so I have revised my rating to 4.6, rounding up to 5.

It's not often that one finds a product that's both visually attractive AND functionally satisfying. This kettle is one of those rare items: the shiny stainless steel body is beautiful to look at, and it boils water very very quickly! It features a nice big and sturdy handle which is very comfortable, and the spout is perfectly designed so that you'd have to be a real klutz to spill things. The cordless feature is wonderful, I tried a cheap ten dollar "Hot Pot" for a day or two and hated having to deal with the cord, plus that model doesn't have automatic shutoff despite what it says on the box---huge fire hazard! There is also a power-indicator light and water-level indicator gauge which are both handy, and I like that there is no exposed heating element inside which would be a pain to clean. Instead it's all smooth clean lines, inside and out!

Sure the outside of the kettle does get a little hot so you probably don't want to have this within reach of toddlers or anything, but if your toddlers can get up on your kitchen countertop then you have a LOT of other problems as well! I appreciated not having to deal with how plastic inevitably gets dirty-looking and sometimes leaves a funny taste in the water.

My only slight concern is that the lid needs a little bit of force to shut completely...probably some kind of insulating seal that shortens the time needed to bring water to a boil, but makes me wonder how durable that part of this kettle is going to be. Oh well, will find out in a few months or (hopefully) years, I suppose!

*UPDATED 2/14/2011: Still going strong, no complaints at all. I use it at least twice a day, most days. The lid has held up well. Highly recommend!

I bought this after I was so disappointed with a Breville one. The pot does get hot but I don't have any children or pets to worry about. The boil time is very fast and there is no coil on the inside so I do not have to worry about the build-up or rust I have experienced with other kettles. The water tastes good and clean. For this price it is very affordable! I do have to admit that the pot seems a little cheaply made, but I didn't expect much since it seems to be less than half the price of others of the same volume and style. I am very happy with this!!

Update (more than a month later): this is still working so quick and perfectly! I couldn't be happier!

I bought it last month and used it over one month now. Heat quickly, looks good on the counter, easy to use and cheap.

The big problem for me is it failed to shut itself off about 10% of times, with the lid closed completely, even minutes after water boiled and the plastic handle became too hot to hold. I have to stay nearby when I using it, otherwise it could be dangerous. I contacted Aroma service people today, they told me that I can send back to repair, but I need to pay the shipping cost by myself. For a 30 dollar stuff, it is not worth it. Kind of disappointed.

New update in 1/12/2012.

I use it over two years now, almost every day. I feel good about this product now. It did fail to shut itself off around 10% of times in the first month. But it is OK after that. I guess it maybe caused by the built up water stain near the edge of cover. It made the cover close tighter to trigger the detector. I change the rate to 4 stars from 1 star. Feel surprised that this kettle last pretty long.

Whether for tea or or hot oatmeal, this water kettle has performed perfectly. Before I purchased this I tended to use the microwave to heat water. Can't believe what a waste of time and energy that was, not to mention possibly unhealthy. This kettle is even faster than your stove top.

The interior is about 98% metal except for a very tiny amount of plastic. I didn't taste anything bad regardless and my sense of smell/taste is fairly strong.

My only concern is that the instructions clearly say to unplug the kettle when not in use. There's an auto shut-off after the water is boiled so either the manufacturer is being extra extra cautious or they believe there could be a problem. Would prefer to just leave it plugged in and not worry about it, but I follow the directions.

A great buy overall - have owned it for months now without a problem.

Very disappointing, good reviews but this did not work for us. The Auto-off was broken and it just kept boiling. The construction was not very solid, the lid was not connected very tightly.

After having bought and returned the stylish but overpriced Breville (which did have a bad odor as other reviewers have noted), I have owned this for seven months now and give it a very high recommendation. It gets heavy daily use in our house and functions perfectly. Yes, it is a bit noisy like all electric kettles, and it is warm/hot to the touch as it contains boiling water. Some have complained that the sight tube is under the handle and hard to read, but it's easy to get used to and it's in a protected location. I like the fact that almost all of the material which the water contacts is stainless steel (the sight tube is plastic). If this one were to wear out, I would buy another.

After five weeks of use the unit auto off is failing. Wont disconnect even if so hot that the handle will burn your hand. It is an invitation to fire.

I needed a second kettle and didn't want to shell out about $90+ for another Braun WK600 Stainless kettle (which I am happy with). So I bought this Aroma. Not as heavy, but more aesthetic, boils water fast and fully satisfactory. While I have had for less than a week, it's performed very well.

One reviewer said that the "on" switch at the bottom of the pot broke. I noticed that it takes a very light touch to engage, so maybe if a heavy touch is used, this switch could break. Time will tell whether it's a durable product but at this time I'm very happy with the kettle.

The kettle would not switch off when it came to a boil. I checked everything to be sure that the lid was closed and filter in place, but every time I used it it just kept boiling. I called customer service to ask what to do. They wanted me to send it back to Amazon. Amazon wanted me to return it to Aroma... Finally after 5 phone calls back and forth I got Aroma to accept a return. They gave me a return number to put in the box with the item. I mailed it back 6 weeks ago and have still not got a replacement. I would not buy anything from Aroma if I were you.