Customer Reviews

Bodum 5500-582USA Ibis Cordless Electric Water Kettle, Teal

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've been looking for an electric kettle for sometime (teapots and I just don't get along), and decided to give this one a chance. And it turned out to be even better than I had expected! First of all, it's actually cordless, the kettle lifts right off the base when your water is ready. It's definitely good for more than one person - you could make tea for a whole family at one go (I can't imagine needing the "full-size" version). And it's so quick, I've even boiled water in it to get a pot of pasta cooking faster. A small amount of water seems to be ready before I even have my mug and tea out. I will never buy another teapot, thanks to this kettle.

I have/had two versions of this kettle...the white and the clear. The white was an earlier design with a slightly different kettle-to-base connection. The earlier version lasted about three years and was ok although it would stop working every now and again until I gave it a fiddle. It finally died in its sleep. The very very flimsy flip up switch finally broke and couldnt be fixed any more.

There are two critical flaws with the current design..

1) the kettle and base do not mate properly, resulting in either the kettle not turning on. or when the kettle is lifted off, it also snags the base off the counter.

2) the bottom of the base is suppose to allow for any excess length of electrical cord to be wrapped around some pins - but the base is too light, and the the pins dont hold the electrical cord in place. The cord will often detach and tangle under the base. I have given up trying to wrap the cord at all.

Although I havent taken the current version of the kettle apart yet, I suspect it also uses the same flimsy flip up switch - so I am giving this a three year life also.

Come on, Bodum, you can do better than this. I like your cool designs but you shouldnt have to sacrifice quality.

I am adding this paragraph three months after the rest of this review. The kettle has stopped working - less than a year old. Needless to say, we wont be buying Bodum kettles anymore.