Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Come back Russell Hobbs, all is forgiven...., March 18, 2007
I grew up in Europe with electric kettles so I think I know what to expect. I had to return the M677, as it took too long to turn off. I called their customer service and they said it should take an average of 12 seconds to turn off. The average for mine to click off was 1 minute and 15 seconds (timed only after coming to a vigorous boil with steam escaping). It didn't matter if it was full or not. Only once did it click off in less than one minute. Once I came downstairs and it was still boiling away, I was not sure for how long it was boiling so I decided to return it.
Giving them the benefit of the doubt (their customer service was good - a real human picked up in a few seconds), I replaced it with a model M678 which is a little larger, and its average click off time is 35 seconds. It still feels like it's too slow to click off and most of the time I flick it up manually, but at least I feel I can trust it to turn off if I leave the room. (My old dead Russell Hobbs would have switched off in 15 seconds, but I can't seem to find them anymore in the US at least.) On the other hand, the exra boiling time does mean the water if very hot; I would often bring the Russell Hobbs to a second boil so it would be hotter!
The M678 is a bit wobbly on its base, and wobbles a bit when its boiling, but the M677 was stable. All in all, the kettles look good but feels cheaply made with inconsistent quality control. But after scouring all the other reviews, it seems like these models were the best of the bunch.
At least I could count on Amazon to take back a defective product without any hassle. I'm glad I bought from them and not another vendor now (Amazon even reimbursed the shipping, which I didn't expect).
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Works great for making a thermos of green tea, August 26, 2006
We have had this thing for most of a year now, and have used it every day to make a big pot of green tea. Here are some tips on doing that.
We bought a 2.2 liter pump thermos. Yes, this kettle is 1.7 liter, but wait. Every day we throw in 5 bags of green tea and a little less than a cup of cold water. Careful how you rip off the string so you don't open up the bags; we find that holding the staple between finger and thumb while pulling the string keeps the bag intact. We somewhat overfill this kettle (no sign of a problem ever) with water to the middle of the circle you'll see on the inside, bring that to a boil, and add it to the thermos.
With green tea you do *not* want to add boiling water, because it makes the tea bitter. But the bit of cold water you put in first brings the temperature down just enough, and adds enough volume that it fills the 2.2L container. That's one day of tea for the two of us -- imagine the antioxidants! Note that the tea darkens throughout the day, so that by the end it is more like oolong tea.
We have done this 200-300 times now, and all is well. This is hugely more convenient, and faster, than either heating water in a microwave or heating water on the stove. And it doesn't heat up the house like the stove does. We try to avoid ingesting foods/liquids heated in plastic, so stainless steel was a must for us even though it added a lot to the price.
Sounds like some other folks have had reliability problems -- it may be that heating full loads is the best case for kettles like this, since there's no chance of the element being exposed and overheating.
-- An update --
This thing is still going after several years. The only problem is that the button which opens the lid doesn't always work. It's no big deal -- I can just pull the lid up with my hand -- but of course it would be better if it just worked! :^)
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well Used, November 15, 2006
I received my Chef's Choice M677SSG Cordless Electric Kettle-Stainless Steel Gray as a gift and have used it for almost two years at minimum daily and up to four times a day without any malfunctions (no boils overs except the first time I overfilled it and no lid problems at all).
I appreciate the automatic turnoff when the water is finished heating (no more forgetting the kettle on the stove). I clean it weekly with vinegar due to hard water, but otherwise the kettle requires no maintenance. About once a month, I clean the outside steel surface carefully with steel wool and voila, it looks like new. Features include a clear water level meter located on the kettle to ensure appropriate fill level; a mesh on the pour spout to filter mineral deposits; and the power cord attached to the base unit upon which the kettle sits instead of on the kettle.
Definitely one of my most useful and appreciated appliances.
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