I miss my £5 kettle from Argos. It lasted me well over ten years. I've had numerous ones since, some brand names and they're all shit and have broken after a year or two. That cheap one I got didn't even break either, I just gave it away. I'm sorry kettle, I should have appreciated you more and not allowed my head to be turned by those "fancy" kettles (looking at you Britta built in filter kettle with fancy LED light!)

Higher wattage kettles boil faster.

Temperature control is handy if the drinks you make are best made with water at specific temperatures less than 100C, such as green and white tea, and coffee, or you use the kettle to make hot water for other purposes (e.g. activating yeast for bread).

I try to avoid plastic insides in kettles. Heat and plastic have some links to health issues. A decent steel inner for the area that contains the water seems sensible given the risk. https://news.uq.edu.au/2025-12-australians-are-drinking-plastic-particles-their-tea-uq-research-finds

Yes, get one you can get your hand in the top as it makes cleaning them a lot easier, especially if limescale is an issue.

This is f/frugal! Buy one with a small minimum amount of water required. Means you can boil just one cup. I expect the energy savings would add up.

Glass kettle for me. A little more expensive but no plastic other than the lid. I think you get two years on kettles so if a kettle is going to last two years then it's going to last 10. They are very uncomplicated. You just look after it. The frugal tip is never ever fill it over the min marker unless you actually need it and have a kettle filling jug at the side so the water is room temp when you fill it.

Depends what you want. Aesthetics, more features, larger capacity, longevity due to better quality can be reasons for spending a little more. If you only want to boil water and you don't care what it looks like or having to replace it then no, no need.

Where I am it's cheaper to warm a stove top kettle on the gas hob than use an electric one. They're also cheaper to buy and there's more good looking options. It takes a little longer to heat up but you do get a bit of bonus excess heat

I've had the same kettle I purchased from Asda for under a tenner for 7 years with no issues. If it eventually stops working, I'll purchase the cheapest one I can find & direct the cost savings to my Yorkshire Gold fund.

After years of having the cheapest kettle going, I treated myself to a more expensive one, still only £20 quid but it glows different colours as the water heats up. I'm easily entertained and this gives me a little bit of joy every time I make a cuppa! And yes I did turn the kitchen light off and watched it glow in the dark the first time I used it (then forced my partner to watch, then when we had friends round the next day made them watch...)

I bought a cheap cheap one and it's the loudest kettle ever, so maybe that plays a part. Sounds like a rocket trying to take off a meter away from me.

My £7 Tesco kettle is getting close to being 20 years old and still going strong!

Once I bought a very cheap one and it started leaking in a few weeks. So I chose the middle range now, works well for me so far.

No, unless the cheapest kettle is made with some harmful material, like PFAS.

Yes, I normally buy those old fashioned metal kettles and boil water on a stove. The oldest, the safest.

I bought a cheap kitchen set years ago, kettle, toaster and sandwich maker, having the kettle and toaster on at the same time tripped the rcd on the distribution board. Never happened when we could afford better

I get Asda George ones they have one that is glass and has blue light. although I can’t fault my previous cook works kettle that lasted 5 years until it started being a bit unreliable but then I boil it 5-6 times a day. Anything above 30 is just brand name and most kettles come with 2 year warranty anyways

I believe the ones with the invisible filament are better. They boil faster and there isn't a minimum fill level beyond having something in.

Beyond that there really isn't much of a difference until you get to ones with variable temperature, and the ones I've tried don't last as long as a normal kettle.

Nope, my £7 from Asda one has outlasted the three posh ones my parents have gone through, and pours better

Yes. The elements are terrible and can take ages to boil the water. No need to spend a fortune but definitely don’t buy the cheapest.

Id at least buy one from a reputable brand (eg a Phillips/Bosch etc, not some chinese amazon no name) even if it is a low end one. I live in a hard water area, so buy a cheap new one every 1-2 years as opposed to descaling is the way ahead.

I mean in my opinion there is a limit to what frugality can offer. How much are you going to save by buying a shitty looking kettle? 10-20 quid? Buy a good kettle, that's what I did. Looks nice, makes me want to use it more.

If you buy a cheap one and it starts leaking, you can return it.

Our kettle has just packed in after 9 years. Think it cost £8. Will be buying a cheap one again.

Our kettle history.

From the bottom up: - First cheap one lasted 7 years.
- Second one quite snazzy but glass broke.
- Third going strong but we got given a fancy kettle so it's boxed up as a spare and stored somewhere (read on).
- Fancy kettle broke after a year or so —looked for boxed cheapo but unable to find it!
- Fourth still going strong. Spare still somewhere!

When we moved house, I bough a cheap stainless steel kettle from tesco so I could have one at either end whilst moving stuff. It was about 8 quid.

That was 7 years ago and it's still going strong. No idea where the other posher one went. Probably still in a moving box in the loft.

I've always bought the kettle that matches my toaster and looks good. Aesthetics has only ever been my measure. If that's not something you care about then I can't see any reason to spend more than £5!

Faster boiling and some may be more energy efficient which, depending on price and lifespan, could save money in the long run

Go for the highest powered kettle, lower powered kettles take longer to boil

It's it's 3KW the rest kinda doesn't matter which I found out when my expensive one broke two weeks out of warranty, the £10 Amazon black Friday special is just as good as it was

Be warned about cheap plastics leeching into every beverage you make. Metal all the way.

a cone shape is shit for removing lime scale or any cleaning or repair inside

No , they all die eventually .

We have a Zwilling double walled thing. Zero plastic contact with the water, which is the main reason we got it, but it's also substantially quieter than a normal kettle

Recently bought a double walled kettle (like a thermos) - in the long run it should save power. At least for the last few months I've been amazed how hot water stays for hours (useful if you don't need exactly boiling)

We've got an insulated kettle that's handy for avoiding reboiling from scratch. Water won't be held at boiling but pretty close. I even sometimes have it set up to boil during off peak electric time in the morning, then reboil when I wake up. Means my first real boil for coffee and tea is faster as it's had a head start.

Oh, snap! I almost bought the cheapest one yesterday and it was made of plastic. Thanks for the post op!

Microplastics. It’s worth getting a kettle made of stainless steel or glass - can supposedly help prevent infertility too.

The reason not to go for the cheapest is that:

1.They are normally 2kw, so slower to boil than the 3kw ones

1. They usually have a plastic body which gives people concern for their health.

You just can't beat a cheap kettle for value but some of the metal 3kw models at about £30 are a decent option given the faster boil, and aesthetics.

If you pay a lot more you can often get temperature control models but that is just another thing to go wrong. I bought a relatively expensive £80 Ninja temperature control model, and it stopped working in months.

At the upper tier (100-150) you have stuff like the expensive Dualit kettles which have replaceable heating elements. Nice in theory, but they charge more for a replacement heating element than the cost of a cheaper kettle, and the reviews of that Dualit kettle were terrible with kettles leaking, the button breaking, and paint flaking.

Above that, there is the designer kettles. I recently bought a £200 georg jensen kettle simply because I liked the look of it. It's a double walled insulated design, which is nice, but the kettle is actually only 2kw, so slower to boil than many kettles costing literally six times less. That, and I am under no illusion that apart from the double walled design, there is nothing special about the kettle and it is unlikely to last any longer than most cheap kettles.

Microplastics

It's definitely worth looking in brittish heart foundation. But obviously only if it's in good condition. Other than that just make sure to check some reviews, make sure it's well built and from a known brand or you might find that it pours funny or breaks quickly.

I spent fifty quid on my Bosch variable temperature kettle and it's brilliant. Boils ridiculously fast (about 30-90 seconds) and has lasted me about 5 years so far

Takes ages to boil water. Get the full turbo model. You will know where your money went. Remember buy once cry once. Buy cheap buy twice.

I kind of hate my cheap ish (10 quid) kettle. Whenever I open it while it's hot a little bit of hot water trickles down the side onto my hand. But I'm a frugal poodle so I haven't been able to bring myself to boy a new one just yet.

I had a £13 quid kettle off Amazon not so long ago and it was slow and then died after 4 weeks.

I use a kettle with a tea and coffee infuser.

They also keep tea warm..

https://amzn.eu/d/jhnReFK

infuser kettle £29.99 with voucher

I splashed out (!) on a Quooker . Most expensive kettle ever, but at least I don’t have to wait for hot water and don’t have the noise of a kettle boiling.

I don't like the really cheap ones that have the cord attached to the kettle.

Cheapest kettles don't have temperature targets, and I like setting a 75 degree target for topping up my espresso.

Noone seems to be mentioning noise. Some kettles can be outright annoying and hiss like crazy when working 

I spent £30 on a kettle this year which for me was big money to spend on one.

I only pushed the boat out because I wanted a tidy smaller 1l chrome kettle because I never end up using anything more than a cafetiere worth at a time.

Personally I wouldn’t buy a plastic kettle which are usually cheaper as based on what we know, we shouldn’t be heating plastic of any kind

Do you have gas? I switched to a stove top kettle a couple of years ago and never looked back. Especially helpful that you can't forget you've boiled it, I was always forgetting and having to reboil my water but now it screams at me so I can't forget!

4 years with wilko kettle and 2 years with £10 Russel hobbs. 

I bought one for a tenner from Lidl dangerous the handle join opened up a bit and steam would come out of the gap so you couldn't pour anything out of it. Not a good look. Now have blinged up one from FB marketplace looks disgusting but works

I have a mid range kettle which has temperature controls. Green tea is a lot nicer at 70C, and coffee is better at 95.

You might think that's poncy and I respect that (but you're wrong wrong wrong¹) but you did ask if there was any reason not just buy the cheapest.

¹So go and sit in the corner of your wrongness and be wrong. X

A more expensive one might not leak after six years?

I tend to go for glass ones purely because I live in London and can see the limescale building up, which prompts me to actually descale it instead of ignoring it forever like I do with other kettles 😂

Tell my workplace this. They got to have these stupid expensive ZIP taps that keep breaking. We got three or four of them and at any one time half of them are broken or need new filters. God how much the company has spent on them when all they need is a simple bloody kettle

I've got a breville one I got on discount and honestly it needs descaling after every use, when people come over and have black tea there's always a thick layer of scale on top its so embaressing so deffo dont recommend that brand, My 8 pound Asda one never did this!

I had a cheap kettle think morphy richards it was plastic switch failed got a smeg difference between the morphy richards and smeg cost wise 5 times over the morphy richards. Construction the smeg is stainless steel the morphy richards plastic.. the hot water stays hot longer in the stainless steel.

Smeg boils faster looks premium but last week the led light failed the kettle works .

I had a plastic jug kettle that cost £10 as a student that lasted from 1990 until 2004.

My next kettle was a metal one, costing £35 that has lasted from 2004 and is still working.

Having bought a Daewoo kettle for about £40 and finding the lid melting within 2 months, I’d say you’d be no worse off getting a cheap kettle. If you’re after longevity, perhaps get an old school kettle for the stove. That’ll last you a really long time (but probably get tedious when it comes to boiling times)

Time is the main factor, cheap kettles take bloody ages to boil

I boil water in a pot on the gas stove; cheaper than electricity.

In the UK, when I found out that descaler was more expensive than a new kettle..

I needed a new kettle. Went into Curry pick top of the line model in store. Also got toaster, iron and vaccuum. Manager saw me and gave me three years warranty for free. Kettle broke, then the replacement, different model, paid a little more as the now top model in store, that broke and paid a little more for the now top model in store (temperature control). 10 years on no bother. Old stainless steel Russell hobs lasted 17 years until ex wanted a new model and it suddenly broke.

Do not get plastic one.

I borrowed a cheap kettle from my parents, a Tesco one as I was having renovation works done to my property and the builders would want tea! I used it one night, put the kettle back to the base and went to bed. I woke up to the smoke alarm going off, the safety switch didn't turn off and the whole kettle was on fire. Since then, I have an instant boiling tap and never looked back. If you do own a kettle, make sure to switch it off from the mains as well when not in use

Nope we always get a cheap cookworks kettle from Argos. Costs around 12 quid and lasts for years.

Oversimplified answer but

Pros it's a simple technology and hard to go wrong with, 3x the price will not be 3x better.

Cons Kettle should last years, even decades, since you're in r/frugal, so may as well get one you like.

Note: 3kw kettle boils faster, but that's almost the standard, it won't set you back much, if at all

If you're thinking about electricity bill, the most important factor is really how you use the kettle. The wastage is in the boiled water you don't use. You could get a hot water depenser, which heats only the water you use, or alternatively an insulated kettle which will cool down slower

My kettle cost me £75 over 5 years ago and its been a bargain

I have one which allows you to choose different cut-off temperatures. This saves energy by not boiling water that I only want hot, for coffee or green tea.

Went through a time of buying Asda "value kettles" i think we had four in a year and a half and only paid for the first as the broke consistently, just kept the receipt and got another. We got a Morphy Richards eventually and had had that for five years so far so good.

Just bought a Daewoo kettle from amazon warehouse damaged box but kettle inside still sealed and brand new £6.98. Absolute bargain.

bought a kettle from Lidl 12 years ago for less than a tenner. today it's still perfectly functional now with a family of 4. as any other kitchen appliance, regular cleaning (inside and out) are required

Go for a quick boil kettle. You don't realise what a difference it makes until you are standing next to someone else's regular kettle wondering why it's taking so long.

My mum bought a fancy wi-fi kettle that works with alexa, which i mocked of course, it didn’t even respond to “boil the kettle”, only “turn the kettle on” worked which was annoying, anyway, it lasted 6 months before failing to work at all and was replaced by a cheap one from Asda.

Temperature control really is worth getting if you drink a lot of tea, especially green tea or matcha, but black tea also, or coffee in a French press/cafetiere. Not fully boiling makes a huge difference to the taste.

Also good for other scenarios like filling hot water bottles safely. I’d recommend it as a useful upgrade.

The kettle is great honestly but the fact that it's semi automatic means that it's performance in pvp is largely dependent on your ability to spam the left noise button.

Work provided a very cheap kettle for the brew room and it’s a complete false economy. It’s so poorly insulated that you are constantly having to re-boil it and it takes ages to boil. At home I have a Dualit ‘Architect’ and it’s complete electric kettle po*n. Most of the parts are replaceable and I live in a very soft water area, so should last a lifetime 🤞

I got given a 2-cup plastic Philips kettle in 1988, still going strong.

yes. the cheaper kettles don't pour properly. you'll end up with a scolded foot

I have a nice kettle purely for aesthetic reasons but there absolutely nothing wrong with a cheap one, they are incredibly simple appliances at their core and there isn’t much a manufacturer can add to it in terms of quality.

I have a 500w 1 litre thing I got from a camping store that was closing down. It cost me £6.. I've had it for years.

It takes an absolute age to boil though

• Power output 
• Handling
• Keeping up with the Jones'

Buy cheap buy a twice

Expensive kettles boil the water hotter ;)

Metal one, no plastic chemicals leeching then