OK, this is weird, but I finally understand why people in many countries are amazed that Americans don’t have electric kettles.
Shortly after arriving, I got a small pot that I could put on a hotplate to heat up water. I poured that water into a mug with some instant coffee in order to get an adequate cup of coffee. No, the instant coffee isn’t anything gourmet, but I drink coffee as a drug delivery device, not an aesthetic experience.
This pot on the hotplate worked, but it would take quite some time to heat up. Eventually, it would heat up, but sometimes I would leave it unattended and it would boil away a lot of the water. That is pretty wasteful of both water and electricity. Also, it meant I had to wait before I could get my coffee fix.
Yesterday (Saturday, Nov. 12), I got an electric kettle. Man alive, this thing rocks.
These heat up a lot faster than a pot on a hotplate because the heating element is immersed in the water. Very quickly, the water is at a rapid boil. Then you can use it to make coffee, tea or whatever it was you wanted hot water for.
So why don’t Americans have these? Well, for one thing, most of us don’t drink tea very often. Those of us who drink coffee usually have an appliance dedicated to making coffee and it doesn’t require us to boil water separately.
Also, household electric current in the United States is about half of what it is in Europe. This means that an electric kettle won’t work anywhere near as quickly on U.S. current.
Maybe an induction stovetop kettle would work as quickly as an electric kettle on U.S. current, but I wouldn’t count on it working as quickly as an electric kettle on European current.