Philips HD4644

Introduction

Kettles die - fact. So when our Breville kettle finally bit the dust we needed a quick and cheap replacement, something that wasn't going to break the bank, but also something that seemed sufficient enough to endure more than a week with us and to that end we discovered the Philips HD4644/00 Energy Efficient Kettle.

Availability

We bought the Philips from Amazon for the very reasonable price of £16.90 and it's been serving us well since then, slaving away tirelessly boiling hundreds of litres of water to keep my family's caffeine addiction at bay and through all those cups of tea, I've managed to rack up a considerable amount of use with this appliance, enough to tell you everything you'll need to know about it - hopefully.

Energy Efficient?

First off, lets start with the biggest selling point of this kettle shall we? That's of course the 'energy efficient' label it carries. You're probably wondering how it achieves such a highly sought after accolade in the world of energy guzzling appliances. Is it wired differently? Does it have something added to it? Well, no, in actual fact, the only thing that makes this kettle energy efficient is the fact that it incorporates a one cup indicator - wow. The list of specs featured on the Amazon website make this kettle out to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, informing you that this kettle will cut down your electricity usage on your kettle by up to 66%, only for you to find out that it's because of an indicator - talk about an anti-climax. That aside, the one cup indicators do come in handy, even if they are somewhat misleading. Now, we use normal sized mugs for our hot drinks, not the humungous mugs that they have on the set of 'Friends', nor are they the size of a shot glass - just normal. However, it seems that the good people at Philips decided that for our cups of tea we need one part water and 5 parts milk. One cup according to this kettle barely fills up a quarter of our mugs, therefore we need to fill it to around 2 and a half to get enough for a cup of tea or coffee. Even so, it's a good, if flawed idea and once you get the measurements out you can start to use this kettle to its full potential and begin saving yourself a little bit of money on your electricity bills.

Core Features

The kettle is suitable for both left and right handed people, given that it incorporates a double sided indicator, perfect for those who are in the minority of left handed people out there. The kettle is rather eye catching, with its attractive, yet understated design, it's not one that will make you say 'wow', however, it isn't something that you'll need to hide when guests come over either. Aesthetics are all well and good, but style over substance is never the answer, you want a kettle that functions don't you? Me too, and the Philips comes up trumps here. The kettle is able to bring a considerable amount of water to the boil is slightly less than 2 minutes, whereas if you're only boiling 2 or 3 cups, it's more than likely that your water will be boiling in around a minute, impressive. There's a sizeable spout that enables water to pour easily and smoothly to avoid any painful accidents and the spout is more than big enough to fit under our tap for easy filling. If you're not so lucky enough to have regular sized taps, then the lid lifts up easily with a little ledge that pulls up enabling you to fill it. The kettle, being namely plastic never feels more than warm to the touch, even upon boiling which could be an excellent feature if there are little hands about the house. The handle never gets hot either, infact it never even gets warm, which is something that was a problem with our Breville kettle (R.I.P) that we used to have.

Ease Of Use

In terms of noise, it's a bit of a mixed bag. You see, there's no purposeful noise to alert you to when the kettle has boiled, however, the kettle becomes so loud when it's doing its job that you don't really need one. It'd be nice to have one however, as visually all you have is a little red light that illuminates when the kettle is boiling and switches off on completion. The red light is built into the on/off switch which is easily accessed below the handle, although I've never been fond of switches that protrude, through fear of them snapping, the Philips seems admirably sturdy and it's had to deal with many a bad mood from our household and if it can withstand that it'll withstand anything! The base of the kettle doesn't utilise any fancy non-slip bases, however, it has never been known to move unless provoked, another very useful feature of the Philips. The lead tucks away nicely in the bottom of the base, but if you're expecting there to be metre after metre of cable, think again, as the Philips doesn't give you much at all, infact there's only about 3 inches stowed away in the base as the rest is in use and our kettle is right next to a plug. So if you don't have easy access to a plug and do not wish to use an extension chord for a kettle then best steer clear of this one. Upon boiling, the water will stay hot for around 15 minutes, so it's clearly well insulated and it's extremely easy to clean with the lid lifting to reveal a decent size space, big enough for you to clean every nook and cranny.

Overview

Despite the energy efficient label being a bit of a red herring, this is still a fully functional kettle and with super fast boiling times, an easy to pour spout and a large 1.7 water capacity, there's no real reason why this kettle wouldn't suit any home.

So when you're next on the lookout for a kettle, consider Philips.

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