Thursday 24 December 2015

Why Europeans Use Electric Kettles But Americans Don't

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Americans don't use electric kettles - or at least it's very rare. This is unlike Europe, where electric kettles are standard for boiling water. An electric kettle, typically made of plastic or steel, has a heating element on the bottom. The kettle is plugged into an electrical outlet, which powers the coil and heats up the water.

Americans mostly use stove-top kettles. The kettle is filled with water and then heated on a gas or electric stove. The water boils, producing steam, which then flows out of the kettle spout producing a whistle. The whistle signals that your water is ready and you should turn off the stove.

4 comment(s):

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this. I live in America and thought I'd put this to the test so I pulled my electric kettle down from the shelf and used it to heat water for my tea. In spite of what the article says my kettle set the water boiling in a fraction of the time it takes on the stove top.

Not only that I can use it anywhere in the house.

Mark said...

Did I miss the part where you explain why?

Anonymous said...

"Sved" means in danish, sweat....

Charlestonjoan said...

Canadians all use tea kettles as well. I tend to use the microwave for single cups of tea.