Thanks to everyone who responded to my post asking for opinions on cell phones! The hive mind, it develops, has a great deal of common sense. I’ve come to the conclusion that people who suggested an ordinary PHONE phone would suffice, for a great deal less money and waste than the proposed Android smartphone, are dead right.
What was I thinking? Forhevvinsake, I have an iPad. It does most everything a smartphone does (and in fact with a little hassle can be made to function as a phone, sort of). Why does one need a phone with a measurable IQ when one already has a gadget that can direct you to the nearest decent restaurant and allow the FBI to track your every move as you engage you in mindless games?
So, in the phone department, it’ll be an inexpensive device that will allow for talking and texting, probably from T-Mobile because there’s a store right down the street where I can go in, trap a handsome young man, and beg for advice on how to work it.
* * *
Next, the burning (perhaps literally…) issue of the teakettle.
I got to thinking about all those reports about exploding Pyrex. Though I’m pretty sure my two glass percolators predate Corningware’s sale of its glass cookware operation to an outfit that promptly offshored production to China, giving us exploding casseroles and pie-plate shrapnel, on reflection I decided that the prospect of that cute little retro pot blasting me with glass shards and boiling water was more than I cared to contemplate.
So…ugh! Back in the market for another teakettle.
Went over to Williams-Sonoma, where for $60 I could buy a Le Creuset pot that
a) is pretty enough, but…
b) is said by users not to whistle loud enough to matter; and
c) elicits complaints about easy chipping and rust.
The way the new whistling kettles are constructed, they have a cap over the spout that you have to lift by placing a finger or thumb on a little lever. But this lever is far enough from the handle that you either have to have a very long thumb (it’s made for chimpanzees, maybe?) or you have to use two hands to pour the hot water.
My old one had a heat-proof whistle that you simply grabbed with your fingers and removed to pour water. Sounds scary, but amazingly, it was easy and pain-free.
One at W-S has a lash-up on the handle that you squeeze to lift the spout cap. It was stiff and hard to work. And it looked like…yes! One more thing to break!
Target has some pretty little Kitchenaid kettles. The operative word is “little.” And they have the same issue: damn nuisance to pour water out of it.
Most of the pots have rather small lids that fit tightly and would be inconvenient to remove for refilling the pot. Refilling through the spout while you hold the handle in one hand and the lever down with the other: what part of N.U.I.S.A.N.C.E do Chinese manufacturers not understand?
Over at Cost Plus (World Market), the same issue presented itself. However, lurking there next to the useless teakettles was…ta DAAAA! A stainless-steel Copco percolator!
No whistle, but then the old Corningware has no whistle, either. I’ll just have to get into the habit of staying away from the computer while the water’s on the stove.
The design is appealingly midcentury, and the price was decidedly right: about $25.
Now I ask you: how retro can you get?
Hmm our (small) cheapy kettle has similar features to what you disliked, but I don’t really find them too much an issue. I guess the difference is that our spout cap just stays in place when you lift it up, so there’s no need to try and do two things at once when pouring it. Also I assumed that lids were supposed to fit at least somewhat tightly, or else you couldn’t build up enough pressure inside to make it whistle?
But admittedly, we’re not very frequent users of it, mostly for tea at random intervals rather than coffee, so it’s not a daily essential for us.
@csdx: Some of the kettles I saw in the store would let the little cap stay up, but some did not. And yes: if the lid doesn’t snap on tight, the whistle will whisper, as it were. And of course, no one wants a hot kettle lid to fall off on the back of one’s hand and tumble into the French press jar.
The reason I crave a lid that’s reasonably large, in addition to the obvious issue of being able to fill the kettle with minimal hassle, is that Phoenix’s water is pretty hard. Even after it’s run through a Brita filter, it will crust up the inside of a pan. You need to be able to fill the pan with vinegar periodically, let it sit for a few hours, and then scrub it out. If you can’t fit your hand in there, that chore becomes problematic.
Plus…heh!…imagine having to fill a kettle through a spout using one of those clumsy Brita pitchers! Augh-ifying.
Just get in the habit of setting a timer so you don’t get distracted. I use the timer for everything so I don’t forget.
Linda’s advice is great. I have been known to clip the kitchen timer to some item of my clothing to allow for more freedom of movement! I have a question for you though, if you just want a kettle for hot water, why not buy an electric one? Millions of tea-swilling Brits can’t be wrong…
Oh, too late. As Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say, “never mind”…
@ Linda and (not that) Joan: LOL! Using a timer is like writing notes for yourself so you’ll remember things: You have to remember to remember the timer or to read the note!
Thought about electric, but I really don’t have enough counter space. A regular kettle can sit on the stove, which (since I rarely have enough pans going on the stove to fill all four burners) puts it out of the way.
Actually, I’m pretty pleased with this inexpensive little percolator. It’s working just fine, and its handle stays cool to the touch. It fits exactly over one of the small burners, so flames don’t climb up its sides. All in all, it’s a pretty fair solution to the problem, except for its lack of a whistle. And you know, it’s not that big a hardship to have to hang around while the water’s heating, rather than ambling to the back of the house and plopping down in front of the computer. Again.
I like the streamline design of the copco. I just use a pan. If I want to save some energy and heat it faster I put the lid on the pan to keep the heat in.