Saeco 1167 50-Ounce Electric Water Kettle Review

I keep pretty busy looking after my husband and two daughters, but hot tea is the thing that keeps me going.  My husband gave me a Saeco 1167 50-Ounce Electric Water Kettle as a mother’s day present because I had been really impressed with a similar model that a friend owned.  What a difference over heating water on the stove!  It’s a 50 ounce carafe, which is all the space I need for my tea.  It heats water fast, and has three temperature settings built in.  It also has the coolest color changing feature that’s based on the temperature of the water.   It can keep water warm for up to two hours if I set it that way, or it can simply bring the water to a boil.  It has a 360 degree rotational power base that makes pouring very easy.  A triple protection switch will make sure that it turns off when you’re done, so I never have to worry about accidently leaving it on.  I’ve made so many cups of tea with this kettle – I can’t imagine going back to the stovetop!

Pros:

• Built in Temperature Settings: There are three different temperature settings built in between 100 and 200 degrees.  The water will heat to this temperature and stay there.  I find this very useful for some of my favorite teas since I don’t have to guess at how hot the water is.  There’s a temperature gauge on the handle, so I can tell at glance how warm my water is.
• Color Changing Carafe: This sounds like just a gimmick, but I cannot overstate how cool it is to have a carafe that changes color.  The plastic portion of the container is backlit and will show a different hue depending on how warm the water is.  I love that I can see it change from blue to purple, pink, and red from across the room and know how warm my water is.
• Two Heating Modes: I have two options whenever I turn the kettle on.  If I choose to I can have it heat the water to a rolling boil and leave it at that, or I can choose to keep water heated at a constant temperature.  Whatever I choose is easy to do.
• Easy to Pour: I imagine it would be pretty difficult to pour a kettle with a long power cord dangling from the end.  This isn’t an issue with my Saeco.  The cord retracts into the base to make pouring easy and drip-free.

Cons:

• Not all Stainless Steel: Lately I’ve been hearing people worry about using plastic to heat water.  I’ve heard some complaints about a plastic taste in the water. While I would prefer an entirely stainless steel carafe, I have had no issues with plastic taste with my water.
• Presets aren’t ideal: As a tea drinker I have specific teas that require specific water temperatures to brew correctly. The preset temperatures in this kettle aren’t ideal for that, but they’re close enough.  I find that if I keep an eye on the thermometer on the handle it’s not difficult to catch the water at the temperature I want as it heats up.

I’ve been really pleased with this kettle so far.  It is a bit different than some of the other kettles I’ve seen, particularly the Hamilton Beach 40898 Cool Touch Cordless and the Toastess DLJK459 Jug Kettle.  The main difference is the construction of the carafes.  The other two models are completely made of stainless steel, while the Saeco is half steel, half plastic.  I know that the plastic in this model is BPA-free and perfectly safe to drink, plus without the plastic there couldn’t be that cute color-change feature, so to me all three kettles are equal.

My days have been going so much smoother since I’ve had this kettle!  I’ve been able to have tea whenever I need it.  The color change feature and thermometer make it easy to see how warm my tea is, and the keep warm feature is extremely useful.  The kettle is easy to pour too, so all in all I can’t really complain!  If you love tea (or cocoa for that matter), you’ll love how quick and easy it is to make a hot drink with this kettle.

Price Alert: Right now Amazon.com is offering free shipping and a 34% discount for the Saeco 101167 50-Ounce Electric Water Kettle. This means their current price is $27.31 cheaper than the usual retail price.

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