I just bought this electric tea kettle — and it’s a game changer

Fellow Stagg EKG kettle — (Image credit: Future)

My wife and I are both big tea and coffee drinkers, but for as long as we’ve been together, we never saw the necessity in buying an electric kettle. After all, we have limited counter space, and the tea kettle on our stove worked well enough. But, after a recent trip to London — and a stop at Fortnum & Mason, where we loaded up on teas of all kinds — we decided to invest in an electric tea kettle, and it’s been well worth the investment.

I first consulted Tom’s Guide list of the best electric kettles, but after looking over all the choices, decided I wanted something that appealed to my technological and aesthetic sensibilities. Ultimately, I chose the Fellow Stagg Electric Gooseneck Kettle ($195, Amazon), which probably wasn’t the most practical — its 0.9 liter capacity is much less than our top pick, the Cuisinart PerfectTemp Cordless Electric Kettle (currently on sale for $67.50)— but since it’s just my wife and I brewing tea, we didn’t need to make a whole lot of hot water at once. Plus, the Stagg just looks cool, especially in copper.

The Stagg’s controls are simplicity itself: There’s a single dial which you turn to select the temperature you want, and then you just sit back and wait. You won’t have to wait long, though, as the Stagg heated up water in no time — much faster than our kettle on the stove, in fact.

The kettle also revealed another one of its benefits when it came time to make tea and coffee. When brewing a pot of coffee using my French press, I suddenly tasted many more flavors in my morning cup than I had before. That’s because I was no longer pouring 212-degree water over the grounds; by heating water to just 200 degrees, I was able to tease out more nuances from my coffee than ever before. It was an eye-opening revelation.

The one thing about a gooseneck kettle is that it requires patience to pour; it’s been a few weeks, and I’m still tilting it too far, causing water to leak out the top. I also wish the kettle had a whistle, but it heats the water so fast there’s often not enough time to leave the room before it’s ready.

So, while we sacrificed a bit of counter space, we gained an appreciation for everything an electric kettle could do. I don’t think we’ll ever go back to boiling water on the stove.

Michael A. Prospero is the U.S. Editor-in-Chief for Tom’s Guide. He oversees all evergreen content and oversees the Homes, Smart Home, and Fitness/Wearables categories for the site. In his spare time, he also tests out the latest drones, electric scooters, and smart home gadgets, such as video doorbells. Before his tenure at Tom's Guide, he was the Reviews Editor for Laptop Magazine, a reporter at Fast Company, the Times of Trenton, and, many eons back, an intern at George magazine. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College, where he worked on the campus newspaper The Heights, and then attended the Columbia University school of Journalism. When he’s not testing out the latest running watch, electric scooter, or skiing or training for a marathon, he’s probably using the latest sous vide machine, smoker, or pizza oven, to the delight — or chagrin — of his family.