A Smarter Kettle?

The humble kettle is found in almost every kitchen, and although there are a variety of shapes and sizes available, they basically perform the very simple function: boiling water safely.

Simple(ish) physics dictates how much energy is required to boil the water, so one might assume there is no room for design improvements in the way we use kettles.  However, maybe there are not just incremental improvements to design, but also some more radical approaches...

These are the incremental design considerations features all kettles could have:

• Durable design.  Kettles go through a lot in their lives and although a cheap kettle might save a few pounds up-front, it can be a false economy for both the purchaser and the environment, if it has to be discarded after a few months and a new one purchased.   Could a manufacturer design a kettle with a five year, or even lifetime, warranty?
• Low minimum fill.  Plenty of people only want to boil enough water for one cup/mug.  Let's make that possible, and make it very, very clear what that level is.  Of course, people have different sized cups and mugs, so why not make the markers user-adjustable, one for that favourite mug, another for the family tea-pot, etc.
• Variable temperature setting. You don't always need boiling water, so why waste energy boiling it unnecessarily? A lot of herbal teas and cold/flu remedies work with water at 90°C, so let's make that an option

My Bosch TWK86103GB - variable temperature setting

• Switch off when it's boiled.  A lot of kettles continue to boil the water for several seconds after the water has reached boiling point, unnecessarily

So far, so good.  But is buying a kettle, using it for 3-4 years, then throwing it out the right answer? Possibly not...

Rather than buying a kettle from a retailer, could the manufacturer offer a service direct to its consumers?  Beyond that, could they help build brand affinity even further?

Let's look at what a 50p a month (£6 per year) kettle service look like...

• You order a kettle direct from the manufacturer's website (with all the features outlined above).  It arrives in some reusable and foldable packaging, you're asked to keep
• You use your new kettle as normal
• If there's a problem, you send the kettle back to the manufacturer (freepost), and once validated, then send back a replacement/refurbished one; this offer is available for life, even if you move home
• The manufactuer is heavily incentivised to make their kettle last as long as possible, easy to upgrade/repair and minimise the use of raw materials in its production

And how about a £1 per month (£12 per year) kettle service?  Everything above, plus:

How about the kettle has an in-built USB stick*, and the ability to record how much water is put in the kettle when filling it, then compares to how much is actually used (poured)?  Uploading the data to the manufacturer's website allows a graphical display of how much water was boiled unnecessarily (and its approximate cost) - perhaps contrasting against others in a league table.  And perhaps this could also provide additional diagnostic information such as a recommendation for when to descale the kettle for optimum performance.  This data gives the manufacturer valuable insight into how their products are used for future innovation...

*Assumption is that a realtime Zigbee/wi-fi enabled kettle might be considered an invasion of privacy

What have we achieved with the ideas above?

• You and I still get to have a cup of tea whenever we want
• We find intuitive aspects of the product design which mean we only use the amount of water we need... and to the maximum temperature required
• Manufacturers are incentivised to make the kettles last as long as possible
• We, and the manufacturer, learn a little more about how we use our kettles

I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts, so please add your comments below.  If you've got any links for innovative approaches to kettles, please share these too.