Crap Russel Hobbs Kettle

Think very carefully before buying your next kettle. For the last couple of years we have been using a Prestige kettle to boil our water for tea/coffee etc. Then it made with the pretty blue flashing sparks from somewhere inside, near the switch. Needless to say we had to say goodbye to our nice Prestige kettle.

As we like our tea and don’t like it made with water that has been boiled in a saucepan we dashed up to the local shops to get a new one. Did I mention that it was Sunday, so choice was somewhat restricted. Having surveyed the limited options we arrived home with a new Russel Hobbs kettle. We couldn’t find anywhere local selling the same Prestige kettle. Mind you, we thought we were buying a class piece of kit. After all aren’t Russell Hobbs supposed tobe that bit better than most of the other brands ?

I guess I should have read the Which reviews first. Out of 195 kettles there are some Russel Hobbs models that make it into the top 47. Just not the one we bought. However, their review of our particular model did in fact highlight some of the issues that we have found.

This thing is everything that the Prestige wasn’t.

It’s slow
It seems to take a long time to boil where the Prestige was very fast even though the RH is more powerful.
Unstable
The RH doesn’t seem very stable on its base. When the boil really gets going the RB is a real rock and roller, wobbling about on its base. The Prestige just sat still and got on with the job.
It is very easy to overfill
The RH level markings are on the inside of the casing, on the same side as the handle. So with the lid open to enable you to put water in you have to be deformed to hold the kettle under a tap and see what level you have filled up to. With the prestige there was a level indicator clearly visible towards the centre of the opening.
Noisy
The RH should come with a health warning. The noise level of this thing is awful. The door to the kitchen has to be closed when we make our mid evening brew otherwise we can’t hear the TV. Even with the door closed you can hear it rumbling and gurgling away as it builds to a crescendo. The only time the Prestige made any real noise was when it needed descaling.
It doesn’t switch off when lifted off its base
So when you put it down again the power reconnects and carries on as if there was water inside. Presumably it would turn off when it began to overheat.