thumb|A traditional [[stainless steel kettle with a handle]]

upright|thumb|An electric kettle, with boiling water visible in its transparent water chamber

A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a device used for boiling water, commonly with a lid, spout, and handle. Strictly speaking, this refers to a stovetop kettle, which uses heat from a cooktop. An electric water boiler, which is a small kitchen appliance with an internal heating element, may also be referred to as an electric kettle.

Etymology

The word kettle originates from Old Norse ketill, "cauldron". The Old English spelling was cetel with initial che- [tʃ] like 'cherry', Middle English (and dialectal) was chetel, both come (together with German Kessel "cauldron") ultimately from Germanic *katilaz, that was borrowed from Latin catillus, diminutive form of catinus "deep vessel for serving or cooking food", which in various contexts is translated as "bowl", "deep dish", or "funnel".

Stovetop kettles

thumb|A [[stovetop kettle on a gas burner; this type, without a lid, is filled through the spout.]]

A modern stovetop kettle is a metal vessel with a flat bottom used to heat water on a stovetop. They usually have a handle on top, a spout, and a lid. Some also have a steam whistle that indicates when the water has reached its boiling point.

Kettles are typically made with stainless steel but can also be made from copper or other metals.

Electric kettles

Electric kettles may also be used to boil water without the necessity of a stovetop. The heating element is typically fully enclosed, with a power rating of 2–3 kW. This means that the current draw for an electric kettle is up to 13A, which is a significant proportion of the current available for many homes: the main fuse of most homes varies between 20 and 100 amps.

thumb|Thermal Vision video of water being boiled in an electric kettle

In modern designs, once the water has reached its boiling point, the kettle automatically deactivates, preventing the water from boiling away and damaging the heating element.

In 1891 American company, Carpet electric & co sold electric kettles,

In 1922, Leslie Large, an engineer working at Bulpitt & Sons of Birmingham, designed an element of wire wound around a core and sheathed in a metal tube. The element could be immersed directly into water which made the kettle much more efficient than stovetop kettles.

In 1955, the newly founded British company Russell Hobbs brought out its stainless steel K1 model as the first fully automatic kettle. A bimetallic strip, heated through a pipe by the steam produced as the water comes to the boil, flexes, and cuts off the current. As little steam is produced before boiling occurs, the bimetallic thermostat is set to activate well below , thus this design works even at higher altitudes where the boiling point is significantly lower. The design has since been widely adopted by other manufacturers.

The exact mechanism by which this occurs was not fully understood until a paper, The Aeroacoustics of a Steam Kettle, was published by R. H. Henrywood, a fourth-year engineering undergraduate at the University of Cambridge, and A. Agarwal, his supervisor, in the journal Physics of Fluids in 2013.

Harry Bramson is the inventor of the whistling tea kettle.

Automatic tea kettles

Automatic tea kettles are meant to make tea brewing easier, built with the capability to make different kinds of tea without much input from the user. Once set, the automatic tea kettle brings the water to the specific temperature for preparing a given kind of tea, adds the tea to the water, and steeps the tea for the appropriate amount of time. This is because different types of teas must be brewed at different temperatures in order to create a full, balanced flavor. Often they will make a beeping sound to alert the user when the tea is ready, and maintain the temperature of the beverage after preparation.

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File:Swan electric kettle, Museum of Liverpool.jpg|Swan electric kettle in brass, an early electric kettle at the Museum of Liverpool

File:Caydanlik.jpg|Aluminium çaydanlık. A unique instrument of Turkish cuisine.

File:Museu da BaronesaDSCF0130.JPG|Kettle on a portable stove at the Museu da Baronesa, Brazil

File:Tea beauty in simplicity.jpg|Modest tea kettle boiling water over small bottled gas at a tea house.

File:Graves kittel 1984.jpg|Graves kettle, 1984, a postmodern kettle with a bird-shaped whistle on the spout

File:Electric kettle phillips white.JPG|A contemporary "jug"style electric kettle made from enameled metal and plastic

File:Solar kettle.jpg|Solar powered kettle

File:Kkettle.jpg|A Kelly kettle, designed to efficiently use the heat of a small fire in a chamber at the base

File:USKettle.jpg|Copper coated cast iron stove tea kettle made between 1846 and 1860. Albany/Troy NY, USA

File:Station Chai.jpg|An Indian aluminium kettle, popular in South Asia, used for making tea or boiling water

File:Glass tea kettle, Kashgar.jpg|Glass tea kettle in Kashgar in 2010

File:Survival Kettle Red.jpg|Survival Kettle Red in 2019

File:Japanese Cast Iron Tea Kettle by Steven Depolo.jpg|Tetsubin (鉄瓶), Japanese cast iron kettle or teapot.

</gallery>

Similar devices

  • A cauldron is a large kettle hung over an open fire, usually on an arc-shaped hanger called a bail. In Hungary these are referred to as kettles.
  • A fish kettle is a long slim metal cooking vessel with a tight fitting lid to enable cooking of whole large fish such as salmon.
  • A kettle grill is a dome shaped grill with a rounded lid, resembling a cauldron.
  • A kettle drum is a kettle (cauldron) shaped drum.
  • Kelly Kettle

See also

  • Boiling vessel, water heating system in British tanks.
  • Coffeemaker
  • Kelly Kettle, specialized types of kettles for outdoor use, intended to use fuel more efficiently.
  • Kettle corn, a sweet variety of popcorn that is typically mixed or seasoned with a light-colored refined sugar, salt, and oil. It was traditionally made in cast iron kettles, hence the name.
  • Percolator
  • Samovar, a kettle with a central firepit and chimney for making tea, originating in Russia.
  • Tea culture
  • Teapot, a vessel with a spout, lid, and handle, for brewing and serving tea.
  • Teasmade, an English appliance that combined a kettle and a teapot to make tea automatically by a clock.
  • Tetsubin, a cast iron Japanese pot with a spout.
  • Windermere kettle
  • The pot calling the kettle black
  • Teaware
  • Kettlebell, ball with handle.

References

Further reading

  • Stevenson, Seth (Nov. 8, 2005). "A Watched Pot". Slate.