This picture – from a quasi-recent A Day In My Life post – prompted some reader concerns and questions.
Yes that is a small pot of water. Yes it is used to boil water. Yes this is how I make every single cup of tea and coffee (many years ago John worked at a coffee roastery where they preached a very convincing POUR OVER ONLY gospel and we’ve been exclusively pouring over ever since). We have two small pots and two drippers.
How do I avoid scalding myself?
Um. I just do. Sometimes a bit of water can spill on the counter but I’ve never ever felt even remotely close to burning myself. Any extra boiling water gets poured down the sink, which helps keep the drain clear.
I also love the fact that I can use the same pot to cook things, can put it in the dishwasher if needed, and can tuck it away in the bottom drawer when not in use.
Then there were some arguments for a kettle.
Kettles – and I quote Engie – are “cute AND useful”, make fun whistling sounds, and help the kitchen look “adorable.”
She had me at fun and adorable and I was about ready to go research all the best kettle options when I realized – I don’t need a kettle.
What I have works. And I think that’s key to a minimalistic tendancy. This is one area where I’m very satisfied. I like having a multi-purpose tool for making tea and coffee. I like that it doesn’t sit on my counter or stove taking up space.
This is no stance against kettles. If I had a giant kitchen and a fancy stove and all the cupboard space in the world, I would likely march myself down to the store and buy an adorable kettle. But I don’t. So, for now at least, I will remain kettle-less.
Let’s discuss. Do I need a kettle? Do you use a coffee maker, French Press, pour-over/dripper…or do you not drink coffee at all? Does anyone else use a pot to boil water for their hot beverages? What’s something lots of other people own that you’re content to not have?
Header photo by Charlie Firth on Unsplash
Maria
I very much – VERY MUCH – want to be a “uses small pot to boil tea water” person. I’ve tried. But the current reality of having three kids 4 and under means that putting a small thing of water to boil on the stove in a pot seems to ensure that something happens and I have to leave the kitchen and then forget about it and I come back to a dry pan and panicky thoughts about burning down the house. Soooo alas I find myself using an electric kettle that turns off when it reaches a boil. Much safer for my current reality!
Elisabeth
You know, I had never even THOUGHT about how dangerous it would be with small kids around. But yes! This makes so much sense. Electric kettles do sound much safer…!
We tend to stay right by the stove the whole time, so I’ve never had a pot go dry but yikes! I can see it happening.
Elinoora
I love having an electric kettle, next to the rest of my tea. It’s a little coffee / tea corner. Well, it will be once we’ve sorted that bit of the house out again and have reached an agreement, haha. I also like that the kids can use it, when they want to make noodles or something similar. And it comes with different temperature settings, which is nice for my green tea / herbal tea. I don’t drink coffee, but my husband does (and my in-laws), so we have a filter coffee maker as well. Which I learned to use while we were renovating 😀 Apparently most builders over here drink coffee! Who knew!
Also, I’m content to not own a microwave, but my husband likes having one. So we have one, in the pantry, where it doesn’t take up my counter space.
Elisabeth
Now that you mention it, the lab space I used in university had an electric kettle and all my labmates and I would use it to make ramen! That was convenient.
I don’t mind the extra hassle of turning off my water and letting it cool down for 2 minutes for my green tea, but I can see the appeal of being able to set the temperature EXACTLY! That is rather brilliant…
I’ve written about microwaves before and that is an appliance I literally could not live without. I use it daily (usually many times a day!).
Diane
I can’t tell you if *you* need a kettle, but I LOVE having my electric kettle. I drink a lot of tea, but we also use it for ramen or ramen, and to pre-boil water when we have to do a big pot and any other time we need hot water. Husband drinks coffee, he has a coffee maker that he bought after MUCH research.
I did have a kettle for the stove top before I had the electric kettle and it was cute, but it just took up a lot of space on the stove and I burned it dry many more times than I care to admit. I echo Maria- The electric kettle is definitely safer for absent-minded me.
I have to admit, what I *really* want is a Zojirushi water heater, like we had when I was growing up- it keeps water hot so no waiting for it to boil.
We don’t have a microwave- our house didn’t come with one and once we set up the kitchen there was really no easy place to put it.
Elisabeth
Pre-boiling water sounds genius!
I MUST have a microwave. I use it daily.
An always-warm water heater sounds perfect. Now that I think of it, we have a setting like that in our water cooler that we never use. Maybe I should turn that on for tea? But I don’t drink tea every day, and kinda like the ritual of boiling a pot of water?…Decisions
Sara
I only have a tea kettle because I inherited it for free. I was also team boil water in a pot and when we didn’t have a microwave. I burnt the tea kettle to a crisp in my “postpartum” delirium. My sister saved it using Bon Ami and patience (that I didn’t have) when I had it in the giveaway bin. Is it worth finding a cheap one at a thrift store? Maybe. Otherwise I’m not sure the aesthetic and cost is worth it. Besides, I sort of like the Little House on the Prairie vibe of a pot.
My only complaint about pour over is how quickly the coffee gets cold faster in the glass pour over carafe. Which requires a microwave to reheat.
Elisabeth
I’d never thought of it as a Little House on the Prairie vibe, but you’re right! I just need to get my flowing dress and bonnet and I’ll practically be ready to live in the 1800s. Well…as long as I can keep my electric stove, air conditioning, motorized vehicle, and modern medical advances.
Suzanne
As someone who is newly obsessed with the completely unnecessary stand-alone nugget ice maker I got as a gift, I feel like I shouldn’t be as adamantly in line with you about not getting a kettle as I am. But sometimes what you have WORKS, and it’s good enough, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
I do have a kettle, by the way, and I love it. I don’t drink coffee, but I drink hot tea every morning and my electric (non-cute but very reliable and use friendly) kettle keeps the water at exactly the temperature I like (190 degrees F/88 degrees C) and does so without making the handle or lip of my mug too hot to touch (as the microwave used to).
My husband is usually the person in our relationship who persuades me/us to push beyond How We’ve Always Done It and get something newer/more efficient. If he hadn’t led the charge (and I hadn’t allowed jealousy to intervene), I would probably not have a smartphone, an Apple watch, an Alexa, or earbuds. He is big on new tech and I really don’t NEED it (although I use it and love it now that I have it).
Elisabeth
Your ice maker looks AMAZING (I looked it up; don’t have the space for it, but WANT IT!).
And what we have works! It ain’t broke. A good reminder, Suzanne 🙂
The one time it’s a nuisance is if we have a big group because we only have two pour-over carafes. Then it would be very handy to have a coffee maker that makes it in bulk.
Lindsay
I have always found you impressive, Elisabeth – but this is absolutely amazing! I have an electric kettle AND a stovetop one and still manage to sometimes spill on the counter or my person. You do you! Unless you really want a cute kettle and then I’d say go for it and regift if it doesn’t work out. (Buying tea stuff is a personal weakness, tho!)
Elisabeth
Ha. Well, I’m glad my skillset amazes someone 🙂 I do sometimes spill on the counter, but never on myself?
I love the IDEA of a cute kettle, but I don’t love the idea of it taking up space on my counter…
Leslie
We do pour overs and espresso that my husband makes with his picopresso (mostly Americanos, occasionally lattes.) We do have a kettle – an electric gooseneck that we all love and use many times throughout the day for our coffee and tea. But we’ve also had stretches where we didn’t have a kettle and the pot on the stove worked just fine! I love our minimalist-ish coffee routines and I think the coffee we drink is SO good, at a fraction of what people usually pay for good coffee (my husband also roasts our coffee beans himself, which saves a lot of money.) The only real downside is when we have people over, like more than just a couple at a time, and want to offer coffee. I just haven’t figured out a way to gracefully navigate making multiple pour overs relatively quickly while people gape at me wondering why I don’t have a coffee maker like a normal person. 😅 Whew, I’m a very rare blog commenter but I do have a lot to say when it comes to coffee, apparently! (And minimalism- totally agree that if what you’re doing works, don’t complicate it with more stuff!)
Elisabeth
Wow – self-roasted beans is impressive!
YES! This is the only downside we face as well. If we have a big group, we can only make two cups of coffee at a time and that is tricky. I will often make my own coffee (and John’s) ahead of time, so we don’t have to serve ourselves. And I’m too much of a minimalist to buy a coffee maker for the rare occasion we need to make lots of coffee (tea is easy because I just boil a bigger pot of water and pour that in to individual mugs).
J
We used to have a stove top kettle, but when it broke we went for an electric because it uses a lot less energy than using the stove. If you ever want to talk yourself into a kettle, that could be your reason. Our counters are definitely cluttered. We have so much crap that we don’t need but that we absolutely do use. Here is our counter left to right, starting at the sink.
Sink.
Slop bucket (that’s what we call the little compost bin that sits on the counter by the sink)
Electric Kettle
Fancy coffee bean grinder – my husband grinds his coffee every day, and uses a burr grinder for this purpose.
French Press – Ted grinds his coffee while the water is heating, then uses the French Press to make his coffee. I drink tea.
Block of knives
Nespresso machine – Some friends moved across the country and gave this to us. I would not have bought one, but goodness, we do love it. Especially my daughter, who starts every day with a Starbucks latte at home.
Bowl for Nespresso pods, little bowl of kosher salt for cooking, olive oil, pepper grinder.
Stove – We switched from electric to gas about 2 years before all of the stories started coming out about how dangerous gas stoves are. We now use the fan whenever we have the stove or oven on.
Basket of napkins
Food Processor
Toaster
Smoothie blender (this is put away in non-smoothie season)
Toaster oven (which we use a lot for cooking, but SUCKS at making toast)
Cereal and oatmeal containers
Fridge
It’s very cluttered and horrible. I love the look of a clean, empty counter. Alas, we have no room to put things away, so we just live with it. Sigh.
It’s a slippery slope, Elisabeth. Keep your pot.
Elisabeth
This is one of my favourite COMMENTS EVER! You end it brilliantly, J.
I will keep my pot. Hahaha!
We have an electric stove.
A small covered container with dishwashing pods, a knife block, cutting boards (tucked behind the knife block), sink, fridge, microwave. That is it! We have a small counter and I put away the toaster and food processor and our mini blender after each use. If I didn’t, we’d have very little space for food prep.
It shocked me when we came home from Rome (my parents stayed with the kids for a week) and the counters were COVERED! The toaster stayed out and bread and all sorts of things…that’s how my parents operate with their counters but I just…can’t do it. We got home at like 10 at night, and I immediately started putting things in a cupboard…
Jan Coates
I, too, used a pot for decades (for tea only – we always have a $20 coffee maker on the counter). But then, Don bought a kettle, so now we have one – also taking up counter space!
Elisabeth
I love the idea of a kettle; maybe in a different house some day with a much larger kitchen?
Shelly
I wish I was more minimalist. I want to be but then I rationalize some stuff.
I have a 5 cup drip coffee maker. I’m the only one who regularly drinks coffee. It’s small so doesn’t take up too much space. I also have a kettle to make tea, etc. I have done a lot but seem to get water everywhere.
I say you do you!
Elisabeth
We briefly toyed with the idea of getting a Keurig (and refillable pods), but it mostly boiled down to not wanting to give up counter space.
Also, I read Keurigs break down a lot. And my pot is several decades old and working like a charm. The no-tech coffee situation is cheap and there is nothing to break down, which is nice. We’ve been through 4 microwaves in 15 years of marriage (they do NOT make things like they used to)…but I simply can’t live without a microwave.
Nicole MacPherson
I have a stove top kettle which is pretty and goes with our kitchen. I’d say J uses it the most, for tea and oatmeal. I use it only sometimes for tea. I am a coffee fiend, so I have a drip coffee maker, but R is all fancy so he has an espresso machine. I guess we are not minimalistic when it comes to hot beverage options!
Elisabeth
Hey, hot beverages deserve to be enjoyed so it takes what it takes! And kettles and coffee makers and espresso machines are all great tools to one of the most satisfying experiences in life. That first sip of coffee in the morning…there is nothing like it – can I get an Amen?
Jenny
Ha ha, WELL, I can totally see where you’re coming from. I did have a kettle, the kind you put on the stovetop to boil the water, but my husband and son started lobbying for an ELECTRIC kettle. I was against it and held out for a long time- we had a PERFECTLY GOOD kettle for boiling water, WHY do we need to spend money on another appliance that will sit on the counter… finally my husband had a gift card for amazon and just bought one. And now, of course, I love it. You can set it to different temperatures, like it would be different if you’re making black tea or green tea. And then after it boils, it keeps the water hot if you’re not there to pour it out right away. Before we got it I was perfectly happy with our stovetop kettle (or, a pot on the stove would have been fine too!) The same thing happened with out rice cooker- I objected to getting that as well but now I love it.
Elisabeth
Okay, you’ve got me with the rice cooker. We had one years ago and I hated it and made John get rid of it. And then on a whim he bought another (smaller) one for $5 at a thrift store and I AM OBSESSED WITH THE RICE COOKER. Like…could not live without it. So I wonder if the same would happen with an electric kettle? It’s so fascinating because I didn’t think I was missing a rice cooker in my life. But then as soon as we got one, I loved it so much I couldn’t fathom how I did life without it…
NGS
Our kettle lives on the stovetop and it’s both beautiful and useful, so it stays!
But I don’t have a food processor and sometimes I think that would make my life easier. Oh, well. We all have different priorities that meet the needs of our own households!
Elisabeth
I need to see a picture of this kettle!
I used my food processor yesterday!
sarah
I mean. We have a kettle that we NEVER USE because we aren’t team drinkers, and when Ben drinks tea, he microwaves a pyrex measuring cup **eye roll**
Maybe something to look at next time you are thrifting?
Elisabeth
Hey, Pyrex works too!
Lisa's Yarns
I do have a kettle but I shouldn’t because I rarely drink tea. I drank a lot of tea when pregnant since it was a good caffeine-free and cozy thing to drink when I was trying to limit caffeine intake. But outside of that, I do not really like tea. I wish I did but I just can’t make myself get on board with it. We have a Cuisinart drip coffee maker and a bean grinder as well. Phil will tell you we have way too many appliances/gadgets in our kitchen but I regularly use everything except for the mandolin. But the mandolin takes up very little space so I don’t feel like it’s important to get rid of it?
I can’t really think of much that we don’t own that others do… I’m kind of a kitchen maximalist? But I really enjoy cooking and baking so it’s an area I kind of lean into. I think I own far less clothes than the average person, though. I own far more than you, but less than the typical women I think. I intend to do a closet tour at some point but haven’t been motivated to do that yet! Simiarly, I do not own a lot of different shoes or different purses. I have a travel purse for work trips that I can tuck into my back pack and then my every day purse, plus one nicer purse (a black patent leather clutch) for weddings and special occasions.
Elisabeth
I’d say we’re middle of the road with kitchen things. We have a panini press (rarely use it, but we own it and it is nice to have), a food processor, a mini blender, an immersion blender, a food processor and OF COURSE MY BELOVED MICROWAVE. I don’t own a mandolin, though, but have been tempted before!
I prefer coffee to tea, and just categorically don’t enjoy herbal tea. I have tried so many times, but…just no. I drink green tea a few times a week because it’s supposed to be great for health goals, but my favourite teas are Earl Grey and Chai, orange pekoe occasionally. And then coffee!!
Joy
Need is a strong word. Technically none of us need a toaster or a garlic press or a blender either, we just have them because we can access them and they fit our lifestyle. If you have a solution that works you may as well carry on. My first thought was that you would likely be less happy with an extra item on your counter/stove.
I have cozy childhood memories of my mom’s stovetop kettle whistling every morning but when I had my own it left mineral residue on the electric stovetop which was difficult to remove (we had a gas stove growing up so I didn’t foresee this problem).
I have an electric kettle now which I’ve never considered parting with through many rounds of purging and simplifying.
Elisabeth
You know me well…:)
Birchie
I used a small pot on the stove for years. I only gave it up because one day I forgot that I’d turned the burner on and let it boil so long that it messed up the pan. Like you I never scalded myself. Sure it’s possible but I think you just learn to take extra care so that it doesn’t happen.
After that I got an electric kettle and never looked back! It boils water so quickly and it doesn’t take up room on the stove.
Elisabeth
Okay, I think we’ve settled on the fact that IF I were to get something it would be an electric kettle NOT a stove kettle.
Hopefully I never forget the pot, but if I do…I’ll be popping out to buy myself an electric kettle!
Daria
A kettle is a must in my life. In fact, I have one at home (gas), and one at work- electric. Tea and instant coffee are also integral to my happiness lol But I can definitely see how you can boil water in a pot- same idea.
Ally Bean
Do I need a kettle? Yes, they’re available in many colors so when you get tired of one color, get another and give your old one to Goodwill
Do you use a coffee maker, French Press, pour-over/dripper…or do you not drink coffee at all? We drink coffee made in an electric coffee maker and have an espresso machine too
Does anyone else use a pot to boil water for their hot beverages? Not me
What’s something lots of other people own that you’re content to not have? A food processor, a rice cooker, an air fryer
Elisabeth
I don’t have the air fryer, but LOVE my food processor and rice cooker and am sure if I had an air fryer (or InstaPot) I’d love those too. Better to not buy them and not “need” them, perhaps? I don’t have much cupboard space left in my relatively tiny kitchen…
Joy
As usual, you have the best discussions. Yes, I have a kettle. Years ago, I had a stovetop kettle with a whistle, so I knew when it was boiling. It was a wedding present and I loved it and used it every day. Then the whistle part broke, and I forgot it and let it boil dry, which ruined it. Then I bought a gorgeous kettle that I used regularly, and it was so pretty, it made my kitchen look great. But I forgot it one day, it boiled dry, and it was ruined. I bought the same one because I loved it so much and (you know where this is going!) boiled it dry.
My mother finally took pity on me and bought me an electric kettle. It may not be pretty but it shuts off by itself if I forget it so I can’t boil it dry! I’ll never go back. If I had a pot, I’d boil it dry, so I’ll stick with electric. 🙂
Elisabeth
I find the idea of a whistle SO charming!
Somehow I’ve managed to never let my pot boil dry (I tend to stay there the whole time until it boils). But I can see how functional (AND SAFE) an electric kettle would be!
Sarah
I love having an electric kettle! Like other commenters, it’s because of the ability to turn it on and then walk away. I can turn it on, take the kids out to get on the bus, and when I get back inside the water is nicely hot and I didn’t have to worry about setting my house on fire. In the winter I use it multiple times a day, and I think it’s probably more efficient because I don’t have to turn the stove on.
Elisabeth
Not having the house be on fire is definitely a plus…:)
Rachel
Of course we are electric kettle people… we have a “real” kettle too which we bought in the US but although it is cute I don’t like the noise and I don’t like waiting for it to boil and I don’t like turning on my gas stove to use it. However we definitely boil our electric kettle 10-20 times a day? I have at least 2 pour over coffees a day (as does husband) plus some cups of tea… plus I use it to boil water for cooking pasta or steaming vegetables. However all this is really British and definitely not something I did in the US.
I think your pot on the stove solution sounds perfect for you though!
Elisabeth
Wow! You use your electric kettle a lot. Maybe I would too?