I find I am unexpectedly in love with my electric kettle. Who knew I needed to boil water so much? Since our household broke into regular-decaf factions the coffee maker no longer made sense (and really, it was wrecked), and when I burned a second kettle on the (miserable) electric stove we had more than a solid reason to buy something that will shut itself off automatically. But I really wish the translucent orange Bodum Ibis was still in existence. Anyhow, it’s oddly thrilling (and I admit makes me feel disturbingly grown up) to have a hot cup of something really quickly, and a few cycles in the kettle makes boiling lots of pasta water easy. Alton Brown even made vanilla bean creme brulee in an electric kettle on Good Eats. As for coffee we’re using a simple plastic cone and filter that fits right over the mug, it makes better coffee than I expected.

Here are some recommended electric kettles for you. When they say cordless they mean the base with the plug sits on the coutertop, and the actual kettle lifts off of it.

– Braun WK200 at Mighty Goods, the water comes to boil in a very quick minute (mine takes about four)

– Russell Hobbs cordless kettle at Apartment Therapy, it has a swivel base as does mine, but this is prettier

– there are lots on Amazon and Williams-Sonoma carries this nice one from Krups that is all black