I've owned an electric kettle for over a decade.
They aren't ubiquitous here, but go into any Walmart or Target and you'll find them there.
The real reason they aren't ubiquitous in America is the majority of Americans aren't daily tea drinkers and most (notice pedants I said most and not all) American coffee drinker use drip coffee machines or Keurigs instead of a French press, so for most Americans there simply isn't a regularly enough need for hot water so as to justify an electric kettle.
That's it. That's the whole reason.
Yep, I'm a tea drinker and even take my kettle when I travel. But we also use it to boil water that will go on the stove because it gets it to boiling so much faster when making pasta or something. My son also drinks French press so it gets a lot of use
I can buy some special widget that takes up counter space, or I can keep a kettle on the stove.
If I had 240 or 480 to rapid boil maybe it would be a perk, but stovetop is fast enough for my needs.
What I've learnt from different youtube videos, seems like Americans are almost allergic to hot drinks (except hot chocolate). It's quite funny watching them approach very cautiously, almost like a cat sniffing liquid before they drink 🤣
What? Many many people drink hot coffee, but drip coffee makers do their own heating. And one sips it carefully because....it's hot.
...that's because they're hot.
You can't always tell how hot something is when handed it, so you carefully sip toale sure it's not scalding
You can dip your finger in, too, but gross
Americans drink a ton of hot coffee, it's just typically drip.
Personally I can't stand coffee, but I'm a hot tea drinker. While I doubt we can stand up to the likes of places like the UK or China in terms of hot beverage consumption, I'd bet we're solidly middle-of-the-road globally on that metric.
That being said, what America does have is an uncommonly strong taste for cold drinks. Most Americans drink almost nothing at or around room temperature, so anything that isn't specifically a "hot drink" like tea or coffee is probably going to be served here very cold or on ice (excluding alcohol; most of us aren't drinking our Bordeaux with ice cubes, I promise). So yeah I guess our "average drink temp" is probably much lower due to that cold preference, if that's the kind of thing you think is worth measuring, but that cold preference doesn't mean hot drinks aren't still extremely common in America. They are.
Edit: I see somebody down voted you and wanted to state that it was not me. I don't think you said anything dismissive, or offensive, or off-topic, so I do not believe your comment deserves to be down voted. I know others don't care about this, but i do, so pardon this quick explainer
True. I'm American, but I lived a couple years in the UK and got into drinking (hot) tea while I lived there. I'd never seen an electric kettle before, but I'm back in the US now and you bet I have one!
Spoiler, its because we dont drink as much tea. Tea drinkers do own kettles in the US.
It’s true. I drink a lot of tea, and I’ve owned an electric kettle for the last 20 years. I like the ones that allow me to select the temperature depending on what I’m making.
Also, a microwave will boil water just as quickly without having another appliance taking up space.
Except the typical microwave is 1000 or maybe 1200 watts, while an electric kettle is usually 1500 watts, so even if all the energy the microwave used went into the water it's still up to 50% less than what a kettle will put into the water.
Boiling water in a microwave can actually be dangerous, and cause super-heating.
I don't know why you're being downvoted without anyone actually debunking what you've said, so I'll try. You're right about not having another appliance being convenient, but I doubt a microwave is just as effective. If you're just heating a cup of water, then yes. But boiling even a liter of water would take about 5 minutes in a microwave on the highest setting, which would take about 2 mins in a kettle. Not even taking into account that actually boiling water in a microwave is near impossible, because it would spill everywhere
Most tea drinkers I know use a microwave, a Keurig, or a stove kettle, not an electric kettle.
I only know one tea drinker with an electric kettle and they normally use their microwave.
Teas are best at a specific temperature, depending on the type. Same with coffee brewing methods and different types of beans. Microwaves can't do that.
I think more, though, is that people don't really know they exist. Maybe you see it on the shelf at a supermarket and don't notice it--it's not in the US psyche. If you start to think about it a bit, an electric kettle makes more sense, but we're not used to it.
If you start to think about it a bit, an electric kettle makes more sense
Not when everyone's got a microwave already, likely doesn't have the counter space for another gadget that they don't use very often.
If you regularly make 1-3 mugs worth of hot water a kettle makes sense. If you regularly boil larger amounts, or don't regularly boil water, the microwave you already own is only slightly slower, so why spend the money?
Because our power is 110 volts and it takes forever.
This is the primary reason. The microwave is faster.
Think about this: your microwave and a kettle can pull the same 1500 watts from the outlet. A kettle can nearly directly put that energy into the water with its heating element, heating it. The microwave turns that energy into microwaves via a magnetron that then heats the water. The microwave also has a fan to cool its electronics, lest it overheats. That's energy that isn't going in the water, but is enough to damage things.
Now, why do you think a similarly powered microwave could beat an electric kettle?
Also temperature is a state function. It doesn’t matter how you get it.
Faster than a gas stove.
Regular tea drinkers do. Otherwise, they aren't useful.
Light tea drinkers don't have a use for them because for single cups now and then, you're better off nuking the water to temp.
Hell, I have a cup almost every day, and that's still not worth having another thing on the counter for.
The U.S. is more into coffee than tea overall. But I know plenty of people that drink tea often enough to merit having one and using it.
It's also faster than boiling a pot of water on the stove so you can save time if you run it through the kettle and then poor it into a pot on the stove to boil whatever you were making.
We have one because of the tea drinkers in the house. But I use it a lot more than I would have imagined. Oatmeal, making stock from soup base, etc. I have an induction stove, but the kettle is easier to pour than a pot.
They're great for everything from tea to coffee, instant ramen, boiling water faster on the stove. Not having a kettle and having to boil/microwave water would be a pain imo.
I drink tea a couple times a week. These are way way better than microwaving a cup of water and nearly as quick. The biggest thing for me is getting the water temp right where I want it for whatever I'm drinking. Also, they don't take up much space, and you can put them in a cabinet when you aren't using them.
I had a kettle for over a decade before I moved to the UK and got a fancier one. It might be faster here, but I never timed it and it wasn't a big factor for me.
I use one to make coffee in my French press.
Same reason tea drinkers don't use coffee pots. :)
But if the dude wants his mind blown, he needs to boil that water on an induction stovetop.
Been using mine every day lately for my Aeropress.
I have an hotwater dispenser for tea, it always heats up the exact amount of water, cup of tea in less than 30 sec.
Hot water dispenser is very useful. I also use it to fill up the rice cooker, and it cuts the cooking time from from 30 to 20 minutes. And it's great for instant noodles.
I use mine to pre boil water sometimes. It's also great for making coffee as well as tea.
We do, though. Every morning.
Although i like things that are simple and just work, dont fix it if it aint broken, and hate over-engineered technology... It still is funny to me that if we want to heat things up, we do it by running current through a piece of metal. Isnt there a more efficient way? I guess not or we would be using it.
Excluding heat pumps, that's as efficient as it gets physically.
Every other method is too unreliable. Sure, heating water by letting it sit in sunny weather is technically infinite efficiency, but the weather doesn't care about your tea.
I just started using a French press because I was sick of making 4 cups just for myself in the drip machine. Been meaning to get an electric kettle.
