Breville VKJ846 Stainless Steel Kettle with Still Hot Illumination, Stainless Steel

Design is good, the LED light "still hot" feature is all OK so far - useful if you're making coffee.Feels good and solid without being heavy.Illuminated gauge is both sides - useful for both left or right handed people.Can't understand people saying it's loud.I've had louder ones that take much longer to boil each time and then last just a matter of 12 months.Anyone that hated thiers must have had a dodgy one - so... send it back straight away you fools!OK there is one glitch: The sticky label (advised to "remove before use"), is so sticky you can't peel it off cleanly!Hardly a major fault though, so I'm very happy so far.

I’m on to my second one of these - first one lasted about 6 years before the lid finally gave out. It’s a basic kettle which looks nice and heats up quickly, but it’s key feature is the LED light which tells you whether or not the water is hot enough to use for tea/coffee. As it heats up the light (visible in the water gauge window) goes from blue to red, the transition gives you an idea of how long it will be until it boils, which is useful. After it switches off automatically the red light stays on until the temp drops below 80 degrees which helps to avoid unnecessary reboiling, saving electricity and time. I also think that the reduced amount of boiling extended its life a bit.

I have to say, I'm a sucker for a gimmick, so it earns an extra star for that. Otherwise, it's a functional kettle with less than stellar build quality.The good:The lighting changes colour!!It stays on and red while the water inside is over 80⁰ C, so this serves as a warning that it's still hot. This is a good thing. Downhill from here, I'm afraid.The bad:Within days the lid opening mechanism became less and less effective to the point that within a week the only way to open it is to hold the button down and rap it smartly on the lid. Descaling it alleviates this, but only for a day or so. Unless you're going to descale your kettle every other day, this is just something you'll have to live with.The other bad:The label marked "I" and "O" (for on and off) fell off. this is purely cosmetic, and the switch still functions, but it didn't inspire confidence in the build quality as a whole. More importantly, there's no mechanical trip when you lift the kettle off its base, something I just assumed was normal for all kettles these days. this means that every time you lift it up without switching it off, small sparks are created between the kettle and its base. You probably won't notice them, but they're there, slowly eroding the contacts, and potentially dangerous, although the risk is small.So, good and bad, some more serious than others. So why four stars? Well, the lighting changes colour!The moral of this story: always read the review and don't rely on the star rating, before making your decision. I'll admit, I was annoyed with this kettle's shortcomings, but knowing the pitfalls and working around them, I still like it. You might decide that quality (and safety) is more important, and choose a different product. I know I would, had I not already bought this one.UPDATE: sixteen months later===================I've always had trouble gertting the filter in and out when it comes time to descale this kettle. Habing already put my fingers through it more than once I finally managed to break off one of the plastic retaining tabs. So now it's a filterless kettle, and time for a new one...

Good, fast, quiet kettle. Light system is useful and works fine. Doesn't switch off automatically if lifted from base while boiling and lid can splash hot water at you if it is pinged open while kettle still hot! Apart from those little niggles it's a great kettle.

for the really annoying label that was stuck on the front on the nice shiny metal! I tried to peel it off carefully but it left a lot of residue. My husband said WD40 would get it off and it did! He sprayed it on direct, but I would put it on a cloth first. Why did they have to stick a label on the metal bit when it could have gone on the plastic handle I don't know.That said, the kettle is excellent! There is a blue LED showing you that it's cold, then when boiled the light turns red and remains red to let you know you can still use the hot water in it, you don't have to reboil it. It also pours well. It also has a safety cut out if you forget to fill it and boil it dry.

When it arrived the stickers on the kettle came off leaving a patch of sticky residue that would not come ofd, marring the shiny stainless steel. After scrubbing with a cloth and 100% Isopropyl Alcohol, the sticky residue came off with an hour or so work.After 18 months of normal use the kettle stopped boiling. Lights came on but no heat. Before throwing it away I decided to dissassemble it to find out the issue.... a set of contacts inside the bottom / handle of the kettle had become tarnished through normal use. Some wet and dry abrasive paper fixed them but needing to dissassemble something as basic as a kettle after only 18months is utterly pathetic product design.After just over 2 years the plastic level window now leaks significantly when the kettle is boiled and leaks water over the electrical contacts of the base making it dangerous to use.Breville's warranty is notably only 12 months. Basically they designed this kettle to fail so you'd be forced to buy another. This disgusting approach of disposability in product design is utterly unsustainable and a cynical way of exploiting customers. Throughout my childhood, my parents electric kettle worked flawlessly. It was a wedding gift in 1974 and eventually died in 1997. If 1970s technology can last 23 years then if something designed with modern materials and production knowledge lasts only 18months clearly that is clearly an intentional design decision.Verdict: DO NOT buy Breville products! They are junk and cynically designed to fail as soon as the warranty expires.