An ode to the electric kettle: Why our lives would fall apart if this simple invention never existed

Many kitchen benches and cupboards are littered with an array of appliances promising to make our lives simpler and easier.

From the airfryer to the piemaker, these shiny and often expensive gadgets can either deliver or disappoint, depending on your point of view. One person's miraculous egg slicer is another's waste of space.

One tried and true appliance, however, is the electric kettle.

It sits dependably in most kitchens, and never really disappoints - even for those with limited cooking skills.

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You might struggle to boil an egg to use that egg slicer on, but there aren't too many who can't manage to flick the switch on the trusty electric kettle, pop a tea bag into a mug, and enjoy a nice brew.

So it was a disappointing day when our failsafe kettle failed. How would we cope when the trusty kettle simply refused to boil? The morning routine was thrown into chaos!

Of course, it was a simple and inexpensive item to replace. Kettles are easy to come by in a vast range of price points, colours and designs, even though ultimately they all have the same function – to get a jug of water to boiling point.

Our household also had a number of alternatives to the kettle to get the water to the required 100 degrees Celsius.

We could put a saucepan of water on the stovetop, although that did feel like a lot of effort for a cup of tea, and the spillage ratio when pouring the boiled water into the mug was far too high.

We could put the mug of water into the microwave for a few minutes, although who really likes the weird froth that water seems to have in a microwaved cuppa?

We could even dig into the dreaded drawer where little-used appliances either go to die or bide their time until they're once more needed, and drag out the old stove top kettle that whistles when the water's boiled.

This kettle once had pride of place until its attention seeking wore thin, and the far more convenient electric kettle came along to just quietly do the job and turn off all by itself.

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My husband also briefly entertained the notion that he could fix the broken kettle. How hard could it be?

And what a waste it is to throw out a perfectly good appliance that likely needs just a minor part to be working again and restore balance to our need for an essential morning cuppa.

A simple internet search turned up a multitude of DIY videos showing how to fix a broken electric kettle - if only you had the required tools and parts which cost far more than buying a new kettle ever would.

So the attention seeking stove top kettle was briefly deployed, enjoying a few days back under the spotlight, whistling awake anyone who wasn't already up to witness its boiling brilliance, until a new electric kettle was bought.

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It did look almost identical to the old broken kettle, but the new one's newness did create a moment of excitement in the kitchen.

And while we vowed not to take for granted the central role this simple appliance plays in our kitchen, the new kettle just quietly and dependably got on with the job and quickly faded into the background.

Our nerves calmed by the perfect morning cuppa.

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