The meaning of good design

[Yorkie]

Some years ago we were bought an Allesi cordless kettle as a present by our son and his wife – heap of junk – style over substance, and ludicrously overpriced. It failed just out of its two-year warranty, and as we didn’t want our son to know of that, we bought another of the same model to replace it, then blow me, the same thing happened just out of warranty. There's only the two of us - the kettle gets used maybe five times a day. 

Fed up with over-priced trash we replaced the Allesi with a Cuisinart cordless, which has a three-year guarantee and is a much better design, with a wider spout for filling.  It has a large graduated viewing window on each side of the kettle – handy for us, given that I’m left-handed and my wife right-handed, so whichever way the kettle is plonked down, the water level is visible. It’s 3KW so it boils quickly, and to my eyes, is more aesthetically pleasing. We’ve had the Cusinart kettle for three years now, and at £53.00, could buy three for the price of one Allesi, (which was designed in 1985, so is looking a bit dated now).

The Allessi is now £153 - £100 more than the Cusinart. (£100 for the Allesi brand name - £53.00 for the kettle?).

Here’s the review I placed on Amazon in June 2013 when the second Allesi went bang and tripped the mains:

QUOTE:

Alessi MG32 Wi/UK 1.5 Litre Cordless Electric Kettle (Kitchen & Home)

We were bought one of these overpriced kettles as a present by our son and his wife. It failed after a couple of years, and as we didn't want our son and daughter-in-law to be upset, we said nothing to them and bought an identical replacement. I was using my computer last night when my wife put the kettle on, and whoomph - the computer went off. All the downstairs power had tripped at the main consumer unit. Annoyingly, I lost about an hour's work on the computer. As I have electronics expertise I dismantled the kettle to see if - for example - it had tripped the power due to water ingress. No it hadn't - when I removed the panel on the underside of the kettle, everything was in order. I used a test meter to confirm that as I expected - the element on this one had blown, as did the earlier one - again having lasted a couple of years or so. (The base unit was fine and still lit up).

The gimmicky 'bird' spout is a useless ornament and a scalding hazard. The kettle shuts off when it boils, so the bird doesn't whistle as it would on a normal non-electric kettle, so on an electric one the bird is just a nuisance and best left off, otherwise, to pour the water you have to pull the bird out of the spout with a tea-towel or something, to avoid scalding your hands from steam. The 'bird' also discolours quite quickly.

In short, this attractive over-priced kettle is a classic example of 'style over substance'. (I know people who are like that - nice to look at, high maintenance, but not much use!). Read other reviews from people who - like us - have used these kettles over time and have found the same problem of blown heating elements, and if you do disregard these reviews, don't say you weren't warned!

UNQUOTE:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R5RM2JF2...mt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0007Z8GE0#wasThisHelpful

That model of Allesi kettle has now been replaced with a different model number. (Old wine in new bottles?) £153!!!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alessi-Electric-..._4?ie=UTF8&dpID=51TVj-FCQ5L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR141%2C160_&refRID=0AJESWPX5T13290YEE4J

This is the Cuisinart one we bought:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/16696/Cuisinar...nal-Kettle

(Had no hassles of  the 'windows' leaking water).