by Anna CampbellThis is a photo of the corner of my kitchen.
Do you notice the beautiful silvery thing that looks like a spaceship? That's the new love of my life - my Russell Hobbs kettle!
By the way, when I tell you I drink tea A LOT when I'm working, check out the teabag container! Clearly that statement is no exaggeration.
I've been eyeing RH kettles for years now but I've always been sensible and economical and bought the cheaper plastic Sunbeam jug (do you guys have these brands? I suspect you do!). You know, it's something to boil water. No need to go overboard!
Here's a photo of the jug that died recently on me.
Definitely functional!But not a source of aesthetic pleasure.
Like my new kettle.
I LOVE my new kettle. I love its shiny beauty. I love the fact that it pours like a dream. I love the way that black handle curves into my hand. I love that it turns my teamaking into an event.
Yes, I am officially tragic. What can I say?
Although that might be a case of the pot calling the kettle silver!
The Russell Hobbs kettle was considerably more expensive than the Sunbeam number but I rationalized that by reminding myself over the million cups of tea it will make in its lifetime, that's going to work out as less than a cent a cup.
My farming family background insists on frugality where possible, so I felt very extravagant when I bought the silver monster. And I'm so glad I did.Just at the moment, I'm nose to grindstone in the deadline cave - don't even have time for Sven, the Swedish masseur in the Romance Bandits lair, to give me a massage. That's seriously busy! My lovely new kettle really brightens my early morning shift when bleary-eyed, I shuffle out to have my first cup of tea for the day.
Russell, I officially have a crush on you! I'm off to carve our initials in a heart into a gum tree.
So do you have something workaday in your house that you love? A new fridge? A new washing machine? A handsome husband? Snork! Please don't make me the only kitchen appliance tragic in the entire world! It might drive me to drink - TEA of course!
30 comments:
I have one of those Keurig coffee pots that I ADORE. I get any coffee I want and it is fresh and perfect (and fast) and I love it. *sigh* Now I don't feel so lame...I hope more people love thier kitchen appliances like we do.
I think this teapot suits your secret Austrian princess side.
Anna, I have a collection of kitchen gadgets that I love. Current favorite is my electric pepper mill, I have such fun pressing the top to make it grind. My family think I am very sad!
Snort, Cathleen! Sadly the teapot is direct off the internet, pretty as it is. I'm strictly a teabag in an RWOZ conference mug gal when I'm working.
Kandy, given how I drool over my kettle, I have no right to call you sad! I went out to lunch last week and my friend had an electric pepper mill. I thought it was tres groovy!
I had to buy a new toaster a while ago, I am constantly wiping it down & buffing to keep that new shine happening. Not for long I'm sorry to say.
Hello, Anna C : ) Congratulations on your new tea partner. I hope the two of you will be very happy together! What is your favorite tea? Do you enjoy flavored teas?
I drink more hot coffee and iced tea than I do hot tea. I still miss my stainless steel electric percolators. They made great coffee! However, they became harder to find and increasinly more expensive each time one had to be replaced. I now use an inexpensive utilitarian drip coffee maker. It serves the purpose, but it's not as handsome and bright as those shiny stainless steel stalwarts! My two favorite items in my kitchen are definitely low-tech: my grandmother's wooden rolling pin and well-seasoned cast iron skillet. That rolling pin only has one handle, but it is one hefty hunk of wood. Southern women wield a mean skillet and rolling pin ; )
I love your kettle. I hope you'll be very happy together:)
I love my bone china mugs. I have elegant white ones which I ignore (unless I have company) and instead drink from my favourite which says 'Go Away I'm Writing' (no one takes any notice of it) or my penguins in the snow mug which always reminds me of Christmas (Christmas?? Did someone say Christmas? arghhhh)
Off to make tea....
Hi Anna. I raise my hand as a closet-kettle-lover! My brother in law went overseas so I inherited his beautiful Breville Jug. I think I made tea and coffee just as an excuse to use it. I too had a plastic one that was more than 10 years old.
In answer to your question tho I have a brand spanking new Fisher and Pykel 8kg Intuative Washing Machine. My father in law bought it for us because my 30 year old washing machine died. We are paying him back weekly and we're so so lucky :)
Oooh I just read Kandy's post... I had to use up Fly Buy points before they expired. Only thing I could get was electric Russell Hobbs salt and pepper grinders... they are so much fun and most fun of all... they light up when you press the button hehehe (but lets not talk about the four batteries each one takes to work lol)
I have a royal blue Chantal kettle that has a whistle like a train. I had gotten it for my father because his hearing was bad & wouldn't hear the old kettle when it was boiling & he's sometimes forget he had put it on. Then I make the tea in a stainless steel tea post my Mom had gotten years ago in Ireland. Some people heat the water in the micro & then put a tea bag in - doesn't taste like real tea to me if it's done that way.
Hi Anna!
I have a chrome Simplex tea kettle which was a wedding present. It fires up fast and looks great. My favorite kitchen gadget is my battery powered pepper grinder. Very handy when I only have one free hand and need freshly ground pepper.
Oh, Mary, I hear you on the toaster. The kettle gets the same treatment! As you say, probably won't last but nice while it does.
Virginia, I have a cast iron skillet too. They're wonderful, aren't they? The food is always so wonderfully flavored when I cook in it. I should have known you'd share my kitchen appliance lurve! Actually I don't really like flavorted teas. Just plain old black normal stuff for me. In Australia, tea is a much more popular drink than it is in America where coffee is more the norm. As you can tell from the elegant glass jar (snork!) next to the kettle, I drink a lot of hot tea! Especially when I'm working as I am at the moment. Seems to oil the gears of my brain.
Sarah, I hear you on the mugs. Back when I tried to write Mills and Boons, my favorite coffee mug nearly always made an appearance in my stories. I had a wonderful bright red one that I just loved. The problem with fave coffee mugs is that they're always the first to break, just because they're in the line of fire more often. Love the sound of your two faves. I have a couple of fave mugs. One has Picasso in pajamas on it (don't ask), there are the RWOz mugs which have wonderful writing quotes that always inspire me and my friend Annie West gave me a beautiful bone china one with a treble clef on it. Really pretty.
Oh, Tash, clearly a kindred spirit! I'm actually not joking about the pleasure I get switching on my beautiful new kettle. Never got that buzz from the plastic ones although they both do the same job, don't they? The new washing machine sounds absolutely wonderful! What a nice father-in-law!
Ooh, another vote for the electric salt and pepper grinders. Seriously when I saw my friends (first time I'd seen one), I had serious appliance envy. And it matched my lovely kettle!
Oh, Di, bleuch to the microwave technique. I absolutely agree with you. Even worse, I know people who mix coffee in with cold water and then shove it in the microwave. Honestly, you may as well drink dishwater. Love the sound of the royal blue kettle!
Oh, man, I gotta get me a pepper grinder. They clearly put my kettle in the shade! Jennifer, love the sound of your kettle. Speaking of which, I'm just off to make another cup of tea!
I have a yearning for a pink kettle!
I want a pink kettle too! I drinks loads of tea. And like Sarah, I have favourite cups.I have morning cups and afternoon tea cups. I can't drink out of a dark cup. I have a real thing about it. Weird but true!
Fun post, Anna, and you are definitely not the only kitchen tragic out there!
Anna, i love your kettle, it's so cute. I have a thing for cups. If i see a new extravagant design i will buy a set.
Ooh, wouldn't a pink kettle be lovely? Or perhaps I just want roses etched on my tin one!
Oh, such a relief, Melanie, that I'm not the only kitchen tragic. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I always get a little hum of pleasure when I use that kettle. And it seems a bit on the dorky side that I do. But it's just so...pretty! Oh, no, there I go again. Laughing at you with two sets of cups. I'm not quite THAT bad. Although I go on crazes for certain cups.
Sonali, how wonderful you can see what a handsome, charming fellow my kettle is. Actually cups are kinda OK to have a crush on. I get those too!
Our Sunbeams tend to be short and round, but the same idea. We had one at work and it was awful, now we get the water from the cooler.
But I love the teapot.
I just bought a new fridge in July- French doors with two freezer drawers on the bottom! I have been eyeing it for months and got it on such an awesome sale that I couldn't pass it up!
Tomorrow I am off to hit another such sale and get a new washer and dryer! Can't wait! (I told hubby it was his anniversary present to me since we were so busy today to do anything, including go out for dinner!!)
Oh, wow, Ev, looks like you've got appliance lurve big time. Hope you have fun buying the washer and dryer and the fridge sounds wonderful. Sadly, the teapot isn't mine. I got the pic off the internet. Like you, I thought it was beautiful!
I don't have a kettle I am in love with but I do love my fridge! It is an upright, with dispensers for ice and water on door, and plenty of shelves and cool compartments. We got the biggest one Maytag makes and it barely fits in our kitchen. My husband had to revamp the wall behind it to make it fit but we absolutely love it!
Well, believe it or not but my husband is the one who is the appliance hoarder. I like to cook and all but he has to have one of everything in the kitchen! Our kitchen is bursting with every gadget and appliance available to man!
Oh, Michele, I LOVE the sound of that fridge. A friend of mine has one of those and I have serious fridge envy whenever I see it. Laughed at your husband feeling the appliance lurve!
I'm way, way late, but I was detained in the operating room having surgical
biopsy done! No results until next week!
Have to tell you that my appliance
love revolves around slow cookers. (crockpots!)I have three at the moment and have been seriously looking at a couple more! I use them when we have big gatherings, like holiday parties.
Pat Cochran
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