Maybe the other 20% own non-electric kettles, like us, or have one-touch boiling water systems, like my parents.
When our last electric kettle blew up 3-4 years ago, we decided to go with a good, old fashioned metal kettle that we use on the hob. Works well, doesn't ever break, and even makes it a bit more of an 'event' to put the kettle on as you get all the boiling sounds, the whistle going off, etc.
My parents, on the other hand, have a thing that produces boiling water at the touch a button so they just use that to dump water into their mugs instead.
Either way, an electric kettle is far from the only solution .
You mean those old fashioned kettles that are little more than a pot that you put on the hob? Nope. No way do 20% of UK houses have that sort of old fashioned system. That's like claiming 20% of UK houses still have outhouses and don't have indoor toilets.
It always amazes me how the ridiculuous old fashioned non-electric kettles are still popular in USA.
I did also mention boiling water systems like one touch "Quick Cup" type jugs or even boiling water taps as are popular in posher houses now.
Nonetheless, I don't find it so farfetched. We are a wellish-to-do gadget heavy household and we're content with a gas kettle. Other people continue to drive manual transmission cars. Some people even use Internet Explorer! It's a funny old world.
> It always amazes me how the ridiculuous old fashioned non-electric kettles are still popular in USA.
One thing that I find genuinely amazing is that power-companies can spot when there are commercial-breaks in TV programs by people in the country making tea en masse:
Not only can they see the spike, they have to plan for it. I've heard for some popular programmes/events (like a sports event or popular episode), they'll employ someone to watch the TV show and press a button the second the adverts come on, to turn on the power generators that can spin up quickly. There's a power generator that can come fully into operation in 12 seconds[1]
Well here's one data point: my building includes gas in the rent, so there's no incentive for me to buy an expensive and costly to run electric kettle when a stovetop model can boil an unlimited amount of water for zero marginal cost.
(I'm originally from the UK, but I adapted pretty quickly when I moved to the US and saw the price of electric kettles).
Wait, a kettle[1] that you put on the stove and whistles when it's boiling isn't the standard in the UK?
It's what I use for preparing hot water, and I have no issue with it. That's when I want tea or french-press coffee [2]. Sometimes I use an electric percolator[3] for coffee, and what a cup it can make!
I've seen precisely one stove-top kettle in my life, here in the UK: My grandmother owned one before she died, but she spent most of her life on a farm with outdoor toilets and no electricity, and never really adapted from that mindset.
Having said that I've bought only two kettles in my life, once in 1998 when I bought my first flat and realized I didn't own one - all prior rental properties came with one - and one last year when that died.
I remember spending far too much time picking up kettles in John Lewis, and other "fancy" stores, because I knew I'd be using it multiple times a day for many years and wanted something that looked and felt nice.
Drinking tea in the UK isn't about the fun of the kettle. It's a matter of necessity and the whole process is utilitarian. An efficient and predictable water boiler is what is needed, not a 'fun' tea making ceremony. The English largely drink the fannings of tea leaves (poorest quality) it's not about ceremony, fun, or quality, believe me.
We only drink tea when people visit, so the kettle does play a role. Being gas, it takes longer to boil, giving a nice period of often tea-related small talk before it's shrieking for mercy. If one is in an office or one drinks tea because one's addicted to it then yes, the kettle would be more of an inconvenience, but not everyone lives such fast, non ceremonial lives.
When our last electric kettle blew up 3-4 years ago, we decided to go with a good, old fashioned metal kettle that we use on the hob. Works well, doesn't ever break, and even makes it a bit more of an 'event' to put the kettle on as you get all the boiling sounds, the whistle going off, etc.
My parents, on the other hand, have a thing that produces boiling water at the touch a button so they just use that to dump water into their mugs instead.
Either way, an electric kettle is far from the only solution .