Buying Ceramic Dinnerware and Bakeware

February 7, 2014 Vikki Leave a comment

There are a few different things to consider when purchasing new ceramic dinnerware or bakeware, and I’ve also included some use and care advice to help you out.

Choosing Durability

Ceramics can be expensive, and usually the inexpensive ones will end up needing to be replaced constantly, so I’m a believer in spending more for better quality and that it will actually last a lifetime.

This is me standing on a Fiesta dinner plate as demonstrated to me by the Fiesta rep I met once.

As mentioned in the “Ceramic Dinnerware and Bakeware Basics” blog, durability comes from how the ceramic is made. Depending on how many times the piece was fired during its creation is a huge factor – the less (at higher temps) is better.

This butter dish knob broke off easily; super glue did the trick since I don't eat off of it. — This butter dish knob broke
off easily; super glue did the trick since I don’t eat off of it.

What also matters is the design – having thin edges or connecting pieces might be an indicator that it will chip. Imagine the piece lightly bumping into another piece in your dishwasher – edge to edge. Do you think it would stand up in this situation, or crack? The less edges the piece has the better, too. Bowls are a great example of this – does the base of the piece have a protruding edge? Just something else that could get chipped.

Click here to watch my Ceramic Edge Test video.

Choosing Colors

Colors can be fun until you put food on them, then all of a sudden the fun colors make your food look not so appetizing. I have a friend who gave up a cobalt blue loaf pan simply because she made mac and cheese in it and it looked inedible to her! There’s a reason why restaurants use whiteware; there’s also a reason why food judges always rate chefs on their “plating” – this is taught in culinary school, I kid you not!

Also to consider with color is what scratching will look like (see more about scratching on ceramic below). Cobalt blue is notorious for showing marks very well and customers were always returning it with complaints. I have the “Sunflower” color in Fiesta dinnerware, and while all of the different colored plates show a small amount of scratching, the yellow really looks unappealing.

Choosing a Brand

You want to do some research and make sure the brand you choose is going to be around for a long time, producing the same product lines, and also the same color choices, otherwise you won’t be able to replace or add to your collection in the future.

Fiesta dinnerware actually claim they never discontinue pieces because the pattern has remained the same for decades, only the colors have changed (or rather, “retired“). This might not make a person who buys all one color happy if their color gets discontinued!! You should be able to find information on at least quality vendors about when a pattern came out or how often they discontinue colors, etc. if you do enough research.

Read about individual ceramic and glass brand names.

Use and Care

Make sure to check to see if the dinnerware or bakeware you’re selecting is dishwasher and microwave safe. Generally all ceramics are, however, the claim that it is safe for the dishwasher doesn’t mean it’s safe FROM your dishwasher. I load all of my ceramic bowls with dishwasher-safe plastic pieces in between them to avoid them bumping each other while being cleaned. I also find that if a piece of bakeware has buildup on it, just like cookware, it’s probably just going to get baked on harder inside of the dishwasher and not come out clean.

As mentioned in the “Basics” blog, different elements exist within different color dyes that are used on ceramics. Different elements react differently when heated in a microwave; for instance, reds get hotter than any other color because of the lead contained in the glaze. It’s not harmful to you as a user, but it does react to the heat!

Not all ceramics can handle the same temperature ranges, so be sure to check the instructions or label of the piece in question. You can really only assume bakeware is good to 350 degrees Fahrenheit; anything higher you would want to be sure you check first. Some of the sturdier brands go as high as 480 degrees, but I’ve never seen one that is OK to use on “broil”.

Le Creuset cast iron oven and three different bakers. Don't mix them up and put the bakeware on the stove! — Le Creuset cast iron oven and three different bakers. Don’t mix them up and put the bakeware on the stove!

Be wary of Pinterest recipes and other things you read online. Like with anything you read on the internet, not everyone’s an expert. (Not even me! I double-check myself constantly and will always update my blogs accordingly, however.) Two different casserole recipes I randomly found on Pinterest and tried asked me to put in my “oven safe” bakeware and then crank them up to 500 or broil and told me not to worry, it was fine. Luckily both times I realized my stupidity and turned the oven back down quickly enough.

When an item says it is “freezer to oven” safe, they mean they want you to warm it up with the oven. Don’t EVER put cold ceramic in a hot oven, let them come to temperature together! (Same goes for a pizza stone!) Extreme temperature changes are a major cause of cracking and crazing with ceramics.

Ceramics are never stovetop safe (with the exception of CorningWare’s stovetop safe line), so be careful when you are using brands that create both cookware and bakeware. I’ll never forget the poor gal who tried returning her Le Creuset baker because it cracked on the stove! It had a lovely electric burner ring stain on the three pieces it had become and we were not able to replace it for her because that wasn’t proper use – she thought all Le Creuset was safe for the stove. 🙁

CorningWare stovetop baker in a modern print

Surface Scratching

Scratching on ceramic is normally caused by two different things.

1. Flatware scratching: This is inevitable unless you do all of your cutting on a different surface. The metal from your flatware leaves unsightly marks on lighter colored porcelain and ceramics. There are various cleaning products you can purchase that they say will remove these marks, but I have never personally tried any of them.

2. Ceramic-on-ceramic scratching: This occurs when you stack your ceramics, more commonly with plates. Generally the base of a piece of ceramic has a ring that is not glazed and also a little rough to the touch. When you pull one dish out, it lightly scrapes against the other item it’s stacked against, causing a scratch. These scratches can actually be deeper and worse than flatware scratches.

Ceramic-on-ceramic scratching can be avoided by purchasing ceramics with less edging, sanding down your unfinished edges, or storing them in a plate rack versus stacking them.

Plate rack storage to avoid surface scratching.

I created a guide for you, which includes a quick video on how to sand your ceramics without sandpaper, using other pieces of dinnerware. You can also use a lower number grit sandpaper.

Check out How to Sand Your Ceramic Dishes and Bakeware by Your Ultimate Kitchen on Snapguide.

You can use the bottom of two similar-sized pieces to sand each other.

Back to Ceramic and Dinnerware Basics

Forward to Ceramic & Glass Dinnerware & Bakeware Brands

Kitchen

Ceramic Dinnerware & Bakeware Basics

February 1, 2014 Vikki Leave a comment

Some of this information was already in my “Clay & Terra Cotta Cookware” blog, but we’ll go into more detail here. Some people might be surprised or confused that dinnerware and bakeware are being lumped together, but the same properties exist among any items made from ceramic, and certain companies make both. The only difference is the shape they form them into!

Emily Henry dinnerware, bakeware, and stovetop
collections are all made from the same clay!

So first, some ceramic basics.

Clay, when fired, becomes crystalline, like glass. Therefore, ceramic dinnerware and bakeware is no different than purchasing glass dinnerware and bakeware. Meaning it’s non-porous (unless chipped!) and environmentally friendly.

Definitions

Le Creuset dinnerware set

Earthenware is non-porcelain, clay-based pottery that is porous after being fired. It can be made out of a variety of different clays and can be glazed. Terra Cotta is a type of earthenware made from clay and therefore it is also porous after being fired, but is never glazed. Ceramic is made from clay in the form of kaolin but sometimes other materials are mixed in, as well. It is always glazed and often colored. Most ceramics are crystalline, meaning they act like glass. Porcelain is made from clay and other materials fired at high temperatures, and is the most glass-like of all the varieties of ceramics. It is often referred to as China or Fine China since that is where its production originated. Stoneware is ceramic that has been fired once at a higher temperature and is considered to be even stronger than porcelain.

Confused yet? 😛 Again, ceramic is like glass, non-porous and strong.

Glazes

Different manufacturers utilize different glazes to create the colors on their ceramics. A few vendors even use natural ways to color their wares; Emile Henry uses metal oxides (naturally occurring) to create their colors. As I mentioned, ceramics are non-porous so you wouldn’t have to worry about anything in the colors leaching out into your food, but I suppose if you were still using chipped ceramics you would have to consider the glazes at that point. Most inexpensive ceramics made in China also contain glaze made in China, however, if a piece is manufactured in one country does not guarantee that the glaze also came from the same country, so do your homework if this matters to you!

Fiesta dinnerware colors!

Every color has different elements within it, so you’d have to know your pigment chemistry to focus your concerns properly. For instance, red dyes have the most lead in them, yellows can have cadmium, and blues can contain cobalt. Most people are only concerned with lead, so know that all items are lead tested before they are able to be sold in the United States, which means anything you are buying off the shelf is considered within safe levels. You shouldn’t be using cracked or chipped ceramics, however, so this shouldn’t be a concern. It is against food safety regulation to eat off of cracked dinnerware because bacteria can grow in cracks, so always send your food back if you receive it on something chipped or cracked! (Chipped or cracked glassware is just plain unsafe – you don’t want to cut yourself! Send it back.) Chipped ceramic will also get much hotter in the microwave, as will anything with more lead in the glaze. Yes, your favorite red mug really does get hotter than your white one, you’re not crazy!

Cracking Versus Crazing

This plate is cracked!

Cracking is when an object breaks into two or more pieces under stress, while crazing is the phenomenon that happens before cracking. Crazing looks like a network of cracks, usually within the glaze. You can feel a crack if you run your finger over it, while you cannot actually feel the crazing if you were to do the same.

This bowl has crazing.

You can still utilize dinnerware or bakeware that has crazing, you just want to be extra careful with it because sometimes bumping it hard in the affected area will cause it to actually crack. Other times, the ceramic will never actually crack and you can use it for ages, which makes sense because crazing can actually increases the strength of the piece…ah, science! Crazing is caused by flaws in production (less expensive pieces made by machines with low quality control will craze easily) or excessive stress on the piece (using it at higher temperatures than recommended).

Making Strong Ceramic Pieces

What makes one brand of ceramic better than another? Ceramics that don’t have a lot of extra edges or have smoother, thicker edges are more likely to last longer, like Fiesta dinnerware. The less edges there are, the less chance they have to chip! Pieces that have to be added on later, like handles and knobs, can be very fragile because of how thin they can be and difficult to “attach”, so be cautious. How many coffee mugs do you own with broken handles?!?

Fiesta has thick and almost non-existent edges making it very hard to break.

Companies that reuse their molds for too long will start losing the quality control in their production. Think about it – the molds the ceramics are created in go in and out of the kilns repeatedly, breaking down over time. Le Creuset actually destroys their molds after each firing so each piece is unique and considered to be hand-crafted. (The same goes for their cast iron!)

Le Creuset stoneware

I’ve mentioned molds going in-and-out of the kiln repeatedly, but didn’t talk about how the ceramics themselves sometimes do, too. The more something has to go into the kiln like this, the more brittle it becomes. As stated in the definitions section above, stoneware and porcelain are created at higher temperatures, which makes them stronger because they didn’t have to go in-and-out as often as others might have. Fiesta dinnerware and Emile Henry are both “high-fire” meaning they only go in once at an extremely high temperature. This is the strongest ceramic dinnerware and bakeware you will find, but the other stoneware is very strong, too.

More details about “Buying Ceramic Dinnerware and Bakeware“

More details about “Ceramic & Glass Dinnerware & Bakeware Brands“

Cleaning, Kitchen

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dishwasher

January 28, 2014 Vikki Leave a comment

I will admit to you that a lot of issues with kitchen wares arise out of putting them in the dishwasher. I grew up without a dishwasher, so I’m pretty great at hand washing them and don’t have an issue doing them that way. I’m also pretty fast at it so it doesn’t take up hours of my day.

I have used dishwashers since then. I’ve known people to have lovely looking dishes come out of theirs. I’ve lived with people who bought cheap dishwasher soap that didn’t work and had nightmarish issues with them at jobs. But now that I understand them a little bit more, how various products react in them, and have been using one in my own home a little more regularly – I have learned to stop worrying and love using my dishwasher!

The Basics:

Don’t put things in the dishwasher that aren’t dishwasher safe. They usually say that for a reason.
- Cheap plastics leach BPA, some ceramics aren’t strong enough to handle bumping each other with the shaking motion of the washer, and certain finishes can’t handle the harsh environment, etc.
Pans on the bottom, plastic on the top. Some items will specify they are top-rack only. The heating element in the dishwasher is on the bottom, so this is to keep the item away from the heat.
Do not lay knives down on the top rack! If they don’t fit in the utensil holder, hand wash them.
Wood does not ever go in the dishwasher. (Epicurean brand can because it’s a special compressed wood that is dishwasher safe.)

Dishwashers get EXTREMELY hot, so that’s the reason a lot of items can’t go in them in the first place. They are the problem with plastic leaching BPA, so if you don’t have a dishwasher you really don’t need to worry about it. Plastic baby bottles are almost never dishwasher safe and unfortunately a lot of parents try putting them in on “sanitize mode” which is usually the hottest setting on the dishwasher. Not a good idea!

Notice the heating element is in the center of the inside of the machine.

I have overcome this issue by sticking to the lower-level settings on my dishwasher. I have a couple of settings above “normal wash” and I have never touched them. If you have anything dirtier than that it’s not even worth trying in the dishwasher, in my opinion. Whatever is stuck to the pan will just get baked on inside of the machine.

Which brings me my next tip – turn off the “heated dry” setting if your dishwasher allows you to. This is just a waste of electricity (in my opinion!) that literally just bakes the dishes after they are washed, so if anything is still stuck to them, it just got baked on harder. The dishes are hot and usually still moist anyway if you do use it, so what I do is turn it off and when the wash cycle is over I just open it up and pull the racks out so they can air-dry. The plastic storage stuff doesn’t seem to dry well so I pull them out and put them in the counter dish rack to dry. Of course this is easiest when done later in the evening so they can dry overnight.

Your dishwasher shakes. A lot. Think about your dishes getting bumped around into each other inside of that thing for an hour while it runs. This is why ceramic dishes chip in the dishwasher, because they bump edges with each other. Same with your nonstick finish, if something is bumping into it in the same spot over and over – chipping. I worry about my ceramic bowls even though I put them on the top shelf and they are a really good brand name, so I put the dishwasher safe plastic items between all of the ceramic items to try to avoid them bumping into each other.

The worst is if you put your sharp knives flat on the top rack – they shake and cut into the plastic rungs. This is what causes your flatware to rust, when the plastic coating is exposed inside of your dishwasher. You can sometimes remove this staining with Barkeeper’s Friend but usually you will end up having to replace all of your flatware and also replacing the racks inside of your dishwasher, which is very costly.

As I already said, if my pans are really dirty, I just resolve to hand washing them. I let them soak overnight and wash them with any other items I have that are not dishwasher safe. Sometimes you can get away with scrubbing the pan with a dish brush or a scrub sponge and getting all the big stuff off of it so it is dishwasher-ready, however. I pretty much end up cleaning them first if I do this because if anything is stuck to the pan, it will be baked on in the dishwasher, usually. And if it does come out this way, dirty, resign yourself to hand washing them at that point – putting them in for another dishwasher cycle will not get it off!

My motto is, “If you love it, hand wash it,” so even a lot of the things I own that are dishwasher safe – I still hand wash. Some items I will throw in the dishwasher every now and again and it’s not the end of the world, but some little thing will happen that reminds me that I do indeed love it and I better wash it by hand next time. And actually, sometimes putting your stainless steel Kitchen Aid mixer bowl or stainless pot in the machine actually helps bring back its luster – just not every time so I only do it every handful of uses. One of my dearest kitchen store friend (and mentor) had the best saying about dishwashers: “It’s called a dishwasher for a reason. It’s not a pots and pans washer. It’s not a glassware washer.” So keep that in mind when putting items other than dishes in that machine, even if it does have special settings for those other things.

Speaking of glassware, I don’t put anything with a painted design in the dishwasher, nor any stemware. If you have really inexpensive, sturdy stemware like Libbey, that will probably hold up. Anything shaped like a martini glass is just asking to break because of the bumping. Luckily most stemware is too tall for most dishwashers unless you purchase one that has specific glassware settings. Use at your own risk! I find that the glassware tends to come out with a teensy bit of spotting, but maybe that’s because I don’t steam clean them afterwards with the “heated dry” setting!

If you just can’t stand to hand wash, make sure you read the labels of what you’re buying and avoid items that aren’t dishwasher safe. There are still kitchen items that you cannot find dishwasher safe, and I’m sorry, you’re just either going to have to not use it, hand wash it, or buy really cheap so you can afford to keep replacing it because you put it in the dishwasher anyway. 😛 (Meat tenderizer is the item I know you can’t find as dishwasher safe. Even the OXO one can’t go in there – it’s a kind of metal that will oxidize. All the generic metal meat tenderizers I have seen are the same kind of metal so there must be a reason for it.)

My last tip will be on dishwasher detergent. The only thing I have found to work almost all the time are the Cascade dishwasher pacs. They now make a few different versions of this, and I find the Cascade Complete work the best. (Although now there is a “platinum” version I will have to try!)

Just use your best judgement, and the dishwasher can be a great help in your kitchen without costing you a fortune in replacement costs if you’re smart about how you utilize it. Of course spending the extra money for more durable kitchen wares always helps, but clearly we can’t always afford that. So the Dollar Tree items…those get hand washed in my house. 😉

And remember…if you love it, hand wash it!

Happy Cleaning! 🙂

Read more about My Favorite Cleaning Gadgets.

Kitchen

Ode to Pepper Grinders (& Salt, Too!)

January 25, 2014 Vikki Leave a comment

I love fresh ground pepper! I put it on EVERYTHING! Which actually probably makes me a poor reviewer because I just leave all of my grinders set on “coarse” and rarely test out the other options. But I have used quite a few and can offer some insight and tips for maintenance, of course! First and foremost, the proper terminology is “mill” not “grinder” but I will mostly refer to them as grinders since that’s what everybody calls them.

Peugeot mill in various sizes

Buying a Pepper or Salt Mill

Can’t I just buy one grinder and do everything in one?

The simple answer is yes, but there are always technicalities that lead you to lean more towards no. 🙂 A lot of inexpensive grinders will have a ceramic grinding mechanism which is safe for anything. However, you can’t really “clean” any type of mill entirely, so if you want to grind multiple things, you will probably get residuals of other things you’ve used the grinder for.

The more important thing to consider is with metal mechanisms. Salt is highly corrosive so the metal in these grinders is usually an 18/10 stainless steel that’s been chemically treated, versus a pepper mill just having a hardened steel to make it stronger for the peppercorns.

The next thing you need to consider is if you want the mill to have multiple grind settings. A lot of basic, inexpensive grinders will not come with options. The majority with settings will have three: coarse, medium, and fine. Sometimes you can find a mill with just two settings, but that’s it! Peugeot, a French manufacturer, boasts “infinite” grind settings because you can stop the selector anywhere you want (on other models the selection you make “clicks” into place).

Trudeau Graviti mill

Other features you can find are upside-down grinders that store with the “top” side down to reduce the mess they can leave on your counter or table. You can also buy battery-operated grinders that work with the push of a button. Trudeau makes one of the most inexpensive and best-rated electric grinders I’ve seen, the Graviti mill. It actually works just by turning it upside down – you don’t have to push a button! Peugeot pushes the bar further by selling one that also lights up while it’s grinding for you. Hey – you’ve got to be able to see when you’re dining by candlelight! 😛

Picking a Brand

Metal Mechanism Brands*
*Most brands that make steel pepper mills produce their salt mills with either ceramic or nylon.

Peugeot made the first pepper mill in 1841 and are still made in France today. While the guarantee on their manual grinders is only 5 years, the mechanism itself is guaranteed for life under normal use. Their most popular mills come in the same style in a plethora of sizes for you to choose from. To avoid the hassle that can sometimes come with filling your grinder, they offer some models with magnetic tops that just latch right on to the mill without any fuss. They also produce electric mills and even a classic-looking box mill. I mentioned already that they boast “infinite” grind settings, but in my personal experience, I did not notice huge differences other than coarse/medium/fine.

Peugeot’s salt mills are an 18/10 stainless steel that’s been treated to prevent corrosion.

William Bounds mills

William Bounds is my favorite brand and made in the USA! They have been in business since 1963 and have a patented mill mechanism that evenly crushes instead of grinds.Since it’s not grinding the mill components together, they can guarantee it will work for life. This is where their slogan “We’ve got a CRUSH on pepper” comes from!

William Bounds’ salt mills are made with a ceramic crushing mechanism.

Vic Firth is a tad newer to the game, but also made in the USA. This is a company that is famous for making drumsticks and drum equipment – Vic Firth was a tympanist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and happens to love cooking. Mario Batalli‘s pepper mills are Vic Firth brand with Mario’s signature green and orange colors, as well as his signature on the side.

Vic Firth salt mills are made with a nylon grinding mechanism.

Vic Firth mills

Non-Metal Mill Brands

Most inexpensive pepper and salt mills you find are nylon or ceramic grinders.

Chef’n PepperBall

Chef’n makes some pretty cool grinders, although I have to say they are very hit and miss with their salt and pepper grinders. I’m a huge Chef’n lover, but I got a lot of these returned in various models, from a simple table grinder to their more unique ergonomic styles. But when they work, they work forever, so just make sure you buy from a store that will not hassle you if you need to return it. It does look like they’ve updated the designs slightly so they might be even sturdier now.

They make some amazing ergonomic models, so if you have arthritis issues, think about the repetitive wrist movements you have to make to grind your pepper. My first pepper grinder use was a friend’s Chef’n pepper ball and I thought it was the coolest thing ever – you just squeeze! They also make some 2-in-1 options that let you grind both salt and pepper in one unit.

These models all utilize a metal rasp, but they do make ceramic grinders, too.

Kuhn Rikon has a couple of ceramic models, their vase grinder being the most popular. As I mentioned, they make theirs in lots of fun colors so you can color-code your spices. They make an ergonomic lever-model for those with arthritis pain.

Kuhn Rikon vase grinders

OXO‘s ceramic grinders are only a few years old, but they look great, feel very sturdy, and I’m a huge fan of OXO so I would think should be good!

**Buying tip – Williams Sonoma has a pepper grinding area where you can actually test out the grinders before purchasing. I’m not sure if this is available at all locations, but it’s really fun!**

How To Use & Maintain Your Mill

Basic mills have a body, a piece at the top (the “lid”) that turns to activate the grinding mechanism inside, and a little ball on top that screws on to the mechanism to keep the lid in place. If you have coarseness settings, there is usually a circular piece just below the lid that you can turn and hear clicking into place at the next setting. Usually there is some sort of marking to indicate fine (smaller mark) to coarse (larger mark). Left to right = fine to coarse.

To fill the grinder, you unscrew the ball on the top, remove the lid and fill the base. There will usually be something in the way to indicate the “fill line”. You always want to fill to BELOW this piece of the mill. Not even, and definitely not above. You need to leave room for the mechanism to turn. This was the most common problem when people tried to say their mill was broken – I would open it up, dump out a few peppercorns, and VOILA! It would work.

Kuhn Rikon is “upside-down”

As I mentioned before, you can find mills that work “upside-down” to keep the mess off of your counter or table. These fool a lot of people, so read the instructions first! Yes, even with something as simple as a pepper grinder, you should always read the instructions!! The Kuhn Rikon vase grinder is a great example of this and I sold them for a couple of years before I actually used one. People returned them all the time for not working but they would always return them empty so none of us working realized what the issue was – improper use! Someone finally brought it in with peppercorns and asked us what they were doing wrong and we realized they were the “upside-down” style!

There are special grinders you can buy for wet salt. You can only grind pink berry peppercorns within a pepper mix as long as there’s not a lot of pink berries mixed in. Otherwise, put them in a ceramic or spice grinder, or use a mortar & pestle to grind them up. Putting either of these two items into a regular salt or pepper grinder will ruin your grinder.

Grinding Spices

Cuisinart Spice and Nut Grinder

As I mentioned above, you can use most grinders for spices, just be careful of anything that could corrode a pepper mill. You should be able to find many inexpensive ceramic mills for spices. The Kuhn Rikon vase grinders are great and you can get it in all sorts of different colors to help differentiate between your spices!

Some people use inexpensive coffee grinders to grind their spices. You can read more about that on my “Coffee Grinder” blog, where I also mention the alternative of the Cuisinart Spice and Nut Grinder. For a few extra bucks, get something larger that grinds spices better and you can also clean out between spices.

Grinding Herbs

Microplane recently came out with an actual herb mill to grind your fresh herbs! I would love to test this out. There are a few gadgets you can find to chop herbs with, as well, but that’s for another blog!

Grinding Nuts

William Bounds Nut Twister nutmeg grinder

As already mentioned, Cuisinart has a great electric spice and nut grinder. Many of the manufacturers listed make several special nutmeg grinder models since that is a very popular spice. Peugeot and William Bounds probably have the most variety of other specific grinders (chocolate, cinnamon, chilies, etc.), as well.

Coffee & Tea, Kitchen

Electric Water Kettles

October 31, 2013 Vikki 5 Comments

I entitled this blog post “Electric Water Kettles” for a very specific reason. I do not ever want any of you associating the word “tea” with an electric kettle because you CANNOT put tea in the kettle! It is only for water. This should make sense if you are used to making tea the old-fashioned way; boil water in a kettle on the stove, pour it into a teapot, and then steep your tea in it. A teapot is usually made of ceramic or porcelain, and I would hope that it goes without saying that a teapot cannot go on your stove top to boil water in.

Fine T Machine

There is, however, an electric device you can both brew and steep tea in if you really want to, but it’s a tad on the spendy side. It’s called the Fine T Machine and it has several settings for a variety of tea types and works extremely well (I used one heavily at one point, even producing multiple batches for a tea tasting), so worth every penny! I also just discovered that Breville has come out with a nifty looking machine they call the One-Touch Tea Maker. I’d love to hear your reviews if you’ve used this since they are usually a good brand name.

Bodum electric kettle is the best!!

As for your basic electric water kettle, hands-down the longest-lasting brand I’ve ever seen in action is the Bodum. These very rarely ever got returned (actually, we could hardly keep them on the shelves because we sold so many!), and the stores we worked in owned these and used them extremely heavily and they were all some of the original models, still perfectly functioning many years later. They’ve since improved the design a tad by making the power switch stronger and the connection to the base more durable and simpler to latch.

I know the thought of using plastic alarms a lot of folks, particularly with boiling water. First of all, Bodum products are BPA-free. Secondly, as I explain in my BPA blog, the temperature needs to be extremely hot or else whatever going in needs to be highly acidic for there to be any leaching. Boiling point is not nearly what sanitize mode is in your dishwasher! And lastly, all electric kettles have plastic on the lid, handle and base. If they are glass, there could also be “metal” handles or lids which are usually a thin metallic film painted over plastic that will eventually start peeling off.

Chef’s Choice glass kettle

If you prefer the glass (especially because they do look a little more elegant than Bodum’s modern design), my next pick will always be Chef’s Choice. Another solid brand name, the kettles always seem to last a lot longer than other selections. Now that I just wrote all of that, of course Bodum has come out with a model that is mostly glass, similar to other glass electric kettle models (I swear, click the link, it says “new” over the image! :P) I used to like the Capresso, but as I mentioned in the coffee maker blog, they’ve outsourced to China and the quality of the brand is diminishing a little. I’d say it’s hit or miss if you buy one.

Chef’s Choice stainless kettle

Chef’s Choice also makes a couple of stainless steel models that I would also highly recommend. The great thing about all of these kettles nowadays is that they are “cordless”– they detach from the base so you can walk around and pour without a cord getting in your way! They also mostly all have auto shut-off, which is just fabulous. You can find some electric kettles that have temperature settings, as well.

I’m sure Proctor-Silex and Delonghi are solid enough machines, and of course Breville has a good brand reputation. Share your thoughts with us if you’ve had experience with an electric kettle you love or dislike!

Breville One Touch tea machine

**Still Under Construction!!**

Still Under Construction!!