One of the more expensive kettles on our list, the Zwilling Enfinigy Pro justifies its lofty price tag with an ultra-modern design, commendable suite of features and solid performance. This sleek, space age kettle placed highly in both our exterior temperature and heat retention tests. Its peerless dual-wall insulation helped it maintain an outside temperature of just 29.4°C in use, while keeping the water inside at 94.6°C five minutes after boiling. In terms of functionality, the Enfinigy Pro boasts variable temperature settings ranging from 40°C to 100°C and a 30-minute keep warm function, all programmable via the touch buttons on its base. While we liked the Russell Hobbs Attentiv best overall, the Bosch Styline is no slouch, providing a great alternative for anyone not quite won over by the Attentiv. Differentiating it from the Russell Hobbs model are its dual-walled insulation, keeping it at a cool exterior temperature of 31.9°C in use, as well as its chic plastic and stainless steel body, which won’t get as visibly grubby as a glass kettle. This kettle is a stunning addition to any kitchen worktop. It is available in two striking colours, midnight grey and red. These kettles also match perfectly with the coordinating Luna toaster. This kettle has a window to easily measure the level of water inside, where you can see if more needs to be added. It also comes with illumination, so the light will stay on during the boiling time. This is similar to the Russell Hobbs Mode kettle, where the spout will also light up while boiling. Kettle with Fast Boil Technology This Russell Hobbs Luna Kettle featuring a slim, modern design with a sophisticated Moonlight Grey finish is a truly out of this world appliance that makes a stunning statement in any kitchen. Combine this with superb functionality from this modern day essential, and you’re bound to love making that relaxing cuppa to unwind.

Look for a kettle with a clear water indicator level. This enables you to fill the kettle with enough water for your purpose and no more. Boiling a full kettle is a waste of energy. On that note, a double-walled kettle will insulate hot water for longer. Also, it keeps the outside of the kettle cool to the touch. Thanks to its 3,000W heating element, it also proved itself a speedy boiler in our group test, matching other similarly powerful models with its one litre boil time of 2 mins 20 secs. Rounding things out with a handsome, sturdy glass and stainless construction, the Attentiv won top marks from us. We’re also big fans of the old-fashioned temperature gauge on the front, which proved both charming and practical. We also like the smooth-acting temperature setting lever on the bottom, which allows you to heat water to between 50°C and 100°C, in 10°C increments, ideal for a variety of drinks. Once set in action, the kettle emits a soft white light and a calming low beep – it might sound silly, but the Artisan gives boiling water a truly luxurious feel thanks to deft design touches like these.Kettles aren’t the most high-tech of kitchen items, but it’s worth looking out for safety features such as an auto shut-off function – should you accidentally put too little water in the kettle, this will stop it boiling dry. Next up is useability. We test how easy the kettle is to fill, hold and pour, its weight and whether the fill lines are easy to read. If the kettle has any additional features beyond boiling water, we also look at how useful these are. Finally, we take into consideration each kettle’s build quality and design, and whether these reflect its price.

One notable downside of the Dualit Lite is that it doesn’t do its business super quietly. We recorded how loud each kettle was at boiling water and the Dualit Lite notched up 58.3dB, the second loudest score. Noisiness aside, it did perform well in our tests, including heat retention. There’s no need to rush to pour the water out with this one either. Five minutes after boiling, the water in the Dualit Lite still measured a toasty 93°C, coming second only to the Zwilling Enfinigy Pro. If you don't have an in-home display or smart meter, you can work out how much your kettle costs to use with this equation:Research by Science Direct has compelling findings about our national use of the kettle. "In the UK, more than nine in ten people (90 per cent) use the kettle every day, with 40 per cent doing this five times a day or more." Although the article is extremely scientific, in summary, it found that a smart kettle was more energy-efficient than a standard kettle. If we're thinking collectively about sustainability, by boiling the kettle a little less or switching to an energy-efficient smart kettle, will make an enormous difference to our national energy use. Best Energy Saving Kettle At A Glance:

Aesthetics aside, the Artisan also proved itself in our tests. It took just 2 mins 22 secs to boil 1l of water, which is on par with the rest of the 3,000W models tested. It also excels when it comes to keeping the noise down. During boiling, it only reached a maximum of 52.2dB, making it the quietest kettle on our list. What’s more, once the water’s boiled, there’s no worrying about burning your fingers on the sides. The outside of the Artisan reached an exterior temperature of just 33°C, owing to its dual-walled insulation. Fancy something a little different? The Russell Hobbs Illuminating Glass Kettle stands out thanks to its unique physical design, as well as a few clever design elements. In use, the Illuminating Kettle, as its name would suggest, lights up its body and the water inside with a row of pleasant blue LEDs. The kettle is also capacious at 1.7l, has a one-button pop-up lid and bears a clear green marker on its body, which indicates how much water is needed for a single cup, helping you avoid water and energy waste. If you're concerned about energy efficiency then opt for an electric kettle rather than a stove-top kettle. Power tends to be between 2-3kW; the higher the wattage the faster it will boil. Russell Hobbs introduced the first fully automatic stainless steel kettle in 1955. As the water boils, the steam that's produced feeds through a pipe to the thermostat. The steam causes the piper to flex and cut off the current. This automatic shut-off prevents damaging the heating element and the water totally boiling away.KitchenAid’s Artisan kettle comes in as the most expensive model on our list, but we found it to be worth every penny of its premium price tag. Its sleek, matte finish and general design are beautiful and the range of colours available make it easy to tailor its look to suit your kitchen. To add one caveat, it should be noted that the Zwilling Enfinigy Pro has an 1,850W heating coil, unlike many of the other kettles on our list, which tend to have 3,000W elements. This means it is naturally slower to boil than its rivals. If you tend to get impatient for your morning cup of tea or coffee, the 3 mins 45 secs it takes the Enfinigy Pro to boil a litre of water may prove a tad too long for your liking. One very basic thing to look out for is how a kettle is filled: a button-operated flip-top lid is worth having as it means you don’t need to put your hand anywhere near the spout (or any steam coming out of it) when you’re refilling it. Rounded up, it works out at 2.5 pence a day to use a kettle. What Features Should I Look For In A Kettle? Finally, if you have a little more money to splash out on a smart kettle, you'll benefit from quiet boiling, temperature control, a keep warm function, voice control and app integration.