Which? Don't Buy kettles

Our tough tests help us find the best kettle – one you can rely on to make you a quick, limescale-free cuppa. But the same tests also ensure we can alert you to the worst options that do a woeful job.

The worst kettles fail our lab requirements. They take ages to boil, are loud, fiddly to use and have poor limescale filters.

What makes a Don't Buy kettle?

Of the hundreds of kettles we've tested, the cheapest Best Buy costs just £22. The most expensive, which is also a Don't Buy, costs more than £200. Our stringent lab assessments separate the kettles you should avoid from those we recommend as Best Buy kettles.

• Our experts put every kettle through the same set of scientific tests so you can easily compare how quickly they boil and how noisy they are – and whether they have any problems you should know about.
• We give every kettle a Which? test score so you can immediately see which are the best and worst.
• We review everything from cheap, basic kettles to premium models with fancy extra features, so you can find the best kettle for your budget.

We test kettles more thoroughly than everyone else, and because we're completely independent we're not afraid to say when a kettle's not worth buying.

Join Which? to find out the kettles we've named Don't Buys.

How we test kettles

Which? has reviewed kettles from big-name brands such as Breville, De'Longhi, Dualit, Morphy Richards and Russell Hobbs, as well as less expensive own-label kettles from the likes of Argos, Asda and Sainsbury's, to uncover the best kettles – and the worst. 

• We time how long each kettle takes to boil, measure how much noise it makes while it does so, and work out how much energy it wastes by over-boiling.
• Our expert panel assess how easy each kettle is to lift, fill, carry and pour. We also look at the kettle's water gauge, whether it shows finger marks easily, and how easy it is to clean.
• We inspect each kettle's limescale filter to check that it fits properly, then we pass debris through the filter to check how well it does its job.

Best Buy kettles are easy to use, come with excellent limescale filters and boil water for just over two-and-a-half minutes.

Which? is independent – we work for you, the consumer, so you can be sure that our product recommendations are influenced only by our test results. We're not influenced by third parties and we don't accept freebies from product manufacturers or retailers. We buy all the products that we test ourselves, so our advice helps you to make the right choice the first time and avoid costly mistakes.

Join Which? and get instant access to our Best Buy and Don't Buy recommendations.