A design classic maybe?

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When sorting out my mother’s things I found this electric kettle, still in its original box, in her wardrobe. I think it was most probably a wedding present (she married my father in 1966) and typically, she stored it carefully away and never used it. Although to be fair the house had an oil-fired range, so an electric kettle wasn’t necessary. It’s a lovely thing, there’s something very pleasing about the aesthetics of its seamless rounded shape and perfect shiny surface. I’m sure it must be a design classic and very much of its time, when the ‘space age’ influenced many aspects of life. But what I haven’t figured out is, how are you supposed to fill it? There’s no lid, so I suppose you just have to pour the water through the spout, but then you can never tell how full it is except by guessing from its weight, or tipping a bit out again. It’s quite heavy anyway though. Maybe you are meant to just fill it to the maximum amount? But then I imagine the boiling water might bubble out. In any case it would only exacerbate the problem of wasting energy by boiling more water than necessary every time you want a cup of tea. And you couldn’t just put a cup-full of water in, because with these older electric kettles the heating element is usually exposed inside and you need to ensure that the element is covered otherwise it will burn out. So how do you do that when you can’t see inside? And what about issues such as descaling the kettle, if you live in a hard water area? You can never see if that’s necessary unless you try peering down the spout with a torch! I suspect it was created by some design student who had never had to make their own tea! All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2022.