Cuisinart Signature Collection Multi-temp Kettle Review
A skilled kettle
Verdict
The Cuisinart Signature Collection Multi-temp Kettle is a classy mix of chrome and brushed steel. It provides useful temperature controls without the extra clunkiness of an enlarged base – Cuisinart has even crammed a temperature display onto the handle. It’s quick to boil and reasonably efficient, but it could be a little more ergonomic.
Pros
- Boils quite quickly and efficiently
- Variable temperature from 85-100°C
- Slimline base
Cons
- Handle ergonomics could be better
- No keep warm function
Availability
- UKRRP: £95
- USAunavailable
- Europeunavailable
- Canadaunavailable
- Australiaunavailable
Key Features
- Multiple temperaturesHeat to between 85 and 100°C, in 5°C steps
- CapacityThis kettle has a capacity of 1.7-litres.
Introduction
Cuisinart’s Multi-temp Kettle is available in several finishes, including this stainless steel Signature Collection version. It’s a 1.7-litre cordless jug kettle, with an integrated limescale filter and boil-dry protection.
More interestingly, it also offers a range of temperatures, illumination for the water gauge, and a backlit temperature display.
Design and Features
- Good looks
- Crowded handle
- Slimline base
Many multi-temperature kettles come with a large base, often crowded with buttons. The Cuisinart Signature Collection Multi-temp Kettle has all its controls in the handle, leaving it with a standard, chrome-trimmed base. From most angles, it’s an excellent design, looking expensive and classy. Look straight at the handle, however, and it’s a bit less successful – there’s a mishmash of buttons that don’t seem to hang together especially well.
Despite appearances, this kettle is easy to operate. Fill it to at least the 500ml minimum, replace it on the stand and the display shows you the water temperature to the nearest 5°C – although at this stage it isn’t backlit, so it can be hard to read. If you simply want to boil it, press the power button and the kettle will default to 100°C and begin heating. The screen and water gauge both light up in a matching blue, and you’ll get a few loud beeps when it’s finished.
If you’re making specialty teas or coffee, hit the 85°C button and if necessary press the + button to step up in 5°C jumps. Once you’ve selected your temperature, simply press power and wait.
It’s a simple enough system, but with a lowest temperature of 85°C it is a little limited. If you want something cooler – say, 40°Cfor making a baby’s bottle – you’ll need to watch the displayed temperature tick up, then interrupt the boil. There’s no keep warm feature, either, although these aren’t great for reducing energy consumption anyway.
While I quickly got used to its controls, this kettle’s biggest problem is that placing them in the handle means that the lid open button isn’t easily thumbable. Pick up the kettle and your thumb naturally falls about where the display is. This sounds trivial, but most users will quickly discover just how used they previously were to thumbing open the kettle with one hand while turning on the tap with the other. That’s just not possible here.
Otherwise, it’s hard to fault how the Multi-temp Kettle looks or feels to operate. It pours neatly, even if you tip it up far too much, although it can begin to spatter if you’re still tipping too much by the final cup or so.
Performance
- Powerful element means fast boiling
- Reasonable energy use
- Keeps water warm
The Cuisinart Multi-temp Kettle is rated at 3kWh, although in use I measured it at 2.9kW. As you’d expect, it doesn’t hang about. It boiled 500ml of water from room temperature in a 1m 17s, and needed 3m 13s to boil 1.5 litres. Both are about what I’d expect for such a powerful kettle – you’ll be hard pressed to find one much quicker.
Despite this, the Multi-temp Kettle isn’t overly power hungry. Like all kettles, it used a large amount of energy when boiling, but the comparatively short boil times meant it consumed 0.06 kilowatt hours (kWh) for the 500ml boil, and 0.16kWh for the full load. At today’s 34p per kWh cap, that’s about 10p a day if you boil it five times with the minimum fill. I couldn’t measure any standby power use with my power meter, which goes down to 0.1W.
In today’s energy-aware times, it’s useful to know how long kettles keep their heat. The warmer any residual water is after, say, 60 minutes, the less work the kettle will need to do to reboil it. In the Cuisinart Multi-temp Kettle, 500ml of boiled water dropped to 52°C after an hour. The 1.5 litre boil was still at 72.1°C after the same period. While neither of these are as high as you might get from a double-walled kettle, they’re still quite impressive, and could offer you a small saving over a kettle that insulates less well.
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Should you buy it?
This is a great kettle in most respects, combining sleek looks with multi-temperature versatility
If you want lower temperatures, or can’t be bothered with extra controls, look elsewhere
Final Thoughts
This is a good looking kettle that performs near-faultlessly. While it doesn’t offer the widest range of temperatures, its handy display means you can manually stop it whenever you want. I also loved having a multi-temperature function without the bulky base, but it’s a shame this has made the handle quite cluttered. Even so, the Cuisinart Multi-temp kettle’s only real flaw is the positioning of its lid button. Overall, it’s a better looking alternative to the Ninja Perfect Temperature Kettle, but it’s not as flexible or easy to use.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every kettle we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main kettle for the review period
We measure the temperature of the water for different settings, and see how well insulated each kettle is by measuring 1-litre of boiled water after 20 minutes.
We boil one litre of water to see how fast the kettle is.
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FAQs
It can, but not automatically. Fill it with tap water (usually around 20°C) and start a boil, and you’ll see the temperature gauge tick up in 5°C increments. You can manually stop the kettle when it gets to the temperature you want.
No. You can just click the power button and it will boil to 100°C like any other kettle.
It largely depends on what you drink. Black tea should always be brewed with boiling water, but at 100°C the flavour of instant and filter coffees will be spoiled – ideally you want 90-95°C for filter coffee.
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Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
