Swan 1.7l Stainless Steel Dome Kettle Review

The Swan 1.7l Stainless Steel Dome kettle is an affordable, traditionally shaped kettle. Its highly reflective stainless steel body is a magnet for fingerprints and grime, and the lid can be stiff to open. However, at around 0.87kg it’s a lightweight kettle. While basic in its functions, this kettle is relatively quiet and will keep your water warm for a decent amount of time. For a cheap and basic kettle, it’s a decent choice, but there are better, more attractive-looking kettles available you stretch your budget a little more.

Swan 1.7l Stainless Steel Dome kettle – What you need to know

• Boiling performance: At around 3mins 5secs, this kettle takes slightly longer than average to boil one litre of water.
• Keep warm: There’s no keep-warm mode, but the kettle keeps water warm, with you able to make tea up to 20 mins after boiling.
• Usability: The stiff lid takes some getting used to. The water indicator features a good number of markings – but, sadly, these are in cups only.

Related: Best kettles

The Swan 1.7l Stainless Steel Dome kettle attracts smudges, but it’s lightweight

This kettle has a classic dome shape with a fully removable lid. The lid can be a little tough to remove, but you’ll soon get used to it: it’s a simple matter of hooking a finger around the ring on top, then pressing your palm down on the handle and using it for leverage as you pull the ring upwards. Or, you could just fill it through the spout.

With the exception of black plastic accents, most of the kettle is highly reflective stainless steel. While it’s a classic look that will suit many kitchens, it also tends to attract fingerprints and other household greases easily. The kettle is super-lightweight, though, weighing only around 0.87kg.

When it comes to details, the Swan 1.7l Stainless Steel Dome kettle could do better

The Swan 1.7l Stainless Steel Dome kettle’s handle is symmetrical, which gives it a nice appearance. But its location at the centre of the kettle means the centre of gravity shifts behind your wrist as you pour, which is tiring.

Ergonomically, it would make more sense to have the handle towards the back of the kettle, since this would mean the centre of gravity is level with your wrist as you pour. Having said that, this is a lightweight kettle, meaning the strain isn’t too bad.

The water indicator here is legible, with two to six cups marked in one-cup increments. It’s a shame that there are no markings in litres, though.

It’s also slightly confusing whether the MAX amount is six or seven cups: the letters “MAX” are above the line and the six-cup mark, but there’s no MAX line as such.

The Swan 1.7l Stainless Steel Dome kettle is basic but it gets those basics right

When pushed down, the power switch will light up. It took around 3mins 5secs to boil one litre (4 cups on this display) of water – a slightly longer than average result.

Throughout the boiling process, the noise levels remained below 77dB. Among the kettles I’ve tested, this is one of the loudest results.

Ten minutes after boiling, water temperature was at a respectable 87ºC, going down to 78ºC after 20 minutes and to 72ºC after half an hour. A full hour later, the temperature was still at 60ºC. These temperatures were in line with the much pricier Dualit Lite 1.7l Dome kettle I tested. If you want a second cup of tea after an hour, you won’t necessarily have to re-boil the water in the kettle.

Why buy the Swan 1.7l Stainless Steel Dome kettle?

If you’re on a budget, the Swan 1.7l Stainless Steel Dome kettle is one of the cheapest models I’ve tested, plus it gets all the basics right. Spend a little more, though, and you could pick up a more stylish kettle that’s easier to pour.