Unknowingly Poisoning Myself – Finding the Best Plastic Free Stainless Steel Electric Kettle

reviews on plastic free electric kettlesThe dangers of plastic, BPA and certain cookware has been known for quite a while now. Plastic especially causes your body to absorb substances that mimic estrogen for your body which is bad for both guys and girls since it unbalances the natural ratio with other hormones like progesterone/Testosterone. BPA and other substances in plastic might explain partially why sperm count for males on average dropped 30% or so from 20 years ago. Wi-fi/cellphones are probably also to blame, and many other things.

From making sure all my pans (skillets) were in stainless steel (or ideally ceramic) to only using glass containers to store leftover foods or my homemade ice cream I thought I had removed all poisonous stuff in my house… But I forgot the most important one! My PLASTIC electric kettle. What an idiot, not only does the inside look rusty but this thing in plastic is being in contact with HOT WATER constantly. The only thing that could be worse I think would be if I put some fat or acid in there which would make it leech even more harmful components…

Here are my finalists when I was doing a personal review of the best plastic free electric kettle. My contenders pretty much ended up all being a stainless steel kettle because in terms of electric kettles it’s the only ones I felt like I could trust. Some other models use glass but can have parts of plastic or what not apparently. I was trying to get a kettle that I can pretty much remove all contact of plastic and water. As a bonus, most plastic free electric kettles have the heating element separated from the water it boils, this probably will help avoid rust in the long term and make it easier to clean.

 So what are the requirements for the winner?

no more plastic on an electric kettle!– Must have little to no plastic being in contact with the boiling water.

– Electric kettle, I don’t want to waste my stove’s electric inefficiency to heat up the water and electric kettle’s are faster to boil water.

– No contact with the heating element.

– Ideally no large “minimum” water requirement. It’s a waste of time & electricity.

So first off, the initial contender:

The Hamilton Beach 10-Cup Stainless Steel Electric Kettle

Hamilton Beach 10-Cup Stainless Steel Electric KettleI was heavily considering the Hamilton Beach 10-Cup Stainless Steel Electric Kettle since it was mentioned in the 4 hour chef by Tim Ferris as a non plastic kettle but…

– it actually contains a bit of plastic inside (Due to the viewing window for water levels)

Not THAT big of a deal but I already went to the trouble to go plastic free (certainly a lot less than the kettles I’ve been using 2-3 times a day for the past two years! But… might as well go 100%). And personally I don’t care to see the water levels, I can determine it by eye depending if I make coffee (1 mug) or tea (2-3).

So after looking at other brands and models and reviews on amazon I went with the:

The Hamilton Beach 40898 Cool-Touch Cordless 8 Cup Electric Kettle.

Hamilton Beach Cool-Touch 8-Cup Cordless Electric KettleThis one has no plastic contact and only the tip has some plastic which you can remove to prevent ANY contact. The “cool touch” feature is basically because it contains two “rows” of stainless steel inside to make it a bit less hot in case you end up touching it. A nice touch but it does make it bigger than other electric kettles that can heat up the same volume. Not really an inconvenience for me.

Since it contains no plastic on the side, it’s hard to monitor the water level but that’s a non issue for me since I “know” the water volumes I want. It’s currently ~$40 on amazon.

Summary of benefits:

– No plastic contact is as close to 100% possible as you will find in any model, seriously it seems every kettle out there is either made in China and/or has some plastic in direct contact with boiling water.

– Cordless design, 360-degree power base, on/off switch & automatic shutoff.

Cons:

– Cannot see the water level.

– No water “thermometer” for different drinks, coffee for example is good at 90 Celsius but white tea should be at 70, green at 80 or so to not burn it.

So both of these models look great. The the Hamilton Beach 10-Cup Stainless Steel Electric Kettle is good if you want to view water levels in exchange for a bit of contact with plastic and if you have no need for that, the Hamilton Beach 40898 Cool-Touch Cordless 8 Cup Electric Kettle will be perfect. I’ve been using it for two weeks and I’m very happy to have changed my kettle since I’m a fanatic against estrogen simulating toxins in my body (works against your sex drive, muscle building ability & fertility… and who knows what else if that’s not enough of a deterrent for you). I’ll make a post on other ideal household items to use in the future, especially which skillets are best to use as that is the other one that is the most problematic when handling acidic foods & heat. Also try to avoid food in cans, especially tomatoes.. Buy them in glass jars :).

Ovente BPA free electric kettle2016 UPDATE: I have noticed that the Hamilton Beach cool touch is starting to be sold at a higher price. I was looking if there are better alternatives for my next kettle and it looks like this Ovente KS88S 1.7 Liter is marked as “BPA Free” and only $30. However it does have a plastic water meter (I would honestly rather have as little plastic as possible) but it might be a good alternative if you are mainly concerned by BPA.

 

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15 Comments

  1. Thank you for this post. You saved me a lot of time looking for an electric kettle where there is no contact with plastic. It’s amazing that with all the BPA scares and how plastics have been reported to leech chemicals under heat, that manufacturers still produce products with plastic inside them.

    1. Thanks! It took me quite a few hours over 2 days to find it. I feel so stupid after avoiding BPA for the past year that I did not even realize that my own kettle which I use for tea, coffee, hot chocolate etc was probably my #1 enemy at that point. I also have to admit this kettle really just looks amazing in a kitchen compared to the cheap plastic kettles everyone has to save $10-20…

  2. Thankyou, this info is what I (and I’m sure many others) are searching for…..

    Question….is the inside of the lid plastic? I read an amazon review (assuming it is exactly the same one you are talking about) citing that this is the case.

    Thanks again!

    1. I believe it might, I think I removed it because I do not see it, it has been over a year now. Either way I was never able to find one with less plastic anyway (which means 0) and if you find one please let me know. Realistically I don’t think that even if I had the plastic lid it would be that important (though I would rather have 0 plastic) because only a bit of the water will be in contact with it.

      1. The plastic lid is on the inside so it does come into contact with the boiling water because the steam which is the hottest accumulates at the top and drips back into the water.

  3. I guess I am not the only one who over looked the Kettle. Seriously purged all plastic out of our kitchen and yet some how missed the plastic kettle we’ve had for 12 years. I feel horrid just thinking about the times I’ve used it to make instand oatmeal for my kids. Ugh. Thanks for the reviews.

    1. haha I feel better knowing it was not just me, I can’t believe how I forgot it for so long as well …

  4. Thanks for sharing! I am still using my cool touch but will look into those next time I buy one :).

  5. I bought this kettle too, but the lid is plastic, and obviously the steam hits the top and drips back into the water. In my case the automatic shutoff didn’t work either (yes, I know the lid must be in position for the shutoff to work, and it is).

    1. Sorry to hear that, maybe you can return it ? I look every now and then for a better (“perfect”) alternative but I haven’t found one yet, I think this is still one of the best ones available maybe alongside the Ovente KS88S 1.7 Liter that I updated in the article that is marked as BPA Free but it has a bit more plastic… I still like the cool touch better though as I value more no direct water contact with plastic.

  6. I am looking for a stainless steel only stovetop kettle. One which I bought I found has copper in between the stainles layers. I imagine they do this for heat conduction, but is this healthy and is it possible to buy a stainless steel kettle only for the stove top?

  7. One drawback to the plastic window on the kettle that within 5 years is the adhesive breaks down and the kettle begins to leak.

  8. The Hamilton Beach is a huge loser. Look at the pictures on Amazon. While the body is all metal, the lid, which is quite the “contraption” (again see pictures) is mostly plastic. In fact the entire underside of the lid/cover is entirely plastic, and that’s the part that is exposed to rising, boiling hot, steam that condenses back into water. We all know that heat rises, and boiling hot steam is one of the best ways to dissolve plastic. Even the Amazon reviewers will tell you the plastic near the spout HAS DISAPPEARED AKA DETERIORATED. The kettle has a host of other complaints, and one of the worst scores when it comes to electric kettles.

    Never take a blog source with one person investigating. Common sense is overrated. What is required is hardcore reason and logic that IS EXPOSED TO EXTREME fact checking, testing, and large numbers of experiences.

    So here’s my recommendation based off 1800 reviews, a very high score on Amazon, and photos clearly showing ZERO, AND I MEAN ZERO PLASTIC in the body OR THE LID.

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011BE7V8W

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