Slowly but surely, I’m installing robot servants throughout my house. As soon as I spied the Appkettle box in the office, I had downloaded the app before I got my grubby little paws on it. The Appkettle is the world’s first voice enabled kettle and works with Alexa and it connects to your Smart Home devices using IFTTT. You can link the Appkettle preferences with hundreds of smart home products and services. Starting with its general appearance, the Appkettle looks like any other kettle, which is a bit disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s shiny, and looks like an expensive kettle, but I was hoping for something super futuristic looking. The lid of the kettle is plastic AND metal, which means if you need to refill it after boiling, it’s like a game of Operation as to whether you burn yourself. If they swapped in a button that makes the lid pop up automatically it would be safer and make it a one-handed job at the same time.

The base has a control panel for adjustment of the temperature and to switch it on manually, but the most important feature is the app connection, the set up should have been a simple procedure but it failed three times before it connected without any explanation. Once connected to WiFi the app worked well 99% of the time. Every time I opened the app it asked me to install an additional plug-in that it failed to connect to each time. However, once in you can easily switch on the kettle and set the desired temperature (ideal for different types of tea). The App displays how much water is in the kettle, how long it will take to boil, the Baby Bottle mode allows parents to boil water for baby bottles, check the water level, set bottle size and the number of bottles to automatically boil and cool ready for a time to suit you. The Auto-scheduling feature will start water heating before a specific time, ready for when you arrive home or get up in the morning. The Appkettle will also keep the water warm for up to 30 minutes and it even beeps loudly three times when it has finished boiling to remind you its ready. The Appkettle can be controlled by multiple users which works great in both the home and office, it isn’t the fastest kettle it takes 5mins to boil at full capacity which is slower than my cheap old kettle, but it is quiet (my old kettle sounds like a cement mixer full of gravel). As I previously mentioned, the kettle works well on WiFi, but it repeatedly failed to connect on 3G and 4G, so I just gave up with it. I love the features of this kettle but the connectivity needs to be more reliable for the Appkettle to fit seamlessly into your lifestyle. RRP £129.99

4 out of 5

Buy now

Pros

Works well on WiFi

Baby bottle mode

Set up daily schedules

Quiet

Easy pour spout

See how full the kettle is from the app

Keeps warm for 30 minutes after boil

Temperature adjustment

Cons

Took time to set up

Button tones and boil beep can’t be switched off

Metal on lid is very hot when kettle is boiled

3G and 4G connectivity poor

Keeps asking to install a plug in