Another Teakettle Attempt
It only took a few days of boiling water in a pot or the microwave after our Oxo died for us to decide to try yet another teakettle. This time, it’s the Chantal “LIVESTRONG” Loop teakettle, a Livestrong Foundation version of the regular Chantal Loop teakettle.
It lasted all of two weeks before it stopped making a whistling sound, a day later we managed to boil it dry. It’s not clear that this is a design or manufacturing problem, however, as the whistle can be adjusted on this model. It might have been something minor that I could have adjusted or fixed, but I didn’t look at Chantal’s web site until after the kettle had boiled dry. (Note to self: look at customer support site as soon as there’s a problem, don’t wait for something to completely fail.) The store was kind enough to replace it, and the new teakettle has been working just fine for the past couple of months.
Functionally, it’s a nice teakettle. It’s easy to use one-handed and the handle and trigger for the spout are insulated enough that they are only warm to the touch when the teakettle is full of boiling water. The finish is very nice while the design and construction of the body seem to be well thought out and manufactured. I’m not thrilled with the way the handle is attached to the lid — screws go through a metal lid into a plastic handle. Perhaps there are metal inserts in the handle and these are actually bolts, but taking it apart to see is something that would weaken the handle if it turns out there aren’t any metal inserts. The whistle is a nice multi-tone sound that is both pleasant and loud enough to be heard from upstairs.
I’m happy with it so far, but can’t get over the nagging dread that it’s going to fail in some spectacularly new way.