Why don't Americans use electric kettles?

Why HN readers recommended it

HN cites it constantly in threads on voltage, gas stoves and boiling water as the definitive measured comparison, with the kettle coming out fastest and most efficient.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel

Technology Connections

Topic

electric kettles and household power

Format

explainer

Level

general

HN recommenders in dataset

5

HN mentions in dataset

17

Recommendation years in dataset

2022–2025

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

• Technology Connections did an excellent video on this: [VIDEO] tl;dw -- kettles in the U.S. only take about 4+ minutes to boil a liter of water. So when you say "now" you really mean it.

• Relatedly I found this video on electric kettles vs gas stove efficiency for heating water pretty illuminating too: [VIDEO] The summary is that a cheap electric kettle can boil water way faster and with far less wasted energy than a stove top kettle.

• A better way to save energy is to use an electric kettle to get the water up to boiling. This is about three times as energy-efficient as a gas hob. Combined with passive cooking it could save real money… Technology Connections on YouTube has a …