Any electric kettle not made in China needed.

Certainly, and not exclusively. The manufacturing of plastic can involve the use of various polymerisation initiators and catalysts - most pretty reactive and harmful chemicals - that are EMBEDDED in the final plastic.

As the water is boiled at 100C the leaching of chemicals from polymer is a lot more significant than at r.t. If you can smell something it means it is volatile and will be transferred to water.

IF you use microwaves, you also must consider what happens with the plastic containers too. In fact microwave emits such high energy that it enables many chemical reactions that are either not feasible or very slow using conventional heating. Just think what it does to food (obliterates the cells and causes all kinds of reactions) and to the plastic. It is best left for chemical labs and synthesis or catalysis research.

I have a microwave but it's very rarely used. Sometimes it feels a bit like technology runs too fast and these things are on the market before we have any real idea of any harmful long term effects.
 
The problem is not the microwave, they've been in use for forty years or more, it's the plastic people put in them. As with the kettle, use glass or other non plastic containers.
 
What about those new clever taps that have boiling water coming out. Are they made in Europe?

Quooker
Seen a few in action.
Impressive (even a US version first seen on a visit to friends in Cleveland in 1995.)
Expensive, but I'd happily have one if I had a grand to spare. :D
 
Quooker
Seen a few in action.
Impressive (even a US version first seen on a visit to friends in Cleveland in 1995.)
Expensive, but I'd happily have one if I had a grand to spare. :D
Wow are they that much!
 
I would love one, but I'm on Calor gas, not natural gas so that would be an expensive cuppa.

would it, really, 5 minutes gas to boil a kettle , assuming you cook and heat the house with it
 
no they're not.

They don't claim the components are manufactured in Germany, only that it is assembled in Germany.

It's quite normal product bumf.

I can't remember all the details now but... there are rules about putting Made In X / Assembled In X on a product and some companies sail very close to the wind and in reality it's made in China, shipped somewhere more... glamorous... where just enough is done to stop the "manufacturer" being prosecuted.

There are things that are just picked from a catalogue and then a name is attached.

I used to work for a group of companies who made things in the UK. It does still happen and IMO should happen more :D
 
Not sure about kettles but I often find that if something is made in Japan then there's a greater chance of it being all Japanese and even if not I'm sure the reliably will be good?

I bought a Dewalt impact driver recently, the powerful one which has 950Nm of sustained torque, after reading that they had moved a lot of their manufacturing back to the USA and have five plants there now or something. Damn thing went bad after two months. Looked a little closer at the unit and on the side on tiny writing the dreaded "Made in PRC".
 
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