passatdoc
Well-known member
As promised, Bodum Customer Service sent me a free replacement kettle after they received the defective unit from me. In order to have a tracking receipt for the returned item, I sent it USPS Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation for about $13.50. I suppose I could have sent it via UPS (with tracking) for somewhat less; the parcel weighed about three pounds.
The replacement is off-white, which is less glaringly light white than the original. The heating element is hidden, there is just a gleaming stainless steel plate at the bottom. They appear to have made the base slightly larger, and the unit slightly less tall, to maximize heating plate contact with the water. The original Ibis was tall and thin (great space saver with its elliptical base), but base size didn't matter with immersed coils. I can't compare the old base size to the new one, because I had to send the old unit in to Bodum and never took measurements, but it appears to be maybe 1/2" larger along both axes. Nevertheless, it still fits on the plastic tray I use to house the kettle and a Braun burr coffee grinder.
I boiled a full pot of water in it twice to clean it out, but neglected to note the time needed to bring a full kettle to boiling. Later last evening, I made a small pot of tea and water for hot chocolate using small amounts of water. The kettle needed only a few minutes for this task: by the time I'd opened a tea bag and had it set up in the teapot, the water was ready.
The old unit had a solid blue control switch, with a small red light above the handle that glowed when power was flowing. The new unit has a translucent (LED-ish) plastic button that glows LED-blue when the power is flowing.
The trouble-prone electrical connector, previously situated at one end of the base, is now a round connector in the middle of the base, like most contemporary kettles. However, because the space-saving elliptical shape was retained, you still have to align the ellipse of the kettle with the ellipse of the base, facing either end of the base. The base "saves" space because you can orient it perpendicular to the counter in a tight horizontal space, or if the counter is shallow, you can orient it parallel to the counter (taking up more width) if you need to conserve counter depth. A typical kettle with a round base lacks these options; our T-Fal Vitesses at the office is fat and round at the bottom, and takes up a lot of space in a crowded office kitchen. We formerly had an Ibis that broke after five years, but we liked its space saving design.
There is no longer a scale filter, my guess being that the steel plate remains clean and free of scale. I haven't read that far into the manual.
Will post photos of it tonight. Although my new unit was a free replacement from the company, I think it is decent value for $50 MSRP. I believe Amazon sells it for $40 (but beware---some retailers are still selling the old style unit).
The replacement is off-white, which is less glaringly light white than the original. The heating element is hidden, there is just a gleaming stainless steel plate at the bottom. They appear to have made the base slightly larger, and the unit slightly less tall, to maximize heating plate contact with the water. The original Ibis was tall and thin (great space saver with its elliptical base), but base size didn't matter with immersed coils. I can't compare the old base size to the new one, because I had to send the old unit in to Bodum and never took measurements, but it appears to be maybe 1/2" larger along both axes. Nevertheless, it still fits on the plastic tray I use to house the kettle and a Braun burr coffee grinder.
I boiled a full pot of water in it twice to clean it out, but neglected to note the time needed to bring a full kettle to boiling. Later last evening, I made a small pot of tea and water for hot chocolate using small amounts of water. The kettle needed only a few minutes for this task: by the time I'd opened a tea bag and had it set up in the teapot, the water was ready.
The old unit had a solid blue control switch, with a small red light above the handle that glowed when power was flowing. The new unit has a translucent (LED-ish) plastic button that glows LED-blue when the power is flowing.
The trouble-prone electrical connector, previously situated at one end of the base, is now a round connector in the middle of the base, like most contemporary kettles. However, because the space-saving elliptical shape was retained, you still have to align the ellipse of the kettle with the ellipse of the base, facing either end of the base. The base "saves" space because you can orient it perpendicular to the counter in a tight horizontal space, or if the counter is shallow, you can orient it parallel to the counter (taking up more width) if you need to conserve counter depth. A typical kettle with a round base lacks these options; our T-Fal Vitesses at the office is fat and round at the bottom, and takes up a lot of space in a crowded office kitchen. We formerly had an Ibis that broke after five years, but we liked its space saving design.
There is no longer a scale filter, my guess being that the steel plate remains clean and free of scale. I haven't read that far into the manual.
Will post photos of it tonight. Although my new unit was a free replacement from the company, I think it is decent value for $50 MSRP. I believe Amazon sells it for $40 (but beware---some retailers are still selling the old style unit).
