Vital to Life

Vital To Life

The other day, a friend wrote how she had had a disaster early one morning when her kettle had died. This forced her to leave the house early to get a replacement before her friends arrived, expecting a warming cuppa. It made me think that my kettle is a very vital piece of kitchen equipment.

My dear old gran had an enormous black kettle that had pride of place on her shiny black range. It was always on the boil, all day long, just in case a friend would pop in for a chat. I loved that kettle, it didn’t make any sound other than a satisfying gurgle, I often wonder what happened to it after gran’s days. Mum had a whistling kettle for a while, quite a noise it made, but at least we all knew when the water was boiled. Whoever got there first made the tea. I can’t quite remember when she made the change to an electric kettle, but I do know it was silent.

At the ripe old age of 18, I headed off to teacher training college and the family I used to babysit for bought me a kettle and some mugs as a leaving gift (in those days we had individual rooms and a tiny shared kitchen). Milk was hung outside the window in a carrier bag, along with my eggs, such luxury.

During the time spent on teaching practice, I was up far earlier than normal so would boil my breakfast egg in my kettle, then make my mug of tea whilst getting ready to head to school. I only dropped my egg into the kettle once, I hadn’t realised there was a problem until egg white started frothing out of the spout! What a mess that made and a lesson was learned, as I was nearly late for school.

That brings me on to the enormous kettle/ water boiler we found in every staff room. We would take it in turns to fill these at the start of the day and someone, usually the student (me) would be responsible for switching it on before break times. By now, I had switched from tea to coffee because it seemed more grown up, I was drinking at least eight large mugs of it every day and wondered why I wasn’t sleeping!

In 1975 I got married and yes, you have guessed it, a kettle was a very important item on our gift list. It was shiny and new and boiled quickly and quietly, a perfect start to the day. I no longer boiled eggs in it as I also had a shiny gas cooker and some pots and pans.

Over the years we have had many kettles, different shapes and sizes but it remains the most used piece of equipment in my kitchen. I currently have a rather smart cream one complete with a matching toaster, one of the first purchases for my new kitchen.

Di xx

What is the most vital piece of kitchen equipment you own, and why? Anyway, I am off now to pop the kettle on, tea or coffee anyone?