Sage’s Smart Kettle BKE820UK review: Is it worth the money?

SMART devices seem to have taken over the world, but are they worth an often hefty price tag?

We gave Sage’s Smart Kettle a go to see if it’s a game changer or an expensive flop.

Sage Smart Kettle

• Sage’s Smart Kettle, £99 from Lakeland – buy here

Pros

• Stylish
• Quick-heating
• Easy to use settings

Cons

• Very expensive
• Could use a backlight
• Poor limescale filter

Sage’s Smart Kettle: Summary

We really enjoyed testing The Smart Kettle: we think it looks great and has a space age type of vibe.

It heats up your water very quickly and you get five temperature settings optimised for your chosen drink including green tea, black tea and coffee. You also get a keep warm setting for your money, which is a neat feature.

However, whether those features are worth almost £100 is up for debate. Although it is branded as a smart kettle, its ‘smart’ features are limited to temperature selection.

In darker rooms it’s difficult to see how much water is inside the kettle without lifting the lid (a back light might have been nice!) and it’s not exactly whisper quiet.

The features are cool, but whether they’re worth £99 is up to you.

Sage’s Smart Kettle: Unboxing

Smart devices usually come with lengthy instructions and never-going-to-use attachments. But this kettle is an exception as the packaging only contains key items: the kettle itself, simple instructions, and Sage’s descaler.

We were pleasantly surprised to see the descaler included in the box, as it would save some cash for anyone needing to do a first deep-clean of the kettle.

Sage’s Smart Kettle: temperature settings

When we first read about five different temperature settings, we thought it might be overkill: our last kettle had only on and off buttons and it pretty much got the job done, or so we thought.

After our morning cup of coffee, we craved some green tea: simply filled up the kettle to minimum water required, pressed the ‘green tea’ and then ‘start’ buttons and let the smart device do its job.

The water heated incredibly fast and we had to admit: our cup of green tea has never tasted better. One of the best parts was that we started enjoying it almost straight away since the water was 80 degrees.

• Sage’s Smart Kettle, £99 from Lakeland – buy here

The different temperature settings aim to give you the perfectly balanced drink: green tea (80 degrees), white tea (85 degrees), oolong tea (90 degrees), coffee (95 degrees) and boil black tea (100 degrees).

There’s also a ‘keep warm’ button to keep the water at a specific temperature for up to 20 minutes.

That feature proved to come in very handy in the mornings when our housemates were making their cups of hot drinks around the same time.

Sage smart kettle: Performance

The Sage smart kettle heats water very quickly and having five settings means it was easy for us to make the perfect brew.

The ergonomic handle was very comfortable, and we loved how sturdy the whole kettle was when sat on the base.

We also liked the soft open lid. It’s designed to protect you from splashing water, and it’s a great feature since our last kettle – a simple plastic device under £10 – has burnt us a few times when the lid got stuck.

Other reviewers have criticized a poor limescale filter that didn’t perform well after weeks of testing, but it’s not an issue we encountered during our time with the kettle.

Sage’s Smart Kettle: maintenance and cleaning

Sage’s Smart Kettle features a wide lid: meaning it’s pretty easy to get inside for cleaning.

• Sage’s Smart Kettle, £99 from Lakeland – buy here

The kettle came with the descaler although during our testing period we didn’t need to do any deep cleaning.

It was generally very easy to wipe clean around the outside due to its metallic design, and it didn’t require a lot of effort to keep it polished.

You can also easily remove the filter and wash it to keep your kettle neat inside.

Sage’s Smart Kettle: verdict

Sage’s Smart Kettle is priced at £99 at Lakeland.

It’s expensive and there are plenty of cheaper options out there, but there’s not many that will let you tailor your temperature specifically.

It’s a very handy device if you like drinking different kinds of teas and want to enjoy them properly.

• Sage’s Smart Kettle, £99 from Lakeland – buy here

We also recently tested out Nectar’s Mattress, and you can find out about our experience here.

Planning to buy an air fryer multi cooker? Check out our review of the Ninja Foodi Mini 6-in-1 Multi-Cooker.

Sun Selects is full of product recommendations and reviews.

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