Megan has an MA in Magazine Journalism and has previously written for Stylist, Glamour, TimeOut, SquareMeal, and YOU magazine. It also includes several handy safety features, including an auto shut-off function and a boil-dry sensor.

Browning coverage: How much of the toast has achieved a golden-brown colour, without any significantly pale or dark areas. Kettles with a higher wattage tend to be noisier – we test the noise using a microphone and a decibel metre, so if any are particularly loud or quiet, we can tell you this in our reviews. Most kettles have this clearly visible on the exterior but some are more awkwardly placed, such as behind the handle. It’s equally important to check the water gauge to make sure your kettle hasn’t been overfilled, which could boil over and become a safety hazard. The black Morphy Richards Dimensions toaster has an embossed pattern around the base, so it could have caught your eye among the other toasters on the shelf.

For every millilitre of water you add to your kettle, an extra gram is added to its overall weight, meaning they can get quite heavy.

Some kettles have additional smart features, such as allowing you to set the kettle to boil or check the water temperature from an app on your phone. When she’s not writing about the newest gadgets and gizmos for your home and garden, you’ll find her cooking, running and exploring London’s foodie hotspots – or trying to make friends with every dog she passes. Results for toasters tested before December 2013 and after September 2019 aren’t directly comparable. Often, those with a brushed stainless steel exterior reach hotter temperatures than other materials – not ideal if you have young children in the kitchen. These collect pieces of limescale from the water to prevent them from being poured into your drink, and they stop scum forming on the surface, making them a must for hard water areas.

Some bases also have an additional cable storage feature underneath, for tucking away any excess cord.

This modern Salter kettle stood out for its ease of use – it boasts a removable limescale filter, a swivel base and a boil-dry sensor. It has markers for one, two and three cups on the inside, which are helpful if you want to boil specific amounts. It boils enough for a large cup of tea in under fifty seconds and one litre in just over two minutes. A power element of 3kW is generally considered best for fast boiling and all of our top-scoring kettles have this wattage.The detachable lid made it easy to fill up and empty and the non-slip hand was comfortable to hold, too. The minimum quantity is 280ml, enough for a large cup of tea, and it takes a speedy 45 seconds to boil. It’s also lightweight and if speed is of the essence, it takes less than three-minutes to boil at its full one-and-a-half litre capacity, which makes it one of the quickest kettles we’ve tested. Testers noted how quick it was to boil, taking an average of 58 seconds at minimum capacity and under three-and-a-half minutes at its maximum capacity of 1. These can produce a cup's worth of boiling water in less than a minute and use up to 50% less energy.

Jug kettles are taller, tend to have handles located on the side and will generally hold a larger volume of water. We also look for untoasted tops and stripes and make sure that both faces of the bread are toasted to the same degree. We fill each kettle from the tap and test the pouring precision into a hot water bottle, looking for splashing and spillages.There’s more to a great kettle than just boiling water though, which is why the Good Housekeeping Institute has tried a wide range of models to find the best on the market. It took on average under two minutes to boil a litre of water and a little over a minute to boil half a litre (its minimum capacity).