Why don't Americans use electric kettles?

Technology Connections did an excellent video on this: ▶ this video tl;dw -- kettles in the U.S. only take about 4+ minutes to boil a liter of water. So when you say "now" you really mean it.

I don’t know is toaster are close to max power draw, but kettles certainly are. Most places with 240V regularly have 16A sockets, allowing a maximum draw of 3840W of power. That’s the limit. Cheap fast kettles will often draw 3000W and boil 250ml of water at room tempature in 30s. Kettles in the US are often limited to 15A and thus max 1800W (usually 1500W) and take twice as long (60s) Technology Connections has a great video on this: ▶ this video

Technology connections has a good video on boiling water. If you have a good way to dump energy into the water, it will boil fast. ▶ this video

A better way to save energy is to use an electric kettle to get the water up to boiling. This is about three times as energy-efficient as a gas hob. Combined with passive cooking it could save real money… Technology Connections on YouTube has a good video about how electric kettles are the superior way to boil water: ▶ this video

Relatedly I found this video on electric kettles vs gas stove efficiency for heating water pretty illuminating too: ▶ this video The summary is that a cheap electric kettle can boil water way faster and with far less wasted energy than a stove top kettle.

A 2022 Technology Connections video explores various ways to boil water: ▶ this video And a 2020 video about different voltages in the US electrical systems: link

Technology Connections has a youtube video titled "Why don't Americans use electric kettles?" in which he compares a few methods for bringing the same amount of water to a boil. The electric kettle was faster than a kettle on gas and electric stovetops. ▶ this video

Yes. North American dishwashers don’t heat the water during the prewash cycle because the duration in time is too short and the 120V electrical service can’t supply enough power to heat the water quickly during that time. European dishwashers use 240V (like everything else in the house) and so they can heat water much more quickly. This electrical difference is also reflected in the fact that electric kettles (for boiling water) aren’t nearly as popular in North America as they are in Europe. Technology Connections also did a video on this topic [1]. [1] ▶ this video

Obligatory TechnologyConnections reference - ▶ this video TLDR: in US it takes 2 minutes more :). Is that difference that noticeable IRL?

My understanding is that this choice is a balancing act between having good efficiency for long distances transmissions (230v) and having a lower peak load in the grid (110v) for desely populated areas. But I'm no expert in this matter. Where I live (Brazil) is commom to have both. In the big cities you will find 110v and outside that you are more likely to find 220v. And yes, it is a pain if you move from a 220v city to a 110v one. But besides that most people don't care about having 2 standards. For anyone interested there is a semi-relevant TechnologyConnections video[0] where he discusses the popularity of kettles as way to heat water in the US. [0] - ▶ this video

Instant Pot sold a model called the Max which went up to the full pressure of stovetop pressure cookers. It didn’t sell. The problem is that it took so much longer to reach the highest pressure. The main limitation? North American household 110V 15-amp circuits max out at 1650W (and typical appliances max out around 1350W to leave margin). If we had European 240V circuits we could have an Instant Pot designed for well over 2000W and it wouldn’t be an issue. The same story goes for electric kettles. Alec of Technology Connections [1] went into extensive detail about it! [1] ▶ this video

>I guess you need a beefier cable/pins in the US, as you're drawing more current at a lower voltage. No, we just accept slow-as-piss kettles.[1] (Our plugs aren't great, either, it's pretty common for a spark to jump the gap of the leads while you're plugging it in.) High wattage appliances here have an effective max of like 1.8kW on a single-phase 120V outlet, it makes for pretty useless space heaters and kettles. You could probably beat our kettles with an induction cooktop just by virtue of the stove being able to use two phases. Truly it's a tragedy for those of us addicted to our hot beverages. [1]: ▶ this video