Aigostar Electric Kettle 300104LCB In-depth Review
Overall Verdict
The Aigostar Electric Kettle 300104LCB is a good product all things considered but it’s really dragged down by its slow boiling time—the most important aspect of an electric kettle.
The kettle has a low price tag as well as low energy consumption, so you can save money in the long run. Even better when it doesn’t cut any corners with its design features.
The kettle is easy to use and is very quiet when boiling. However, its awkward button placement can be a recurring inconvenience.
Things We Like
- Low price tag
- Low energy consumption
- Quiet boiling phase
- Light weight
- Easy to use
Things We Don’t Like
- Slow boiling time
- Inconvenient button placement
We bought the Aigostar Electric Kettle 300104LCB on Amazon for $21,95 (at the time of writing), which is a very low price. Our first impression of it was a standard design and slow boiling time. Hopefully the full test will reveal some saving grace for the kettle.
This product comes in black and white and there’s another model with a stainless steel lid interior and exterior.
6.9 Performance
The Aigostar Electric Glass Kettle had very good scores in our Energy Consumption and Noise Level tests. However, that wasn’t enough when it had such a low Boiling Time score.
5.3 Boiling Time
For the common electric kettles (not goosenecks) like the Aigostar, we evaluate the time they take to boil 1.5 liters of water—a middle ground of their capacity. This kettle took 9 minutes and 43 seconds to bring 1.5 liters of room-temperature water (80°F/26.7°C) to boiling point (212°F/100°C).
This result was one of the slowest in our line-up and earned only a score of 5.3/10. Considering the kettle’s 1100 W of power, this was still a disappointing result.
8.2 Energy Consumption
We used a power meter to measure the Aigostar’s total energy consumption to bring 1.5 liters of room-temperature water to a rolling boil. The result was 149 Wh which was quite low and equaled a 7.6/10 according to our data.
9.4 Noise Level
During boiling, the Aigostar’s noise level peaked at 65.1 dB while reaching a rolling simmer, which was significantly lower than the CDC-recommended 80 dB. This result earned the kettle an impressive 9.4/10.
6.5 Keep Warm
The glass carafe of the Aigostar doesn’t have the best property for heat retention. The kettle also doesn’t have the Keep Warm feature. As a result, after 5 minutes, the temperature dropped from 212°F / 100°C to jumping between 202°F / 95°C and 201°F / 94.5°C. We chose the lower number for scoring, which equated to a 6.5/10 on our chart.
7.4 Design
The Aigostar Electric Glass Kettle is quite standard in its design. It having all the desirable features like a mesh filter, water-level markings, and an LED ring was more than enough.
In the Box
- One cordless kettle
- One corded power base
- One user manual
- Warranty: 1 year
The Aigostar Electric Glass Kettle arrived between two cardboard pads—one for the top and bottom——and wrapped around by a soft foam pad. The instruction manual reads safety instructions, things to do before first use, how to care and descale, and a 1-year warranty.
Dimensions
7.0 Carafe
The carafe is made of glass and has a capacity of 1.7 L (57.48 fl. oz), or 7 cups of water (+2). It has a wide lid opening, 4.06 inches in diameter, allowing you to comfortably pour in water from your tap or any container (+1). There are clear water level markings in the middle of the carafe (+1).
The Aigostar has quite a unique V-shaped spout that is shaped out of the glass carafe itself. As a result, the limescale filter can’t be attached to the spout like other kettles, e.g. the Hamilton Beach 40880. Instead, it’s attached to and positioned by the lid and is unremovable (+1).
Similar to many other cordless electric kettles, the Aigostar’s heating element is positioned inside the bottom of the carafe. There’s a ring of blue LED around the bottom which will illuminate when the kettle’s running, making it easy to spot in the dark (+2).
7.0 Handle
The Aigostart’s handle is cool-touch and made of BPA-free plastic (+3). It doesn’t have an ergonomic contour or anti-slip feature, but feels secure and comfortable on the wrist nonetheless (+4). However, the kettle has an awkward design of the lid open button and the power switch being close to one another on the handle.
7.0 Lid
The Aigostar has a hinged lid that pop-ups to a 85° angle with a single push of a button located on the handle (+4). That angle is good enough for the lid to move out of the way to get water in despite the attached limescale filter (+2).
The lid’s exterior and interior are both plastic which means some contact between plastic and hot water is unavoidable. Unlike some other electric kettles we’ve tested, this one doesn’t have a silicone band around the circumference. Regardless, the lid still closes tightly (+1). It’s not cool-touch though, so be careful when the water’s still hot.
9.0 Base
The Aigostar has a standard BPA-free plastic 360° swivel base that’s sturdy and fits the carafe well enough (+5). At the bottom of the base is the cord storage in addition to three small anti-slip rubber pads (+4).
Power Cord
The Aigostar has a 29.53 inch round power cord, which should be plenty enough for household use. It has a three-prong grounded plug which is typically safer than a two-pronged one.
6.5 Usability
The Aigostar Electric Glass Kettle would be improved if its buttons were separated. It’s completely easy to use and clean but the risk of accidentally pushing one button instead of the other is just unnecessary frustration.
6.0 User Control
The Aigostar has a standard one-touch switch with no digital display or temperature control (+1). However, the power switch is awkwardly positioned right below the lid button (-1).
The kettle doesn’t have an indicator light on its body like many others. Thankfully, the carafe still has a blue LED ring to let you know the kettle is running (+2).
Like most other kettles, it has an automatic shutoff feature which activates when the thermal fuse detects that the ambient temperature is 100°C (+2). Keep in mind that this feature will not kick in if you leave the lid open. If you do, however, you still don’t have to worry about overheating because the kettle’s boil-dry protection feature will turn off the kettle when no water is present (+2).
7.0 Ease of Use
The Aigostar’s carafe was very light—only 1.74 lbs (0.75 kg), but was also sturdy enough to be carried around when filled to the max (+2). The nice angle between the arm and the kettle made pouring effortless (+1).
The wide lid opening of 3.54 inches allowed us to comfortably pour in water from the tap or any container (+1). The water level markings in the middle of the carafe are easy to see for precise decanting (+1).
The power base fits firmly below its carafe so there is no wobbling around during boiling (+1). Thanks to the cord’s round shape, it wrapped tightly around for storage leaving only the plug sticking out by 2.56 inches (6.5 cm) (+1).
However, due to being close to the lid button, the singular control switch is more complicated than it should be. On more than one occasion, we accidentally pushed one instead of the other, so it might be a frequent problem (+0). Luckily, the button placement doesn’t make the handle tricky to hold in any way.
The instruction manual reads that newly bought kettles will have a light smell due to mold opening during manufacturing. It also mentions that this smell is normal, not harmful, and will go away after 2 or 3 boils.
This fits our interaction with this Aigostar kettle. And, we still deem this odor an undesirable quality similar to how we assess other kettles.
6.0 Cleaning
Cleaning the Aigostar is very simple and effortless (+2). The lid opening is large enough for an adult hand to fit through and wipe the interior when necessary (+2).
The limescale filter isn’t removable but the lid opens at a wide enough angle for it to not get in the way of anything (+2). To remove the limescale, we simply boil a mixture of vinegar and water and rinse the kettle afterward.