The SUSTEAS 2.64-quart whistling kettle was Reviewed's Best Overall pick and a large-capacity or value pick at Food & Wine and The Spruce Eats. Testers credit it with boiling a big batch of water about as fast as smaller kettles and with an easy one-hand spout trigger. Serious Eats was the dissenter, reporting thin metal, a hot handle and a faint metallic taste.
Full review
Why It Earns the Budget Spot
Four major testing outlets have put the SUSTEAS 2.64-quart whistling kettle through hands-on testing. Reviewed tested 11 popular kettles and called it the best one it tried, naming it Best Overall and finding no cons. Food & Wine includes it in two separate guides, as Best Large-Capacity Stovetop Kettle in its stovetop roundup and as Best Value Stovetop Tea Kettle in its broader tea kettle guide. The Spruce Eats tested 25 kettles, seven of them stovetop models, and named it Best Large-Capacity. Serious Eats is the outlier. It tested 14 stovetop kettles and left the SUSTEAS out of its picks, citing thin metal, a hot handle and a faint metallic taste in the water. The result is three enthusiastic verdicts from large testing panels and one negative one, which describes problems that a timed boil test won't catch.
What the Boil Tests Showed
Each outlet timed boiling in its own way, but the results point the same direction. Reviewed filled every kettle with 5 cups of cold tap water from the same bin and set each one on the same burner at its highest setting, then timed how long it took to reach a full boil or whistle. It credits the encapsulated base for the fast boil and describes the whistle as clearly audible without being ear-splittingly shrill. Food & Wine measured about 5.5 minutes to a boil, which it calls about average for its group, even though the SUSTEAS holds roughly twice as much as some of the other kettles. The Spruce Eats heated 1 liter of 50-degree water over a medium flame and found the SUSTEAS boiled as fast as much smaller kettles. The practical result is that you can boil enough water for a full pot of tea or several mugs without waiting noticeably longer than you would with a small kettle.
Pouring and the Spout Trigger
The kettle's most-praised design detail is the trigger on the handle. Pressing it lifts the whistle cap off the spout, so you never touch the hot metal cap. Reviewed calls this easy-push spigot mechanism something you'd assume every kettle has but, judging from the other models it tested, many don't. Its pour test used teacups, coffee mugs, travel mugs and a Chemex-style filter, and it found the kettle well balanced, pouring steadily into cups and mugs of all sizes without spurting or splashing. The Spruce Eats lists the heatproof handle and the spout-cover latch as its first reason to like the kettle. Food & Wine's stovetop guide says the lever makes the pour seamless. Its broader tea kettle guide adds a caveat: the kettle was sometimes unwieldy to pour from when full. That fits Food & Wine's own measurements of 32.5 ounces empty and 144 ounces full. A kettle that weighs about 9 pounds when full takes a firm grip, however well the spout behaves.
Capacity, Build and Cooktop Fit
SUSTEAS lists the capacity as 2.64 quarts usable and 3 quarts to the brim. Food & Wine's spec line gives 3.2 quarts, so the figure depends on how high you fill it. The body and lid are 304 stainless steel. The current listing describes a 5-layer encapsulated base of stainless steel, aluminum and iron, while Reviewed's write-up mentions three layers. The construction may have changed between versions; either way, the base is layered rather than single-ply. Officially the kettle works on induction, gas, electric, halogen and radiant cooktops, and Food & Wine confirms that its wide body covers a whole burner for efficient heating. The finish is matte, in colors from black and red to silver and navy, with a copper-tone nameplate. Food & Wine found that the exterior coating beads water, which made drying easy. The lid lifts off without fuss, though Food & Wine also called the opening tight. The manufacturer lists the opening at 4 inches across, which is room for a sponge but not for a large hand.
Heat Retention and Handle Heat
Testers disagree about heat retention. Food & Wine says the top of the kettle stayed hot for at least 10 minutes and calls retention quite good. The Spruce Eats checked water temperature at 10 and 30 minutes and lists 'doesn't hold temperature well' as a drawback. The two outlets measured different things, the metal surface in one case and the water in the other, so both findings can be true. If you want water that stays hot for a second cup, don't count on this kettle to keep it hot. Handle heat is the more consistent complaint. Food & Wine's tea kettle guide notes that the manufacturer recommends heating it only on low heat, and that on high heat the metal part of the handle heats up and the insulated grip gets warm too. SUSTEAS includes a silicone mitt for this reason, and its current listing recommends medium-low heat on gas. Serious Eats found that the partly metal handle got hot on the stovetop.
Where It Falls Short
Serious Eats' review is the sharpest criticism of the kettle, and the problems it describes are the kind a timed boil test won't catch. Its tester found the kettle made of thin metal that gave off an odd screeching noise as it heated, as though the metal were under stress. The water also had a faint metallic taste that persisted after multiple uses and washes. Serious Eats ran a specific taste test, cooling 8 ounces of boiled water to 130°F in a ceramic mug before tasting it, so this was a deliberate check rather than a passing impression. None of the positive reviews mentions an off taste, but if you drink your water plain, this report matters more than any boil time. Storage is the other recurring problem. The Spruce Eats points out that the handle doesn't fold down, which makes the kettle hard to store in a small kitchen, and Food & Wine calls it bulky to store and maneuver. Both suggest leaving it on the stove.
Who It's Best For
This kettle suits households that boil a lot of water at once, such as several people having tea in the morning, a French press plus a refill, or hot water for cooking, and that want a loud, clear whistle that carries to another room. Testers agree that the large capacity doesn't cost you much time at the stove, and the spout trigger makes pouring a one-hand job. Because it works on induction, it also fits kitchens where many enameled or aluminum kettles won't work. Skip it if you're sensitive to metallic flavors in plain hot water, if you'll mostly boil one mug at a time, or if lifting about 9 pounds of hot water is hard for your hands or wrists. Food & Wine specifically warns readers who struggle with hand, wrist or arm strength. Cooks who run gas burners on high should also expect a warm handle and plan to use the included mitt.
Price and Availability
The kettle is listed at $35.99 both on Amazon and on the SUSTEAS site, against a $39.99 list price, in seven colors. The Amazon listing showed it in stock. That price matches what Reviewed quoted when it named the kettle Best Overall. Food & Wine and The Spruce Eats both show a $40 list price on their retailer links. The warranty has changed since Reviewed's write-up: Reviewed cited a two-year warranty, but SUSTEAS now lists a 1-year limited warranty with 30-day returns on its own store, so plan around one year of coverage. Check the color you want before ordering, because the Amazon listing splits colors into separate product pages.
Strengths
- +Reviewed named it Best Overall after timing 11 kettles boiling 5 cups on the same burner
- +Food & Wine measured a boil in about 5.5 minutes despite holding roughly twice the water of smaller kettles
- +Handle trigger opens the spout cover without touching it, praised by Reviewed, The Spruce Eats and Food & Wine
- +Works on induction, gas, electric, halogen and radiant cooktops
- +Water-beading exterior finish made drying and cleanup easy in Food & Wine's testing
Watch-outs
- −Serious Eats found thin metal that screeched when heating and water with a faint metallic taste
- −The partly metal handle gets hot over high heat; a silicone mitt is included for that reason
- −Bulky to store: the handle doesn't fold, and Food & Wine weighed it at about 9 pounds (144 oz) full
How it compares
The largest and cheapest kettle here, holding more than the Chantal Anniversary or Le Creuset at roughly a third of the Le Creuset's price. Reviews are split: Reviewed named it best overall, while Serious Eats found it thin and noisy, which leaves its score below the other four.
Rating sources
“The Susteas Tea Kettle combines performance and style, making it our pick for the best teapot.”
“This kettle offers fantastic performance and style, making it an excellent choice for everyday tea.”
“Despite its capacious volume, the Susteas brought water to a boil as fast as much smaller kettles.”
“The boiled water from this kettle had a faint metallic taste, even after multiple uses and washes.”
Our 3.6 score is the average of these published ratings. Ratings marked * were derived from the reviewer’s written analysis or video transcript — the publisher didn’t print an explicit numeric score, so we inferred one from their own words. Click through to verify. More about methodology.
