Kettles: questions and Band 8 answers

Yes, pretty much every single day. I'm a massive tea drinker, so the first thing I do when I stumble into the kitchen in the morning is boil the kettle for a mug of black tea. I probably use it four or five times a day, to be honest.

We've got a fairly modern stainless-steel electric kettle. It has a rapid-boil function, which is brilliant because I'm usually in a rush before work. It sits on the kitchen worktop right next to our tea caddy.

Definitely an electric one, purely because of convenience. Stove kettles with that classic whistling spout look lovely and nostalgic, but they take far too long to heat up on the hob, whereas an electric one clicks off automatically in under two minutes.

Yes, always. My parents actually had one of those old-fashioned metal kettles that sat on the gas cooker. I still remember the loud, shrill whistle it made whenever the water came to the boil, it would echo through the whole house.

I imagine so, although instant boiling water taps are becoming quite trendy now. Even so, standalone kettles are cheap, portable, and reliable, so I doubt they'll completely disappear anytime soon. Most households will probably stick with them for a good while yet.