Dualit Architect Kettle review

The Dualit Architect Kettle certainly looks the part, with a stainless steel body and a modern design — horizontal spout included. It stands out for its interchangeable panels, which you can replace yourself with just a screwdriver. This gives you a huge selection of color options, including black, grey, red, cream and copper to name a few, but it comes with stainless steel, black or grey panels as standard. If you buy the Dualit Architect Toaster, you can buy panels to match. 

We found this kettle was a little lackluster in performance. It was slow to boil, the exterior temperature grew exceedingly hot and it was average for noise output too. However, its redeeming features include insulation capabilities and the overall ease of use, which is enough to put it at the bottom of our list of the best kettles. As you will find out in our Dualit Architect Kettle review, this kettle is more for show above all.  

Dualit Architect Kettle review: Price and availability

The Dualit Architect Kettle is available to buy from Amazon for $125.99. In the UK, it’s available from Amazon for £79. It’s also available directly from Dualit for £94.99. The majority of the panels can also be found on Dualit for £12.50.

Dualit Architect Kettle review: Design

The Dualit Architect Kettle has a minimum capacity of 250ml and a maximum capacity of 1.5 liters. That means it can boil enough water for one to six cups at once. It’s a good minimum capacity from a sustainable perspective, but there are larger capacities available. For instance, our winning kettle, the Bosch Sky Kettle, can hold up to 1.7 liters. Despite this smaller capacity, looking at it, it doesn’t appear particularly compact, measuring 9.5 x 8.7 x 5.5 inches. It weighs 2.36 pounds when empty and 5.73 pounds when full, which is average compared with the others we tested.

A water gauge can be found under the handle and the lid is a flip-top controlled by a button at the top of the handle. The majority of the exterior is made from stainless steel, with plastic accents around the handle and on the lid. Depending on which model you choose, this plastic can be colored cream, black or grey. The panel wrapped around the lowest part of the kettle can be interchanged with a selection of colors, as can the lid, both of which are branded with the Dualit name. This is a single temperature kettle and the power switch can be found under the handle. When boiling water, there’s no audible alerts, but the water gauge lights up to show it’s heating. 

The handle is rounded and easy to grip, but it could be more comfortable to hold. The width of it would better suit larger hands. It’s worth noting that the handle feels hollow and lighter than the main body of the kettle, which makes it more difficult to balance when filled with water. The base feels quite premium compared to others we’ve seen — it’s coated with stainless steel and the Dualit brand name is etched in. Its cord is a good 28.7 inches long; only two other kettles we tested had a longer length. Plus, there’s cord storage in the base if you want to hide the excess.

Dualit Architect Kettle review: Performance

When put to the test, the Dualit Architect Kettle didn’t exactly shine. It was very slow to boil one liter of water, needing two minutes and 35 seconds — the Bosch Sky Kettle only needed two minutes and four seconds by comparison. The body also grew exceedingly hot in this time, reaching 91.3°C or 196.3°F, which is a serious scalding hazard, although the handle stayed at room temperature.

It was average in terms of noise, emitting 76 dB and used up a lot of electricity compared to the other kettles we tested. It needed 0.125 kWh to boil one liter of water, which was the highest reading we saw of any kettle. When pouring, it’s easy to pour slowly and doesn’t dribble. However, because of the unusual shape of the spout, it’s difficult to tell how it will flow at first and you need to get used to it. 

When boiling at full capacity, it didn’t spit or leak and needed three minutes and 47 seconds to reach temperature. This was the slowest time we saw of all the kettles we tested, despite the smaller max capacity. The body temperature and noise didn’t differ much from the one liter test, measuring 90.2°C or 194.4°F and 77.7dB. This kettle did score well for insulation though, thanks to the thick stainless steel body. We measured the temperature of the water an hour after boiling and it was still 72.3°C or 162.1°F. Only kettles with Keep Warm functions exceeded this temperature as well as the KitchenAid Variable Temperature Kettle. 

Dualit Architect Kettle review: Ease of use and manual

The limescale filter is very easy to remove and refit, although it doesn’t feel very secure, and the lid is easy to open and close, at the flick of a switch. You can’t fill this kettle up through the spout, because of its horizontal design, but you can easily fill it through the lid. The water gauge isn’t easy to read as you fill it though — it’s difficult to tell where the water line is even when directly looking at it. This kettle isn’t the easiest to keep clean, because the stainless steel exterior shows fingerprints, so you need to be prepared to wipe it down often. 

The manual scored full marks, with detailed diagrams, clear instructions along with cleaning and descaling advice. (You should also check out our guide on how to descale a kettle.) There’s adequate safety information, a troubleshooting guide as well as contact details for the manufacturer. There’s little more you could ask for in this respect.  

Dualit Architect Kettle review: Verdict

Ultimately, the Dualit Architect Kettle is by no means the perfect kettle. It’s slow to boil, hot to the touch and uses a lot of energy as well, especially when compared to the Bosch Sky Kettle. Its main redeeming features are its insulation and the quality of the design. Plus, the customization options are a nice touch, which you won’t find on another kettle. 

It’s a pretty kettle to have on display as well. If design means more to you then anything, then this might be the kettle for you.