Morphy Richards Hive Kettle review

Above all, the Morphy Richards Hive Kettle boasts simplicity and value for money. Made of plastic, this single-temperature kettle can hold up to  1.5 litres. The exterior features a hexagonal pattern, giving it a textured appearance, and it’s available in black, white, grey and cream colourways.

When put to the test, we found it was average in terms of speed to boil and external temperature, but it was fairly noisy and needed quite a bit of energy. Considering the cheap price point, some potential buyers would be happy to trade-off this so-so performance. As you will read in our Morphy Richards Hive Kettle review, it’s one of the best kettles for what it has to offer.       

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Morphy Richards Hive Kettle review: Price and availability

The Morphy Richards Hive Kettle is available to buy from Amazon from £19.99. It’s also available directly from Morphy Richards for £27.99. You can get it in four colourways, including black, white, grey and cream, but it's currently not available to buy in the U.S.

Morphy Richards Hive Kettle review: Design

The Morphy Richards Hive Kettle has a minimum capacity of 500ml, which isn’t ideal if you want to boil only enough water for one cup of tea. The maximum capacity of 1.5 litres isn’t as large as some of the other kettles we tested either, so the capacity range is limited. 

A water gauge can be found under the handle with the increments marked in raised plastic. The lid lifts out and seals back into place, rather than clicks, thanks to a rubber rim. The casing is made entirely of plastic, while the handle features a chrome finish.

It’s a fairly compact kettle, measuring 20.3 x 15.8 x 23.7cm, and weighs just 699 grams when empty and 2,180 grams when full. This makes it the lightest kettle we’ve tested. The handle is rounded with no sharp edges, but it is fairly bulky and would better suit large hands.

When this kettle is powered on and starts to boil, there’s no audible noise, but the switch lights up which is quite obvious to see. There’s a decent cord length of 71cm and you can store any excess cord in the base. The base itself feels quite basic and lightweight.

Morphy Richards Hive Kettle review: Performance

When put to the test, we found the Morphy Richards Hive Kettle was fairly slow to boil, needing two minutes and 16 seconds to boil one litre of water. The exterior of the kettle grew quite hot in the process, reaching 70°C, although this wasn’t as hot as some of the stainless-steel kettles we had on test. 

The Morphy Richards Hive Kettle was quite noisy as it boiled, reaching 77.5 dB — only two kettles were noisier. It used up more energy than the average kettle as well, needing 0.116 kWh to boil one litre.

As you pour water from this kettle, it’s very easy to control and doesn’t dribble back down itself. However, it’s worth noting that if you pour quickly, the kettle can leak from the lid.

It didn’t leak or spit when boiling water at full capacity, and needed three minutes and nine seconds to reach boiling temperature. This was an average speed considering its smaller maximum capacity.

The external temperature and noise readings were similar to the one-litre test, at 66.6°C and 78.6 dB respectively. To test the insulation, we measured the temperature of the water an hour after boiling, and it still read 66.6°C, which isn’t bad considering the kettle is made from plastic.

Morphy Richards Hive Kettle review: Ease of use and manual

The limescale filter is easy to remove, but a pain to fit back into place. Because of the shape of the handle on the lid, it’s difficult to grip the handle — you have to tuck your fingers under it in a claw motion, and it takes a good amount of force to pull free compared to the handles on the other kettles we tested. It’s easy to push back into place, though. 

You can’t fill this kettle up through the spout if the water is running quickly, or else it spills out; you need to either fill it slowly through the spout or straight through the lid.

The water level is easy to see via the water gauge, but the increments are difficult to read as they’re transparent. You can only see they’re there because the plastic is raised.

The manual is lacking in detail. There is adequate safety advice and contact details for the brand, but no diagrams or step-by-step guidance. The entire manual is on one piece of paper and could be more extensive.

Morphy Richards Hive Kettle review: Verdict 

Overall, the Morphy Richards Hive Kettle wasn’t a high scorer. It was slow-to-average for speed of boiling, mediocre for external temperature and noisy compared to the rest of the pack. The design is compact and lightweight, though, making this kettle ideal if you’re tight for space or shopping on a budget. 

Compared to our winning kettle, the Bosch Sky Kettle, the Bosch was faster to boil, cooler to touch and more energy efficient. It was slightly noisier, though, and is four times more expensive. Ultimately, if you want a lightweight kettle for a very reasonable price, the Morphy Richards Hive Kettle is the one to get.