Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is, indeed, an awesomely designed kettle, unrivaled by any. A glass kettle is just a brilliant design. But it has a serious design flaw. The heating element is like half a metal ball that protrudes from the bottom of the kettle. In order to place the glass kettle around it and seal it, they use a silicone/rubber washer. This is what causes the foul smell. I cannot believe how people can simply fail to understand that even if the smell goes away, the chemicals emitted in the water do not! And I cannot understand why people are giving manufacturers such an easy time and not look after their own health. Saddest thing, this is the easiest flaw to fix. Instead of a glass bottom, they should have had a stainless steel bottom that could fuse seamlessly with the heating element. The bottom could form a short rim up the sides of the kettle, and the glass could be fitted into this metal base. This would still require some material to seal the glass into the metal, but at least it would not be so exposed to the boiling water. Anyway, they need to rethink this. Back to the store it goes--though it matched oh so well with my awesome Bodum Kona all glass coffee drip maker. What a pity.... The Hamilton Beach 10 cup is my next choice (available through the manufacturer, though not Amazon.