A high tech kettle you don't need, but you're going to want (review)

This week, I've been playing with a new techy toy, the Wifikettle (RRP £99.95) for Churchill and it's been a lot of fun.

It's a sleek, stainless steel 1.8L kettle with an equally swish base unit, that allows to select from four different temperature options, so that you can make the perfect cuppa, whether you're making green, white or black tea.

Where the techy goodness really starts, though, is on your phone. Download the free Wifikettle app (it works on OS and Android), take a couple of moments to set your connection with the kettle's wifi and you're off.

The home screen presents a large on/off button, which means you can start your kettle boiling from anywhere in the house, and even toggle those temperature options. This means you could be sitting watching a movie and rather than getting up to boil the kettle, wait two minutes, and then make your cuppa before racing back to find you've missed the best bit, you can hit the boil button on your phone, and go and make your cuppa once the kettle beeps and you get a notification on your phone.

The fun doesn't end there. How about being woken up to a freshly boiled kettle? You can! Just fill your kettle before you go to bed, set the alarm in the app. Come morning, your app will beep and offer to boil - I love it. As I work from home some days, I also use it to give me a reminder and a cuppa just before I head out on the school run.

And do you like to enjoy a cuppa as soon as you get in from work? I do, especially in the depths of winter, and the makers have thought of that too. Just use the app to tell your kettle what time you're likely to get in from work/school/other adventures (eg between 5pm and 6pm) and it will sense when your phone reconnects to the wifi and automatically offer to boil. Now that is a lovely welcome home.

Other features include a brew timer, which means you can have your phone remind you when your teabag has been in for the optimal time. Handy if you're the type to pop the bag in and then wander off, only to find a cold, stewed cuppa half an hour later.

The kettle also has boil-dry protection - an important safety feature. The only real downside is that although it does sometimes remind you to refill after a cuppa, it doesn't automatically tell you when the kettle is almost empty, so if you're a little forgetful like me, you might hit boil, only to find you haven't got enough water for a decent cuppa.

Still, that's a small point for improvement compared to the overall fun of the device and I've been using it every day since it arrived.

Verdict? You don't need this device, but once you've tried it, you'll want to keep it. 4 out of 5 stars.

This is a commissioned review for Churchill Insurance. Lead image via Smarter.