Hands free, reduces water waste and saves energy all while making the perfect cup of tea

I’m forever boiling the kettle for a cuppa, I’d invite the postie in just for an excuse to make a brew. But with rising energy bills, fuel and the general cost of living, I’m more conscious than ever of waste - be it wasting energy, water, or a precious Yorkshire tea bag. I mean, is there anything worse than forgetting about your tea until it's stone cold?

So, with guests round and making five or six brews, we needed a better solution than the one we already have at home.

The up and down constant cycle of mug under, press the button, switch it out, mug under, press the button. By the time you’d poured the final mug, the first was already going cold. It’s safe to say that I have missed the efficiency of pouring from a kettle.

READ MORE:The free kettle trick I use to cut £25 a month off my energy bills

The Laica Dual Flo kettle offers the best of both worlds, and is said to be the ‘first and only combined kettle and hot water dispenser’ on the market.

Eco-friendly and multifunctional, the hot water dispenser only boils the water you need, but can also boil up to 1.5 litres if you’ve got a house full.

Setting up the kettle was pretty easy. It comes with a base, kettle and drip tray and you can literally just plug in and go. On top of the kettle there is a dial where you can select your mug size, and a button to start or stop a boil.

I decided to test out the hot water dispenser function first, popping out the spout at the touch of a button, placing my mug underneath and hitting the button to boil. After around 45 seconds, the hot water began to pour from the dispenser and filled my cup half way on the smallest cup setting.

I decided to see how much water the large mug setting would fill, so again, set up a brew, twisted the dial and hit ‘go’. This time, my mug was filled the perfect amount, leaving ample space for milk and stirring.

It felt fast and convenient, and much better than waiting more than two minutes for a full kettle to boil every time you want a brew. What really interested me about the dispenser though, was that if you boil one cup of water, the rest of the water in the kettle is still cold - so it really does only boil what it needs without wasting energy.

I really had missed that flexibility though, and the choice to fill and use a kettle when cooking, or filling a flask, making a large round of brews or doing things like making gravy. Because of the Laica’s two-in-one functionality, you can boil the full kettle - just make sure the one cup dispenser is deactivated - and use the full capacity to fill your pots or anything else you might need a larger volume of hot water for.

The design of the kettle itself is fairly compact and stylish, and it certainly looks impressive. While sturdy in itself, it can shake a little when boiling, and is on the noisy side, but not quite as noisy as other brands I have trialled before.

I love that it’s hands free, meaning you don’t have to stand around waiting for the kettle to boil and can race against the clock to complete other kitchen tasks like putting the dishes away or feeding the dog.

I’m really pleased to have the option back to dispense one cup, or a whole kettle of water while still saving energy in comparison to a regular kettle. It’s also a great choice for those who might find lifting a heavy kettle difficult because they can use the dispenser, and is the ideal solution to reducing waste, saving energy and still having the perfect cup of tea at the end of it all.

You can find the Laica Dual Flo kettle on Amazon for £69.

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