Review: Chefman Precision Electric Kettle

This does what it’s supposed to do! I love that. I love when you buy something for a purpose and it does it! I’d say even to perfection. Okay, so all it does is boil water, how difficult is that? Well, this has temperature control and that is the key when making a good cup of tea.

The kettle doesn’t take up a lot of space. Also – still love the hanging cups underneath the cabinet. See how I did it HERE! 

What I love:

Easy to use!

Hot water anytime I want it; even if the unit is shut off, from off to boil, is darn near instant. I usually turn it on first thing in the morning and I go about my business. The beep will sound that it’s ready (loud enough, but not obnoxiously loud); warm lemon water, followed by an herbal cup of tea. As I sip away, I’m using the boiled water to heat up dog/cat food; I’ve used it to make instant oatmeal, heating up pasta, I’ve even made coffee!

Easy to clean; add white vinegar and water and set to boil! Doesn’t get any easier than that! Tip to keep my sink drains unclogged… I will pour the boiled white vinegar and water down a drain in the house. I pick a different one than the last. (Another tip; adding baking soda first in the drain then the boiling white vinegar and water helps to keep my drains clear).

If I’ve made tea in the pot and leave the tea sitting for a while, it will leave a stain at the bottom. No a big deal! To remove the stain I will use the white vinegar and water method. Set the pot to boil. I will do this 2-3 times and the stain will lift. If there is any stain left over, I will just use the kettle as is and the stain will eventually be gone after a few uses. I have used the kettle for just boiling water with the stain and it does not affect the taste of the water. I have very hard water, so even using filtered water, in time, there will be bits of hard water deposits. The white vinegar and water method keeps the hard water deposits out of the pot and it will come out totally clean the first time.

Programming is simple and straightforward; One button for the ON/Off and a red light will turn on letting you know the unit is on. The button next to that is the program button; press that. And a blue light will go on, then you have two buttons on the left side of the base that controls the temperature you want to set it at. It’s super easy, if I so say so myself, since I’m not the best with most electronics of any kind!

If you just press the ON/OFF button once it will turn on the kettle and warm up to whatever temp it was on last, then once heated, it will turn off. This unit heats to a maximum of 212 F and can be adjusted down in increments of 5. If you press the ON/OFF button and then the program button, it will heat water to what you had it set at last and stay heated for 60 minutes. That is what I do automatically as I want hot water all day long. I will keep making teas and as the water level goes down, I add to it and turn the unit back on as needed throughout my day. The temperature setting will stay on the last setting unless you unplug the unit for it to reset. I just adjust the time by using the (+ or – ) buttons on the left to control the temp. And another thing; you will notice an ER indicator when removing the kettle. It does NOT mean there is a problem with the unit. It shows up when you remove the kettle from the base. Once you place the kettle back on, the ER indicator goes away.

Holds a good amount of water. 7 cups…1.7 liters. I have filled mine past the max line with no issues. (not saying I would recommend this, I just haven’t had an issue)

Kettle is made for right and left-handed users. Returning it to the base can be done from either side, even from behind the unit base!

Comfortable to hold. The kettle handle is comfortable in large and small hands. (My husband has large hands and I have small hands and we both can hold the kettle easily). The lid release button is substantial; easy to find and press.

Tea infuser; I’m just gonna say, I LOVE this! Adding tea leaves, herbs, dried flowers; this infuser holds them and steeps them beautifully! The water flows into the infuser easily allowing a wonderfully infused pot of tea. Removing the infuser is simple and cleaning it is just as simple; press the button on the handle, remove the infuser, dump the contents into compost bin, and wash tea infuser with soap and water, rinse well and set out to dry.

The display light makes it is easy to see/read; bright enough to read with no other light on at night and bright enough to read in good daylight.

No cord on the kettle. The cord is on the base (obviously), just not on the kettle which makes it super convenient when pouring and taking the kettle to another area such as the breakfast table. The unit will stay on and remember the setting for five minutes after removing the kettle.

Glass kettle; I can easily see what I am brewing or if I need to add more water. It’s also rather soothing watching the bubbles. There’s a soft blue light that adds a nice touch too!

It’s a nice size. Kettle is next to my Ninja coffee maker (which is still going strong! We brew about a pot or two a day. Check out that review here.)

Parts of kettle can be removed and cleaned. The tea infuser, tea infuser mount, spout filter can be removed and cleaned. I don’t need to clean it often as I mainly boil plain water. Once or twice a week I will make tea in the pot using the tea infuser. Most of the time I make tea using the tea infuser inside my cup. I like to drink many types of teas during my day and the tea infuser is awesome. Just find a cup/mug that it can fit into. It eliminates me having to use a tea ball or straining it out with a strainer or something like that. Like I said before, when I am done using the infuser I dump out the contents in my compost and wash and rinse. It takes about 30 seconds.

One complaint:

If I had to pick one, I suppose I wish it would stay on longer. It has a boil-dry protection mode and if there isn’t enough water in the kettle, the unit will turn off automatically. That is a good thing. Though, as I mentioned above, I fill the kettle throughout the day so there’s always a good amount of water.

All in all, I really can’t complain about anything with this unit. I am very glad I bought it and have used it for about five months nonstop. I turn it on first thing in the morning and off last thing at night. If I don’t turn it off, it will shut off within the hour of the last time I turned it on. I would buy this again as well as give this as a gift!

I hope this was helpful for you in choosing an electric kettle.

Happy tea making/happy boiling water!

Love and Peace…Koko

How To Brush Puppy Teeth

Meet Eloise! Ello for short; rhymes with jello. She just lost her last baby tooth!

Our pets give us so much love. They are there to greet us at the door and snuggle us when we are not feeling well. They are there no matter what. One way I can give them love back is by caring for their health. One way I do that is by taking care of their teeth.

Teeth brushing is super important to your pet’s health. Teaching them to like it can be a challenge for some pets. The way I’ve always done it has worked for me, so I’d thought I’d share it with you. You can check out the video here (or scroll down to the bottom to see the video!) and if you don’t want to watch it…read on!

I’ve never liked using commercial “pet” tooth paste. The ingredients in all the ones I’ve looked into wasn’t anything I wanted my pets to ingest. So I looked into ingredients that I was okay allowing my pets to eat, because let’s be real, our pets don’t know how to spit! Hahahahaha.

I offer my cats coconut oil in a dish. I leave it next to their water and I’ve found over the years that their teeth are really nice and a bonus to that was the amount of hairballs came almost to a stop and what I mean by that is I was cleaning at least one a day! Now it’s more like one a month. When you care for as many felines as I do, it was a lot of daily icky hairball cleaning. And don’t worry…none of my cats eat up the whole bowl of coconut oil! They will take a few licks and walk away.

My dogs get coconut oil after their daily meals. Bonus, their coats look better and itching has stopped. I do not leave a bowl of it out like I do for the kitties. They’d eat the whole amount in a sitting and I don’t need to tell you the mess on the other end if I did!

From reading, I’m sure you can gather that it was coconut oil that I discovered would make an excellent toothpaste; it’s edible and good for them to boot. Their breaths after brushing are really nice too!

You can use coconut oil straight. I scoop out about two tablespoons of coconut oil into a small glass jar and I will dip the toothbrush into it. My pets come running when I do this! It is a “treat” after all. Another way I make pet “teeth-paste” (Never understood why we used the word “tooth paste” when we brush more than one tooth…um well hopefully we do!)…back to another way I make paste, is by mixing diatomaceous earth in with the coconut oil. It helps to solidify it and diatomaceous earth is also good for our pets. PLEASE MAKE SURE the diatomaceous earth you buy is NOT for pools. It must be edible. And to make sure of this, buy it from a health food source. I buy mine online through Swanson Vitamins; you can check out the link here, (I’m not an affiliate with S.V. They don’t do that…I wish they did. I talk about them all the time! Ha!) You can look up the benefits of diatomaceous earth. It helps with fleas too! Yay.

Making it fun is the most important thing, because if they are scared/timid, it makes teeth brushing unpleasant for both you and your furry friend…No one wants to reenact a WWF headlock move! So basically what I do is I put the coconut oil on the toothbrush and let the dog lick it and they might chew on the bristles. I allow them to set the pace and play with the bristles and become familiar with the feeling. If I start brushing teeth on a pet that has never had their teeth brushed and coconut oil isn’t enticing them to give it a try, I will try other things on the brush to get them to “play”. Peanut butter is a good one. I’ve never met a dog that didn’t like peanut butter. Obviously it isn’t something you want to use regularly…just to get them to like having a tooth brush in their mouth is the key. You can switch them to coconut oil later. For the kitties, you can try putting their wet food on it, cream, or juice from tuna to get them started. I’ve found over the years my cats willingness to eat coconut oil keeps their teeth clean without having to brush them. I do check their teeth periodically and have noticed their teeth are beautiful without having them scraped. I’m not a fan of taking my pets to the vet to have their teeth done. I’ve lost a pet being put under anesthesia. Caring for their teeth is not only a cost saving, but a life-saving too.

Many things go wrong in a pet’s health by having bad teeth and gums. Check them weekly if you don’t brush them. Give coconut oil a try. I use organic unfiltered cold pressed. You can find it at Swanson Vitamins, check out the link here. I’ve bought it at Costco and Target too! And if you caught that I give the dogs the coconut oil after their meals, I’ve found it helps any food residue to slip away!

That’s basically it. I hope this helps you to help your pet stay healthy. A healthy mouth is a healthy pet!

The furry gang here At Koko’s Place and I thank YOU for reading!

Have a happy tail-wagging day!

Koko

Repurposing An Old Cat Tree

 

Breathing new life into something old…My first instinct is how can I fix it. Tossing stuff out and buying new is always easier, but not always easier on the wallet, and besides that, I don’t always find the “new” better than what I already have. They just don’t make things like they used to. All too often I find that statement is so true. Though in this case, my cat tree is nothing special and yes, you can find this style and probably better, but my cats like it and that’s most important. So I’m going to spiffy this one up.

Before I show you what I did, remember when I made a cat tree/bed out of a wooden spool? You can see it here… That was when I found out how much they really liked to scratch on sisal. Which is why I chose to use sisal to freshen up this tree instead of wrap more carpet around it. I may do carpet again another time, but I have a few rolls of sisal, so sisal it is! Here’s what I did…

Supplies:

one old cat tree

sisal rope

hot glue gun

glue sticks

scissors

vacuum

Vacuum the tree really well. I usually get to it about once a week to help keep the hair down in the house. If I didn’t vacuum the house a few times a day, it would look like I live in a “hair” house! Ack!!!!

Cut/trim off any strings or carpet strands. See the hair? That’s because I had helpers while trimming, hence the need to vacuum a lot! Good thing I can vacuum the cats too. I put on the brush attachment and go at them. They actually like it! 🙂

I really let this tree go! You know, “Oh I will get to it later?”…

After trimming loose parts, I hot glued down carpet parts that have loosened. (That’s Evan the dog. He is one of the sweetest pups I’ve had the privilege to have in my life. He’s got the most unique fur. I will feature him in a post one day. He’s so cool, he has his own instagram!)

Depending on how your tree was originally made… I found the carpet was stapled along the seam. That’s fine, but if the cats scratched it loose around the stapled part, then the whole carpet piece was loose. I cut parts of the carpet off. Later on, I realized I could have left it. Either way I found it worked whether I left the carpet loose or cut it off.

Choose a good place to start. I hot glued at the beginning of the sisal rope and then as I wound the rope around I added more hot glue. I wanted this good and tight as I know my cats and they really, really love to scratch on sisal. 

Here you can see I decided to cut off the carpet. I didn’t see the sense in leaving a little piece here and there, though I doubt it would have made a difference under the sisal. BTW, that’s Chaz. My helper for the moment. 

Chaz didn’t move at all. I guess he found what I did interesting.

Find another section that needs sisal and keep on hot glueing around and around and around…

and around…

That’s Spencer at the top this time and Eva peeking through! One more leg to go…

The last leg! Finally.

Done!

Easy project. This did take longer than I expected. I think having “helpers” added to the time, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

This time, at the top, is Sherlock. Aptly named as he is our most curious cat! And Chaz who is always good for relaxing “down at the club”. 

Tree looks much better! The best part is, the cats are happy to use it!

Tips:

Hot glue is HOT so be careful. You can use a chop stick or a screw driver to hold the sisal in place for a few seconds as it dries.

Sisal can poke into your skin. I had to tweeze out a couple “splinters”. You can wear leather gloves. I just sucked it up! Hahaha. I don’t do well with gloves. Which is why I have to deal with poison ivy on my hands when I’m out doing yard work.

You can hot glue a section and just wrap the sisal around a few times and then glue another small section. You don’t really need to glue every inch as you go along.

If your cat prefers carpet, home improvement stores carry carpet remnants. Rugs are also great and you can buy them at places like Target. They are smaller and easier to handle. I’ve used a good razor blade knife (be super careful) and cut the sizes I need.

The sisal I used for this project I bought at HomeDepot a couple of years ago. I did a check and they still carry sisal. Make sure it’s all natural, free from chemicals. This one states:  Safe for use with pet toys like cat scratching posts. Natural fiber-twisted rope is biodegradable and economical. Home Depot also ships! Since this project used up the last of my stock, I will be getting more. Sisal is really handy and I use it for many projects.

We know how finicky cats can be, so I hope this gives you an option to redo a cat tree your kitty already loves!

You are FABULOUS for reading this far! And I thank you so much for doing so! I hope you have a purrfectly happy day!

Koko

Surfboard Storage

At the moment, we are in a landlocked state. That means, no ocean touching our state on any side. Sadly, not even within driving distance. One day we will be near ocean again. It’s not a dream, it’s a reality! Until then, I wanted to store our boards in a way to still remind us that we surf, we love the ocean, we still are in the game!

There are many ways to store/showcase surfboards. Here’s what I did…

I got these cute dragonfly hooks. I used a stud finder to secure the screws into studs. The dragonfly hooks slips easily onto the screw. I bought these at Target.

I then used ribbon to hang the surfboard on and then slip the ribbon onto the hooks. Simple!

 

Here, I wanted this type of look. The wood adds a nice element and really ties the wood tones in this room. You can see the shelving unit I built here… You can see I kept the wood natural in the shelving. I knotted this rope because “Spencer The Cat” loves to play with the hanging piece! Picture of him can be found on my instagram! Though I do have a few felines, he’s one of the orange ones. Future post on all the abandoned critters that have found safe refuge with us coming… 🙂

And speaking of wood tones… I think it goes well not only with the shelving, but it goes nicely with the “drum” nightstand you can find that post here…  🙂 See that bottom surfboard? That was made by Rusty himself!

These simple hooks can be found most anywhere…Home Depot, Lowes, Target. They are around 3 bucks for two! Not bad.

I used cotton rope to hang these boards.

Oh hi! This is “Spencer The Cat”! He loves to sleep, take baths, and purr.

Surfer Magazine wrote in 2020 surfing will be an olympic sport! If you love surfing, whether you like to surf or just watch, this is exciting news! My family is super excited about this!

If you have surfboards, paddle boards, even light kayaks, this hanging system could be a fun way for you to store your equipment.

Happy Friday to all you AWESOME followers. Go find, be, do something that excites you!

Peace, Koko 🙂