It will cease to function as the kettle will develop a taste for milk and simply refuse to go back to water like a plebeian everyday kettle.

How many related questions has that The Workplace question spawned?!

It should be noted that "kettle" refers to this and not to this

Or this

Good question, Thanks for putting this one as I am the author of who broke the kettle. It is good information here.

Not an answer to the question but another reason not to put milk in a kettle is that it'll get into the depth gauge, be impossible to clean out of there and make everything you ever boil in that kettle taste of gone-off milk.

I came for your milk!.

Out of curiosity. You didn't just "clean" the kettle afterwards did you? Immersing the base in any volume of water will usually short it if it's used again before it's dry. As you said "it will probably make a mess", and also seeing as you were unaware that you shouldn't use milk, maybe you just also washed it?

Next time use the microwave. ;)

When I tried to boil milk, it created a burnt layer of milk on the bottom, which prevented the heating element from being able to boil milk or water. After cleaning off the burnt layer it could boil water again.

@Mehrdad This makes me so happy! I love when the internet does silly things. Brings a happy tear to my eye :')

This question applies only to "traditional" simple kettles with the exposed element. (There are indeed today other kettle-like-implements which have a sort of sealed stainless steel "basin" in which you boil water, or indeed anything you want, it's just like a saucepan. This question is not about those new quasi-kettle-powered-saucepans.)

@Fattie - Why is this? My kettle at home has a solid bottom with a hidden element. Are you saying that I could safely boil milk in it?

@Nofel - could you chime in here? The kettle you broke - did it have an exposed heating element or a hidden heating element?

hi @SnyperBunny, I urge you to care for your own safety, but the type of "heater" you describe, assuming we have the same one, is specifically sold for heating things like milk or soup. that's assuming you mean the same one I am talking about. generally "electric kettle" means one of the "open element" ones.

note that the question you linked to and the original question, was referring to a open coil type of "ordinary water kettle". (if you actually meant in your question the "soup and milk heating type of electric pot", you have greatly confused the issue :) :) )

note that you said "I know milk may burn onto the element", this is meaningless is your device is as you describe, it only applies to "ordinary kettles" (so why did you say it, if your "kettle" is a closed-milk-warmer-pot thing?)

oh FFS. I guess people will nit-pick no matter how carefully you word something. My KETTLE has an enclosed element. Many KETTLES do not. I was talking about a GENERIC kettle. My intention was that this applies to ALL electric kettles. If a KETTLE was intended to boil soup and milk, surely the manufacturer would include this in large letters on the box as a selling feature and not leave it for guesswork. Furthermore, no soup that I've ever seen is intended to be boiled to precisely the temperature of white, green or black tea as my KETTLE with the CLOSED ELEMENT will do.