I accidentally left my kettle too long on the hob and burned a hole in it. I wasn't too bothered, because it was a very old kettle and I assumed I could easily buy a new one for a few pounds. But nobody seems to have kettles any more.

I looked in the local hardware store, in Debenham's, in Wilkinson's, and in the Argos catalogue. Nada. Everyone has electric kettles but no one has a good old-fashioned kettle that you can put on a gas hob.

I already have an electric jug, but I would rather not use it because I don't have a lot of power points in my kitchen. I don't really hold with kitchen gadgets. But more and more, we are not being given the choice. Bah!

Hmmmm. Being a out doors dude. I make coffee over a open fire regular like.

Maybe a camping supply store might give you more joy?

They are everywhere. Look for stove kettle or cast iron kettle if you prefer it to be made out of that.

Or are you saying you want to buy it locally and not online?

The local stores often have additional stock off site which can be ordered and brought to the store. So check about that if you haven't already. Otherwise, I notice similar about many formerly common items as well. Sadly books are one of those things. I've been getting less and less through the local book store as the range of publishers they refuse to order from increases. After being told for years now to order from the net, I will, at least for books. >:( However, back to durable goods, check the local store's web site. Same for the chains. If it's online at their web site they can get it for you in the store.

Just looked on the Tesco site. Lots of electric kettles/jugs, no real ones.

The Robert Dyas site has them (they call them stovetop kettles) but they are ridiculously expensive: £30-40 compared with £20 for an electric ones. Obviously they want to stop poor old pensioners from using them.

If you can't find a proper kettle, just use a small pan, it's what I do - & if your hand is a bit shaky, use a milk pan, as they have a 'spout' for pouring out carefully.

If you go the camping kettle way, be aware they heat up a lot faster than a normal kettle - I burnt mine out very quickly, unfortunately.

Yes, I have a few spouted pans that I can use for boiling water. But I still feel irritated that you can't get the low tech you want any more.

It's the same with booking holidays: there used to be a travel agent on every high street and you just bought a holiday from him. You paid by cheque, and transport and hotel costs were all included. Now the travel agents are gone, and you have to go on line and book the hotel from some "aggregation site" like Trivago, which offers a different price for the same hotel every time you check it, and use plastic to pay (which I hate). And then sort out the transport separately. It's just too stressful to be worth it.

I hate modern technology!

Look for "stovetop kettle" at Amazon. They have lots, from 1.5 to 3 litres, with or without a whistle, from £20. I looked at Lewis and their cheapest was £60 — one for the Aga brigade!

That's a US thing: our electric sockets deliver less over 3 KW, whilst yours usually have less than 2 KW — only enough for a very small electric kettle.

Here in The Netherlands new houses are built within connection to a gas supply, so you WILL have to do it the electrical way.

Beats me. I sort by price and I find stainless steel kettles as low as $8.50 USD. These are not electric, so my assumption is it doesn't matter the country where it is used.

Try searching for "stovetop kettle." I just found several on Amazon and KitchenAid after a very quick search. (Please note I am not recommending Amazon--I do use it, but only after all else fails--just the search string.)

^ same: I just tried kettle stovetop uk - I'm getting good results. amazon mostly, but also johnlewis.com.

Or you could always come to Finland to buy one, they definitely still sell them here

Thought I'd just take a look, & found these, maybe helps.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/gas-hob-kettle
https://www.wayfair.co.uk/kitchenwar...81~450493.html
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stovetop-Ke...ode=3544848031

Memories of a childhood long gone float by ...

As a kid I lived on sheep properties - in the nearest town (village really, but it's not a term used commonly here) there was a (old) lady that did craft for anybody interested. I tried landscape painting but wasn't any good at it.
Her place smelt sooooo good - a wood stove was always flickering away, and she did a teacake to die for.

So to buy a plain old stovetop kettle for a reasonable amount, I need an Amazon or eBay account. And for that I really need a Paypal account or a credit card. That's precisely my point. You have to use modern technology these days to do anything at all. You can use different technologies, but once upon a time you didn't need any technology. You just walked into a shop and bought what you wanted.

Soon there won't be any more shops. The high street is dying, because shops have to pay rent and rates (that's local taxes for you Yanks) and they can't compete with online businesses that pay neither, and often don't even pay their corporation tax. And old biddies like me will be stranded, unable even to buy food, let alone a kettle.