Food and drink: Good taste - Magimix chrome jug kettle

Most kitchen gadgets have successfully been restyled to suit our design- literate times. What wedding list is complete without a nice shiny Dualit toaster? Who dare order any other food processor than a KitchenAid in fire-engine red? Until recently, the kettle let the side down badly - grubby metal with a cumbersome plug, white plastic with a non-functioning water-level gauge, or worse, beige with a wheatsheaf emblem. One "post-modern" effort - a pyramid in steel that sits on the gas ring, designed by Alessi - marked a new nadir. It took good old Magimix to come up with a smart solution - an efficient, cordless kettle that makes a perfect companion piece to the aforementioned Dualit (it's tall, slim and shiny). It boils up enough for a giant teapot, and the cord can be coiled under the base for those who prefer to keep a minimalist worktop. The heat element is in the matt-black base, which means the inside of the kettle is smooth and clean, so you could conceivably keep stock boiling for a risotto, or even make coffee in the kettle (the next cup of tea might taste a bit grim, though). Eleanor Dempsey

Magimix Kettle Jug, pounds 39.50 from John Lewis and good electrical stores