Boiling water taps: a kitchen essential or costly kettle killer?

Is your kettle en route to extinction? Love them or hate them, boiling water taps — dispensing hot water at the touch of a button — are one of the most popular additions to a kitchen in 2025.

A recent Reader’s Clinic question on whether to install a boiling water tap elicited a lively debate with strong feelings either way, but are they worth the splurge?

Given the steep outlay, properly pondering the pros and cons before committing is essential. Prices start from about £300 for a 3-in-1 system and go upwards of £3,000 for Blanco’s luxury Icona tap.

The most basic option is a 2-in-1 system dispensing cold and instant boiling water, but note that you will still need your ordinary kitchen tap for domestic hot water.

The UK’s most popular option is the 3-in-1 (which replaces a standard kitchen tap), delivering boiling water alongside standard mains hot and cold water. A 4-in-1 adds filtered drinking water, while a 5-in-1 system supplements all that with sparkling chilled water.

“All these systems will come with a boiling tank and a filter system, which needs to fit in your under-sink kitchen cupboard,” says Darren Cooper, the managing director at HotWaterTaps, an exhibitor at the National Homebuilding & Renovating Show. “Some tanks are only 175mm wide so do not take up a huge amount of space, but others can be much larger. The filters also need space, usually a single scale filter to protect the tank from scale build-up for the 3-in-1 systems. With all the others the filter system should deal with the other impurities in the water to give you that bottled water quality.”

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Besides instantaneous boiling (or nearly boiling) water, other positives include less water waste — unlike overzealous kettle filling, you’ll use the amount of water you actually need as you pour directly into a pan or cup. Naturally, ditching a kettle will free up counter space and proponents describe them as a safer child-friendly option versus a kettle, thanks to childproof handles and insulated sides.

Professional installation is recommended: the Dutch brand Quooker charges a reduced £99 rate per system (ordinarily £125 plus VAT). Taps from the British brand Qettle can be self-installed or installed by a Qettle-accredited installer for £260. Installation for a hot tap from the premium German firm Grohe is £250. Installation by InSinkErator costs £180 in addition to the price of its hot tap.

Water from most so-called boiling taps comes out at about 96C to 99C rather than 100C, so read the small print if this is essential for you. Caple’s Fosso 4-in-1 steaming water tap provides 98C hot water (caple.co.uk), as does the £797 art deco-inspired Filtrata 4-in-1 boiling water tap from Lusso (lussostone.com), which reports hot tap queries are up 50 per cent year-on-year. Clearwater’s most popular design, the Magus 3-in-1, also dispenses 98C water (reduced to £460, qssupplies.co.uk) and has a five-year warranty.

The cheapest option from Quooker, which offers “true boiling water”, is £1,050 for the Nordic Square version plus annual running costs of about £11 for being on standby. Its latest addition is the £1,550 Combi+ tap, which will provide up to 7 litres of instant boiling water.

“Although they’re constantly on standby to keep water hot for your tea or pan of pasta, instant hot water taps are surprisingly cheap to run — especially compared with kettles, which use short but intense bursts of energy to boil,” Fran Roberts-Thornton, a senior researcher at Which?, explains. “However, their high price, plus the costs of filters, mean that it could take more than 25 years for you to recoup your investment.”

Robert Chisholm, the managing director of Chisholm Design, says: “Think about after-sales service — we supplied a tap to a client from a supplier we’d never used before. It looked lovely, was exactly the right finish but was faulty and there was zero after-sales service. Think about space for the cylinder, filter/scale control/sparkling system — it all adds up — and also heights of the tanks, as these may not fit under a Belfast sink. You can cut out the cabinet base or locate the cylinder in an adjacent cabinet to free up valuable under-sink space. In terms of sizing, Qettle does a very small 2 litre one — ideal for singletons — a 4 litre and a 7 litre, whereas Quooker does 3 litre and 7 litre.”

You’ll need to clean the tap and tank regularly and buy replacement filters every six to twelve months. Limescale can cause issues in hard-water areas. Quooker’s limescale control filter is £245; the £90 cartridges should be replaced yearly. Its cold water filter costs £295 and replacement cartridges are £50. If your tap needs TLC, pay £200 for an official Quooker service, which will include tank limescale removal.

Chisholm adds: “If your kitchen tap takes ages to run hot, [meaning] the domestic hot water cylinder is located far away, then consider a combi option, in which you take boiling water mixed with cold to give you instant hot water. Or Quooker does an option in which it starts using boiling water for the hot feed, then switches to the domestic hot as it starts to run hot.”

Other considerations include a power supply, usually a standard UK socket. Most brands offer a two-year warranty. Cheaper options are available, but the DIY SOS design expert Julia Kendell adds a caveat: “As with anything to do with plumbing, this isn’t an area to skimp on and I would recommend buying the best quality you can afford to ensure longevity.”

I’m considering installing a hot water kitchen tap but I’m not sure it will be worth the cost. I’ve also heard that boiling taps are quite prone to breakage. Can readers share some experiences and/or recommendations to help me decide?Carly

If you like coffee, a boiling tap is best avoided. Boiling water ruins the taste of coffee because the chemicals that give it its distinctive taste are semi-volatile and lost to the atmosphere when boiling water is added. It is far better — and cheaper — to buy a variable temperature kettle and set it to 85C for a decent cup of coffee.Gordon Lethbridge, Dorset

We installed a Quooker tap in our new kitchen four years ago and I wouldn’t be without it. It has never gone wrong. Even my sceptical husband, who was horrified at the cost, thinks it’s wonderful. We also have the Cube attachment for chilled and sparkling water. The fizzy seems a bit flat but I use the chilled water several times a day. Who needs a kettle cluttering up workspace? It’s also brilliant for scalding spinach, pasta water and filling the floor-wash bucket. Jane Scarfe, Norfolk

Before you decide to purchase one work out just how much space it will take up. They are not small. Bear in mind the fact that keeping water permanently hot is expensive, especially if you only want boiling water a couple of times a day.Elisabeth Markwick

I can recommend my tap by INTU. It is British-made and a quality item that has a two-year warranty (extendable if required). It costs from £380 for a three-way tap and it is suitable for use on low pressure systems. The main guy, David, has done lots of videos and it was easy to install. You get to speak to David when you ring up, he is very helpful. I have been using my tap for nearly two years with no issues whatsoever. The tap does not spit or splutter and even my grandchildren can use it safely. Maureen Farlow

The boiler on our Franke Omni had to be replaced after a couple of years. Next the hot water hose ruptured without warning, with boiling water spurting out. Luckily we were in the kitchen at the time otherwise the damage would have been horrendous. The whole tap had to be replaced at a cost of £350, plus £100 for the plumber, who was surprised that just the hose couldn’t be replaced.Roger Colgate

For once, the more expensive you go the better you get. Quooker is the market leader, but Zip Hydrotap would be the one to really splash out on. I find the way Quooker dispenses cold or boiling not very intuitive if you’ve never used the tap before. Zip has separate water paths for each water type so there’s no leftover hot/cold water dispensed if you immediately want the opposite for another glass. It also has better filters. I can’t afford one, but I want one.Andy Peel