I’ve not always been particularly lucky in the kitchen department, in fact at times it’s been downright disastrous, but thanks to Morphy Richards, the kitchen in our new house has developed a bit of retro chic in the way of a new toaster and kettle.

In June we received the gorgeous Accents Cream Traditional Kettle, and the extremely funky Accents Country Cream 4 Slice Toaster.  As you can see below, they look rather fetching in my tiny little rented kitchen, and go very nicely with my ikea tea-cup shelves and a rabbit water bottle (cough).

They both retail at £51.06 which is kind of pricey, but they do exactly what it says on the box, look great and to be honest give me a little buzz every time I see them.

The kettle is simple to use, boils quickly and feels nicely balanced in your hand.  I can’t say my cups of tea taste any better from it, but I can say it has always turned on when I want it to, is easy to fill and the lid doesn’t rattle in a scary way whenever it is close to boiling – unlike my old one.

The toaster looks a lot more complicated than it is as the operation buttons are just doubled on each side so that you can use it as a 2 slice or a 4 slice toaster which I imagine saves energy.  The slots are big enough for crumpets and teacakes and we’ve also warmed croissants on the top.

Having always had to go for cheaper alternatives before, I would have to say that my head has been turned by these much prettier appliances and I will in future spend more on this kind of thing as I’m getting so much pleasure from their gorgeousness (sad I know).

There are just two things I would change:

1   Though the kettle and toaster are both cream, they’re not quite the same cream, so if you want an exact match go for the Accents Country Cream Pyramid Traditional Kettle which matches perfectly.  You can see what I mean if you click on the toaster link above and scroll down to the bottom where they have both kettles side by side.  As you can see from my pic it doesn’t make a huge difference if they’re not side by side, but I think if I was spending that amount I’d want them to match.

2 It would be useful to have a few more wire gaps under the kettle base instead of just the one, as using the shortest position is a little tight between kettle and wall socket, while the long leaves a coil of wire waiting to trip up a passing tea cup.

Apart from those kind of pernickety observations, I love them, and Morphy Richards, you cannot have them back.   It’s lucky I’m one of your House Proud Innovators and so get to keep the stuff I review, otherwise I’d have to set my vorticity on you.

Rargghhhhhhhhhh

PS  Morphy Richards recently launched ‘Home of the Houseproud‘ – a social community for all things home-related and the only place you’ll need to visit to get the most out of your Morphy products.