Got this as a gift for my Freshman year at college (3 years ago) and has held up well since. I've only used it mildly for things like boiling water for Ramen, Cocoa and Coffee. If you read reviews online you'll note the mentioning of a weird odor and sometimes an odd taste with the water and I can confirm those claims. Recently, mine began to deteriorate and somehow rust. The grooves between the metal bubble in the middle and the glass are impossible to clean well. The glass is quite thick, but the handle feels really cheap, especially the "on" switch.
Recently, I've been getting into preparing Tea and it just was time for a replacement. I found the Adagio UtiliTEA electric Kettle to be a far stronger performer than the Capresso in the short time I've had it. It is competitively priced and is frequently the top 5 in many surveyed lists of reviews for electric kettles. (I'm thorough in my own purchases). I got it from Amazon http://amzn.com/B001A5NFQA
The UtiliTEA excels past the Capresso by featuring a stainless steel build with no odd grooves, a spring loaded cover that clicks shut, adjustable temperature controls, 360 swivel detached base w/plug, a more out of the way on switch and a mesh screen near the pour if you decide to steep the Tea directly in the device (which I don't really recommend).
My comparison:
Capresso:
Pros: Fancy glass aesthetic, quicker boil time, larger liquid capacity
Cons: hard to clean thoroughly, touchy on switch, cheap handle, odor & taste funky at times, kind of bulky comparatively, boiling anything besides water will make the metal instantly turn brown and will need to be intensely scrubbed
UtiliTEA:
Pros: Slim size, mesh filter screen, cover lock, better switch location, temperature control, easy to clean, no odd taste or smell, quick boil time
Cons: Smaller liquid capacity ~1 Quart, the completed "click" can go unnoticed if you forget about it, water viewing window is a bit slim and can be hard to read when it fogs up (oddly located behind the handle)
