One very popular piece of French cookware is an electric teakettle called a bouilloire. This is definitely the preferred way in France to boil water for tea, coffee, or whatever you may need it for.

A flick of a button and hot water is ready within 2 minutes.

• Use your electric teakettle to heat water in and nothing else. Don't try to use it to heat soup or make tea or coffee inside it - it's not made for that.
• Look for a teakettle that has the heating unit encased in a separate base. This means that it will be easy to clean - no trying to get mineral scale off of the heating unit and once you have heated the water you can easily take the kettle wherever you wish (no cord to get in the way).
• Make sure you buy an electric teakettle that turns itself off once the water has boiled, so if you forget about it - no problem. (Everyone who's boiled their stove top teakettle dry - raise their hand.)
• If your water is hard, the electric teakettle will build up a white film of hard water deposits. This is especially true if you leave water sitting in it all of the time. However this comes right off by boiling a 1/4 cup of vinegar with a kettle full of water and letting it sit a bit. Just be sure you rinse well after doing this.

You can find electric teakettles made in metal or in plasitc. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and you can even find a few colorful ones these days that you could match with your kitchen decor. Do pick one you find attractive, because it is an appliance you'll want to leave sitting on the counter top ready to use.

And don't forget to check out a French press coffee pot - it will go hand and hand with your electric kettle!

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