OEM
A 1.9-litre brushed stainless kettle with a temperature gauge set into the lid knob, made to the brand’s spec and sold under their name.
The brief
A direct-to-consumer brand sells on brand feel and photography, but has to hit a landed cost that leaves room for the margin its model depends on. The kettle carries a built-in temperature gauge, a stay-cool handle with its own sleeve, and a brushed finish clean enough to be the hero of a product page — none of which can push the unit cost past the price the brand can hold.
The product
| Capacity | 2 quarts / 1.9 litres |
|---|---|
| Body | Stainless steel, brushed finish |
| Lid | Built-in temperature gauge in the knob |
| Handle | Stay-cool handle, supplied with a sleeve |
| Whistle | Yes |
| Cooktops | Gas, electric and induction |
| Published origin | Made in China |
Specification as published on the brand’s own product page. Origin is the brand’s own stated wording.
What it takes to build
Putting a temperature gauge where the knob goes turns a single machined component into a sealed, heat-exposed sub-assembly that has to stay readable and stay tight through thousands of boil cycles. It is a tooling and assembly problem before it is a design one.
A brand whose product page is one large photograph is buying finish consistency as much as function. Polishing and brushing run on our own lines, and bulk output is checked against the approved reference sample — the control that keeps unit 5,000 looking like the sample.
Working on induction as well as gas and electric means the base has to be bonded to stay flat and stay attached under repeated thermal cycling. Composite impact-bottom technology is one of the group’s own core processes, covered in its 300+ patents.
Whether a kettle whistles cleanly depends on the spout aperture and the fit of the whistle cap, both of which move within the tolerance band of the forming tools. A kettle that whistles on the sample and rasps on unit 4,000 has not failed a part check; it has drifted a dimension. This is why the whistle is a forming and inspection question rather than a bought-in part.
A direct-to-consumer margin is set long before anyone quotes a price, by how many operations the geometry demands: every extra draw, weld, seal and polishing pass is permanent cost designed into the tool. The place to take cost out is the manufacturability review, before steel is cut. Once the tool exists, the cost is fixed for the life of the programme.
In detail
The gauge occupies the knob position, which makes the lid a sealed sub-assembly rather than a turned part.
The bow handle takes a full kettle through one pivot each side, so pivot position and grip angle are settled at tooling.
A perforated screen covers the spout opening from inside. It sits in the flow path, so its aperture is a forming tolerance.
The base is drawn in concentric steps and bonded to stay flat on gas, electric and induction alike.
The engagement
Putting a temperature gauge where the knob goes turns a solid turned part into a sealed assembly that has to survive steam and thermal cycling for the life of the kettle. Three requirements pull against each other.
One ingress of steam ends it. Sealing it tighter to prevent that makes assembly harder; sealing it looser brings the fog back.
The lid is the most thermally violent place on the kettle, and the instrument sits in it.
Or the whistle weakens. The answer was settled in the seal between knob and lid rather than by sourcing a better instrument.
The bow handle is its own problem: a full kettle carries its weight forward, so the pivot position and grip angle decide whether it pours steadily, and that can only be judged on physical samples.
How the programme ran
From our own range
This programme is built to one brand’s drawing, so it is not something you can order. Our own kettle range is, and it is made on the same lines, with the same composite base and the same finishing. Any of it can be taken as a starting structure and customised, which is usually a faster and cheaper route than tooling from zero.
See all stainless steel kettlesCommon questions
Yes. A gauge, thermometer or similar instrument in the knob position turns the lid into a sealed sub-assembly rather than a turned part, so it is treated as its own tooling and assembly problem: the seal has to hold, the face has to stay readable, and the fit has to stay tight through repeated boil cycles. Bring the instrument you want to use, or the performance you need from it, and we work back to a lid that carries it.
It changes the base rather than the body. All-cooktop capability comes from an impact-bonded composite base that stays flat and stays attached under thermal cycling, which is one of the group’s own core processes and sits inside its 300+ patents. It is designed in from the start rather than added later, so tell us your destination cooktops before tooling, not after.
Polishing and brushing run in-house on our own lines rather than at a subcontractor, and bulk output is inspected against the approved reference sample before it ships. That is the control that matters for a brand whose product page is one large photograph: the requirement is not that unit one looks good, it is that unit five thousand looks like unit one.
Sourcing questions that apply to any programme — minimum order quantity, lead times, and whether production matches the approved sample — are answered on the OEM page and in our sourcing FAQ.
The route
Same process, whatever you bring: consult, design, sample in 7–10 days, your approval, then production built to match the sample.
A drawing, a spec, a reference sample or nothing but a category and a price band. Tell us your market and volumes and we reply with a plan, MOQ and next steps, usually within one business day.
Or reach sales directly: potobelo@zoombo.co · +86-663-3286181
