InSinkErator HOT150 Hot Water Dispenser

Is the InSinkErator HOT150 Hot Water Dispenser worth buying?

Yes, for one specific kitchen: the InSinkErator HOT150 Hot Water Dispenser at £246.15 is worth it if you like the mixer you already have and want very hot water from a second, compact side faucet beside it. The kit is a 2/3 gallon stainless steel tank plus a chrome single-handle faucet, and 928 owners rate it 4.5. If you are replacing your tap anyway, that money buys a 3-in-1 and you should not spend it here.

The appeal is the small footprint. One extra hole in the worktop beside your existing tap and a socket underneath is the entire install, and the faucet body stays out of the way of the sink you already wash in. Water arrives at 210°F whenever the tank has recovered, and you set the temperature with a dial rather than picking a preset from a screen. What you are buying is hot water and nothing else, which is precisely what some kitchens want.

What does 210°F actually mean in a cup?

It means 98.9°C. Run the conversion: 210 minus 32 is 178, multiplied by five ninths gives 98.9. That leaves the HOT150 1.1°C short of a true boil and 0.9°C above the 98°C taps that fill most of this market, so it behaves like a kettle without quite being one. For tea and coffee, 98.9°C is close enough that almost nobody picks it out blind.

The element runs at 750 W, which is deliberately modest. A dispenser like this is built to hold 2.08 litres at temperature rather than to blast a cold tank back up in seconds, and 750 W does that job without the wiring drama of a 3 kW heater. Two thirds of a gallon works out at 2.08 litres, roughly six mugs before the tank needs to catch up. Draw four cups back to back and the fifth arrives slower than the first.

What comes in the box and how does it fit?

The box contains the 2/3 gallon stainless steel tank and the chrome hot water faucet, and that is the full kit. It mounts on the deck, so the faucet takes one hole in the worktop while the tank stands on the cabinet floor below, which means you need a free socket down there as well as the hole. The whole thing weighs 3.18 kg, light enough that one person can fit it without asking for a second pair of hands.

The faucet body is chrome over metal and plastic, with a single handle and a side profile that sits comfortably next to a modern or transitional mixer. Water is drawn from the top, so nothing has to be lifted or swung out of the way to fill a jug. Included components stop at the tank and the faucet, which means a water filter cartridge is a separate purchase rather than part of the kit, and in a hard water area that is an ongoing six-monthly cost you should budget for.

Where does the InSinkErator HOT150 fall short?

It dispenses hot water and nothing else. There is no cold, no filtered cold and no mains hot and cold, so your existing mixer stays on the worktop and keeps doing all of that. The result is two fittings where a 3-in-1 needs one, which is the opposite of what most people are trying to achieve when they start looking at boiling taps. If decluttering the sink is the goal, this works against you.

Price is the second issue. At £246.15 it is £51.17 more than the Ellsi matte black 3-in-1 at £194.98, and that Ellsi boils at 98°C while also giving you ordinary hot and cold from the same body. The tank is also the small one: 2.08 litres against the 2.4-litre and 2.5-litre boilers elsewhere in this market, so a household making four or five hot drinks in a row will meet the recovery time sooner than it expects.

How does it compare with the QETTLE 3-in-1 and the Ellsi 3-in-1?

The QETTLE 3-in-1 at £400 is £153.85 more and answers a different question. It pours at a genuine 100°C from a 2-litre insulated boiler and gives you hot and cold as well, with 49 owners rating it 4.6. Choose the QETTLE if you are changing your tap and want the boil to be real; choose the HOT150 if your mixer is staying exactly where it is.

The Ellsi matte black 3-in-1 at £194.98 is £51.17 less and again replaces the tap rather than sitting beside it, with a 2.4-litre tank, a carbon filter included and 124 owners rating it 3.9. Its weakness is 98°C water, which is the same compromise the HOT150 makes at 98.9°C. For someone who wants the cheapest complete boiling kit and does not mind the temperature, the Ellsi is the better buy; the HOT150 wins only on the strength of its 928-owner record and the fact that it leaves your existing tap alone.

Frequently asked questions about the InSinkErator HOT150

Answers below cover the temperature it reaches, the water it holds, what arrives in the box and what fitting it actually involves.