For whatever reason, the kettle I received does not stay cool to the touch. I purchased this primarily for it’s generous keep warm function. I take my time when I drink tea so it’s nice that the water will still be hot after two hours. However, the sides of the kettle get hot along with it. No, not hot enough to burn if you brush past it but I think if I held my hand against the kettle for a bit it could cause some damage. I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who has kids who might touch it. I’m also disappointed the temperature increases are incremental by 9 degrees each. I thought I’d be able to increase and decrease by single degree units like we can for our pour-over kettle. I purchased this to drink a variety of teas in my upstairs home office without the burden of going up and downstairs to the kitchen. I’ll be returning it. Overall it’s a nice product but not a good fit for my purposes.