alt Hacker NewsI suppose that still begs the question somewhat, since the US does have 240V (2 phase) already driving many appliances. Why hasn’t it ever become standard for luxury kitchens to have a European-style outlet for use with a European kettle? I know the US already has a different 240V plug shape, so it might have to be an unlicensed installation, but surely someone wanted hot tea faster and did that calculus before?
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Well, as you say, it would not be according to code and the insurance company might have something to say about it. It's also single phase but not quite the way you do it in the USA, it would be a neutral and a phase whereas in the USA I think it is 2x110. Finally, it's 50 Hz rather than 60 which would work fine for resistive loads but not so well for inductive ones such as transformers and motors.
In all likely not worth the trouble. When I moved to Canada I gave away most of my power tools for that reason and when I moved back I had to do that all over again.
You can run 240V circuit to kitchen for kettle and put in NEMA 6 outlet. But few people care about fast boil and importing European kettle. Most people use the microwave or stovetop, and 120V kettles are fine in most cases. It will never become a standard thing.
Technology Connections did this with an EV battery charger:
Ahckhually US residential is split single phase, not two phase. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-phase_electric_power
I think the answer to your question is that it mostly doesn't matter for personal mug size quantities of hot water and if it does matter to you there are readily available competing options such as dedicated taps for your kitchen sink.
Perhaps the biggest reason is that a traditional kettle on any half decent electric range will match if not exceed the power output of any imported electric kettle. Many even go well beyond that with one burner marked "quick boil" or similar.
Most important comment here!! I would love to buy like a 6kw battery induction kettle for the states. As far as I can tell, they don’t exist.
> but surely someone wanted hot tea faster
No one in the USA drinks hat tea. The choices (and it tends to be regionally-based) is sweet or unsweet tea. No need to boil a kettle quickly for that.
> I know the US already has a different 240V plug shape, so it might have to be an unlicensed installation, but surely someone wanted hot tea faster and did that calculus before?
How expensive would a proper AC->DC->AC brick for that power level be?
I wired a UK kettle to an unused 240V range outlet in the US once. It was amazing, boiled a liter of water in just under a minute. Obviously kinda sketchy.