There are differences between the kettle and the tray. The kettle only makes single cups while the tray allows 6 cups at once. The new tray also has more flavours and can be used by children, the kettle is only teens and up. This is the first time children can make a hot drink in this game.
The kettle basically is a combination of the coffee machine, tea brewer and now the tray. But it comes with the consequence that yo ucan only make single servings. Just as in real life some people prefer a coffee machine to make a pot and some prefer a machine with cups for single coffees. As someone who likes to drink tea, I was disappointed to be limited to the base game tea brewer. Now my sims can choose between the tea brewer, the tea pot and the kettle. And with this patch our sims have a similar choice when it comes to hot chocolate. Having a few alternative methods to get a drink is nice.
And now that hot drinks are decently covered, I am ready for something new.