First of I have no experience with electronics so I am not sure what I should be searching for to get this done.
All I have with me at the moment is a arduino and a few connectors and LED's. Is it possible to switch the kettle on/off using just these basics (i.e. I dont want to buy more stuff for now).
The kettle is the most basic kind , i.e. the ones that plug into a wall outlet and have a single switch to turn it on or off. Let me know if you need more info.
Answer
There's a particular problem here with the kettle that a relay will not solve. Kettles always have their own switch which trips off when they boil. So even if your relay is on, the kettle will not heat up unless this switch is also on. If you took the kettle apart and shorted out the switch, it would not trip off when the boiling point was reached, so this is very dangerous. If you think you can also replace the boiling point sensor and run the logic through your processor, you should think about the fail safe implications of this and consider your house insurance situation.
Depending on the type of switch used in kettle, it might be possible to fill it and switch it on mechanically, waiting for mains to be switched on by the micro. But you could only boil it once before having to mechanically reset the switch. If that works for you, fine, but bear in mind that kettle are not like lamps that you could just switch on and off whenever you like, and interfering with the switch is hazardous.
Most kettles that I have come across do allow the switch to be on even when there is no mains, but most toasters don't allow the basket to be latched in the down position without incoming mains, so you can see this could be a problem.
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