The museum opened on November 7, 1990, in a two-story building constructed in 1910-1911 by architect V. N. Sirotkin on Mendeleevskaya Street, near the Tula Kremlin. The foundation for the museum's exhibition was an extensive collection of samovars, gathered over many years by the Tula Regional Historical, Architectural, and Literary Museum, of which the samovar museum became a branch.

The exhibits are displayed in two halls, each dedicated to different stages of the history and production of samovars.

The first hall features masterpieces of samovar art from Tula in the 18th and 19th centuries. Here, one can see the prototype of samovars, a sbitenik, as well as items created at the first Tula samovar factory, founded by brothers Ivan and Nazar Lisitsyn. Also on display are samovars from the Somov and Malikov factories, which led samovar production in the early 19th century. This hall showcases medals from World Exhibitions in Paris, Chicago, London, as well as from All-Russian exhibitions in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, awarded to N. I. Batashev.

In the second hall, visitors can see samovars from the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. This hall also features photographs from the personal collections of Tula samovar makers Fomin, Batashev, Shemarin, and Telye. Among the exhibits are five miniature samovars gifted by the Batashev brothers to the children of Nicholas II in 1909, and a photograph of a samovar presented to the emperor himself, as well as samovars from the Soviet period made for notable communists, and samovars from the "Shtamp" factory.

Additionally, visitors can enter the largest decorative samovar, which houses a collection of souvenir samovars.