I'm in the very early stages of remodeling my kitchen. I'm looking for a quality kitchen faucet with some pizzaz.
I believe Moen and Kohler are two good quality faucets but the offerings listed on their web pages don't grab me.
What other brands are good quality? What brands should I steer clear of?
While I'm at it, any recommendations on sink brands? I have found a Kohler that will do but it's not exactly 100% what I want.
Digital photography is still in diapers, as an art. Go see the faucets up close, and include Price-Pfister (spelling?) in your search. I've had Moen faucets for years. In the rare instances when I've needed assistance, the company has gone WAY beyond the call of duty to make sure I was happy, even when the problem wasn't their fault.
Moen faucets are the only logical choice. I've owned virtually every brand over the years and since purchasing my last home (all Moen) 8 years ago I haven't spent a penny on repairs. I've replaced one cartridge and one corroded trim piece, both free courtesy of Moen's lifetime guarantee.
In several decades of home plumbing the only short-lived brand I've had to replace was a Price Pfister. Delta's have been easily repairable when needed, and Kohler best of the bunch. The Price Pfister was a single handle type that probably had too many different alloys in the assembly and thus failed from electrolytic corrosion in our midwest water supply. YMMV
Joe
Beware that some faucets have *very* expensive replacement cartridges. Find out how much the cartridge will cost to replace before purchasing.
When I recently asked about replacement cartridge cost for new faucets, the salesperson did not look happy to say the least. I guess he saw years of future expensive cartridge purchases going down the drain. I bought an older style faucet with 10 cent old style replacement washers.
Some of them are pretty, though. :-) Added note: He should avoid "EZ Flo" like the plague. My landlord just installed one in my apartment. What an unbelievable piece of crap! Fortunately, I'm buying another house, so I only have to live with the thing for another few months.
I vote Moen over Delta. Whenever I go to fix a Delta I end up replacing it with a Moen.
As far as sinks, Consumer Reports say stainless steel thickness is a non-issue. Get one plenty deep. We bought a 8inch deep stainless steel sink at Lowes for my parents and they love it. Not super thick but still quiet because of a rubber pad at the bottom critical area to prevent noise.
What's the name of that stuff you can spray into cracks to stop cold air from coming into the house? It expands. Anyway, a friend of mine sprayed that all over the bottom of his cheapie stainless sink and spread it around with a wooden paint mixing stick. Did a nice job of muffling noise. Looks strange, but who cares?
I had a bad experience with an Elger faucet (and an Elger toilet for that matter). I currently have a Kholer that works and looks great.
NEVER FORGET!!!
Great Stuff. Sounds like a good idea.
I had a Price Pfister single handle and it lasted just a couple years. They were helpful in alleviating the intial problem by having me disassemble it and remove something but then it went south again a year or two later, leaking all over the place and causing some serious damage. I put a Moen in its place and have had nary a problem. I'll take reliable over pretty anytime. (The Moen I put in is "pretty" but not as fancy as I want this time around.)
A friend has a Delta and I like it, but "easily repairable"? So was the Price Pfister. But I don't want to have to repair it. I want it to be reliable. These aren't $20 items. These guys are charging some dough for this stuff. It ought to work 10 years or more if you ask me.
Thanks. If the cartridge doesn't have to be replaced very often (10 years or more), I wouldn't necessarily sweat it. I just don't want to be spending $200-1,000 and next year be back repairing it.
You're talking about garbage disposal noise, right? So you're saying 20 gauge is as good as 18 gauge? Actually, I'm probably going cast iron/white.
BTW, I don't believe anything I read in Consumer Reports. Anything they have reviewed in my areas of expertise have been so far off base that it's been laughable. In some ways, I'm inclined to buy exactly opposite of what they recommend.
Depth. 8 inches seems to be standard. And I think it's plenty for me. 10 and
12 seems to be excessive. Or am I missing something?
Kohler faucet you have? Is that what you are saying?
When I went to replace one of my toilets, I visited a local Home Depot. They have an entire row dedicated to toilets. Holy cow, to someone like me, it was overwhelming. Fortunately, it was a slow day and a clerk came along and asked me if he could help me. I asked, "should I buy this $50 toilet or this $400 toilet or something in between?" He said to forget the price and go with Kohler. He said I would never have a problem with it. I said I'd heard that low flow toilets sometimes have to be flushed numerous times to work right. He said, "go with Kohler and you won't have that problem." He was right.
Now if that holds up for faucets (Kohler and Moen), I'm done and just have to settle for one of their styles. I was hoping to hear that another brand compares favorably qualitywise. I don't mind spending a little extra as long as I get a fancier style without sacrificing quality.
And again to the crowd, are we saying the same thing about sinks? I don't want scratches or chips or noise shortly after installing. I'm spending a lot of money on this remodel. Putting in a low quality faucet or sink would be disappointing.
My house came with a kohler porcelein sink which sells for about $250. Now
7 years old and we still like it. I believe white porcelien over iron. Also had a Delta faucet which I replace a few years back with a Moen.
Haave a look at
We got the Delta 174WF for a 4 hole sink in Stainless steel to go with our new Kohler sink. Other house, we got the same faucet in White for a Kohler Executive Chef sink.
Actually, a cheap sink can be pretty noisy when the water's hitting it. That's the main reason a thicker one is better, especially if it's coated with noise reducing stuff underneath. It'll also flex less when you're moving the faucet head around. I don't know it that's important, but something tells me it is. The sink in my apartment appears to be made of foil. Faucets get stiff around the base as minerals build up at the O-rings, so eventually, they all end up exerting some torque at their mounting points. Based on observation, this seems to affect the seal underneath the faucet's base.
Anytime they review things which involve subjective opinions, they're wrong. Stereo equipment comes to mind here. But, their automobile dependability surveys are useful. Cars are religious items for many buyers, so people tend to defend their buying decisions even if their cars are hideous. It was good that CR finally confirmed how god awful domestic cars were back in the 1970s & 1980s.
I was a plumber for a number of years. Unless the customers had a particular style or brand in mind, we always used Delta. At the time, we never had good luck with Moen. However, they may have improved since then.
Kohler was also good, but expensive. Kohler and American Standard were popular with engineers, I think because they were more expensive and added $$ to their percentage. Both were respected names, but Kohler was better, IMHO.
I have always liked Delta. Admitedly, they probably don't last as long, but they are easily repairable and because of their popularity and universal parts, they are easy to find parts for.
I think you have a good point with respect to the thickness of the ss sink at the faucet attachment. I own a porcelein sink and obviously the faucet doesn't budge but there is some play on my parents ss sink and if it was thinner I would think it would be worse. I have mineral issues on even my rigid sink so I doubt that that is a significant factor with respect to thickness.
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