| How long should one last? | Began having problems with the faucet about 2 | years after it was put in.
There are differences in faucets, but there are also differences in the people using them. If someone in the house is rough with the faucet, yanking the hose without paying attention, or treating the handle as an on/off switch, that can make a difference. (I once had a landlord whose electric appliances were all broken. Whenever he got impatient with the appliance's performance he'd break something off to "punish it". Even his Apple computer was missing much of its face. :)
Many faucets will come with a weight to attach to the middle of the hose, so that it will hang easily under the sink. Whether you have that or not, you need to arrange things so that the hose does not catch on things in the cabinet.
In general I think the quality difference is more in the model and cost these days than in the brand. HD and Lowes carry most popular brands. They seem to make deals on items of all kinds, often contracting for models that don't exist elsewhere. The brands they carry are respectable brands, but that doesn't necessarily mean the HD models are top quality. What I've noticed myself is that all of their faucets have been severely downgraded over the years. As with much other hardware, the makers try to find ways to replace metal with plastic. Only 10 years ago a typical faucet base would be chrome plated metal and the connectors would be thick copper tubing with threaded ends to fit supply hoses. Now much of the faucet is plastic with "chrome" paint. The connectors are either shockingly thin copper tube or plastic hoses. The sprayer connector itself is a chintzy plastic fitting rather than threaded brass. I don't know how that compares to stock from a plumbing supply, but a plumber should know that.
| The plumber charged me $250 for the faucet plus installation. I think he | ripped me off. I think it is some low end piece of crap. I will use Mr. | Handyman next time if I can wait that long.
$250 for a plumber to replace a faucet is cheap where I live. Undoubtedly the faucet was cheap. Did you tell the plumber you wanted the best, regardless of cost? He/she may have guessed that you valued low price most. If you're going to call someone else next time, who will then buy the faucet at HD or Lowes, you're going to get another cheap faucet. (Not necessarily a bad one, but a cheap one.) HD and Lowes don't specialize in high quality of anything, in my experience. That's not to say that all of their stuff is junk, but they're retailers first, and most of their customers have limited expertise while they're looking for a cheap price.
If anyone really has the experience to know the quality difference between models it will be a plumber. I think you'd be better off finding a plumber who you trust. While you're at it, ask him or her why the old faucet wore out. The plumber will likely have a much better idea than a bunch of people in a newsgroup who are guessing based on very little information.