Kitchen Faucet Brand Recommendation?

[Eric DeSilva]

I have to replace my kitchen faucet. Old one was a Delta, tall neck w/pull-out sprayer and mixer/on-off in a separate hole to the side. Over the course of one year, I've had two major problems. First, the connection from the pull-out hose to the sprayer is badly designed and has never worked well--with the neck design, the hose will shoot water up and around the bend, into the cabinet, through the pipe holes in the floor of the cabinet, onto the top of my table saw in the basement. I fix it, but it keeps working itself loose again.

Second, the whole mixer/on off adjuster seems messed up. Something has come loose in the back, so it requires pressure straight down in the back to shut it off instead of simply moving the handle down.

I'm done with Delta.

Anyone have a better brand to recommend (and a good cheap place to shop for the line)? Looking for a line that is solid, reliable, and has some transitional decor in it. Willing to spend some for quality hardware that I don't have to futz with.

[Tom Godley]

I have had good results with both Grohe and Hansgrohe - Both are expensive. As to kitchen, I only have experience with the single hole pull out spout for both makes. You are paying for style and finish as much as a slight improvement in construction.

Kohler is OK - While all the makes use plastic - I have had problems with the Kohler spouts breaking.

For basic faucets I always buy the better line from Moen.


Considering the low cost of many - they all last an amazingly long time.

[David G Baker]

I have had very good luck with Moen as well. Like Tom wrote, the higher quality line of Moen may be your best bet. Also think about getting the separate sprayer.
Quality and cheap do not belong in the same sentence "cause you gonna get what you pay for". You may be able to save some $$ if you find the model you want then spend some time searching. I frequently see new kitchen faucet sets on Craigslist list for what seems like a reasonable cost but didn't check them out for brand or quality.

[Myk Rian]

We have Grohe faucets. Very nice.

[Belinda Barfield]

Moen. If you want to spend more, Grohe.

[Dave Anderson NH]

hi Eric, Oner really important comment.

Make your faucet selection and purchase at a real plumbing supply store where the plumbers themselves shop. There is a difference in quality between what they sell and what is sold in the big box stores. All of the big box guys have special versions made which look like the higher quality stuff in the plumbing supply houses. It is designed solely to look nice and meet a particular price point and margin combination.

I learned this from my plumber who had a guided tour of one of the big box places from a manufacturers rep who pointed out each specific quality differences. He said it was very eye opening. It's the little things like number of layers and thickness of plating, washer quality and a host of other things that aren't apparent to someone who can't physically compare the 2 units side by side.

[Belinda Barfield]

Ditto what Dave said.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

There's no brand loyalty. The plumbing fixture market is very competitive. The more you pay, the better the quality regardless of the manufacturer. It's one of those situations where asking price is really a good indicator.

-Jeff :)

[Frank Hagan]

We went through Delta, Price Pfister, Moen in one year, in various price points up to $150, before we finally broke down and spent $250 on a Hans Grohe.

The Price Pfister actually shot that little red/blue disc at me at one point, bouncing off my chest and then rattling around in the sink for a few seconds. They are not only cheap crap, but they are aggressively cheap crap.

BTW - all faucets have plastic coated or plastic waterways if made of brass due to lead restrictions.

[Matt Meiser]

We bought a relatively cheap ($125) Price Pfister that started leaking from the body after about a year. They sent a replacement which UPS supposedly lost and by then it was leaking bad so they had me go to the store, buy any Price Pfister I wanted regardless of price, and then they sent me and identical one to return. We ended up with about a $280 one that is nice. Keep in mind Price Pfister is owned by the same company that owns Delta and Porter Cable -- Black and Decker -- so quality and customer service probably aren't a priority and are probably in continual decline.

If you aren't in a hurry you can often get nicer faucets on clearance at the big stores with big discounts since the styles are always changing. We bought them for our bathrooms at more than 50% off.

I've always bought faucets at the big boxes because the little guys don't have much selection. But I've never tried a plumbing supply.

[Jeff Wright]

This is a very relevant post (albeit a bit late) for our household. I am in the planning stages of building our new kitchen (I know . . . I've been saying that for nearly two years!!) and we're buying all the new appliances and fixtures before I cut the first piece of wood to help prevent mistakes in sizing. Our new Hansgrohe faucet arrived last week . . . all $600 of it.

One of the most important features for long-lasting performance is that your faucet have ceramic discs. Don't ask me what they do. I was told that the big box stores often spec their appliances and fixtures differently than the plumbing supply houses and in many cases the plumbing house products have superior internal parts. Their sell story worked on me at least! :D

[Eric DeSilva]

Thanks, I'll look at the Grohe faucets. I was just amazed at how crappy the construction of the Delta was--I had always assumed they were a decent brand. The builder put some Moens in the MBr sinks; haven't been particularly happy with that hardware either. The drain plugs for those have a way of disconnecting from the plunger and they seal so bloody tight I can't even slip anything between the plug and drain hole to pull it out. Last time I hadda pull the trap and push it up from below!

[Lee Schierer]

We have replaced all our kitchen, bathroom sink and tub faucets with Price Pfister models and none have had a problem. All have been in use for at least 5 years. None drip and all work with finger tip pressure.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

During my recent bath remodel, all the plumbing fixtures were purchased online because of their great selection which my local plumbing house did not have. Also, I agree that one should stay away from big box offerings.

Not to go against the grain, but I had a Grohe kitchen faucet which gave me trouble. It looked cool, but kept getting tight such that I often had to disassemble it with a special tool to apply silicone grease. The rebuild kit for it costed more than a new faucet in the big box stores. I ended up changing it out because the white parts all faded to differing shades of yellow. However, it did give me about 5 or 6 years of good service before the problems started.

Nothing's perfect...

-Jeff :)

[Tom Godley]

Ceramic disc valves are very good but I have had them fail -- they can crack if something in the water (sand) gets stuck between them. This was on a Chicago faucet stove pot filler - unbelievably expensive and never used!

Moen developed the single control many years ago -- the better quality units are guaranteed not to leak. They will send you a replacement if you call them (or at least the used to) but the part is only about $10 and quick to change. It is not as sexy as the side control that the Germans make but they really last.

[Alan Trout]

First I am not trying to defend the big box stores. I also look at faucets every day of the week as I am a professional home inspector.

Except for a few special numbers made for the big box stores pretty much what the box store sells or can special order is the same as the plumbing supply house. I can buy at the plumbers discount at our local plumbing supply houses and I have special ordered many faucets through the Home Depot at substantial savings over the plumbing supply house. These were part number for part number what you get at the plumbing supply house. Always have had good service and saved money to boot. I also have several friends that are plumbers that have told me on special order faucets the Home Depot is hard to beat.

My last order from Home Depot was a Kohler Cast Iron Memoirs tub, Memoirs acrylic shower pan, toilet, shower faucet, tub faucet, pedestal sink, plus all the misc. strainer baskets tub drains etc. I saved over $1000 from them over the Plumbing supply house. The tub alone was a $200 savings.

Far as a quality lower price faucet the Moen's are hard to beat. They are not my favorite but are easy to repair and easy to get repair parts. I have Delta's that have been excellent and I have many Kohler's that have been fine. I have also used Jado and Grohe faucets and had good luck with them.

For the most part if you get into any of the upper end of any manufacture you get a pretty decent faucet. It boils down to style and what you like.

The faucets I see the most troubles with in the houses that I inspect are the Price Pfister. They just don't seem to hold up as well.

Good Luck

Alan

[Ron Jones near Indy]

I must be the wierdo here. Always had good luck with Delta. I'll never buy another Moen. No need to go into details now--I'll just raise my BP. The vast majority seems to favor Moen.

[Brian Elfert]

I've had good luck with Moen. Only issue has been I needed to replace a cartridge due to hard water before I added water softener.

The original Moen faucets all came from a plumbing supply place, but the ones for my basement bathroom came from Home Depot or Menards and they look no different than the others.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The faucets I see the most troubles with in the houses that I inspect are the Price Pfister. They just don't seem to hold up as well.

Good Luck

Alan

Alan,

Isn't it funny how different people have different experiences. I remodeled one bathroom 20+ years ago and used Price-Pfister. They were still working well when I gutted it a few weeks ago.

The other bathroom was gutted and remodeled 12 years ago and same story...Price-Pfister and still running strong.

I just bought American Standard for the 1st bathroom that I'm retiling currently.

I always try to buy the high end stuff of any manufacturer.

[Alan Trout]

Ken, the Price Pfister of years ago is different then what you get today. I have seen some of those old ones that are still going strong. I just have not been that impressed with the new ones.

You also have to remember that I live in an area that has one of the hardest water supply's of any major metro area. All of our water comes from a limestone aquifer. What works for other parts of the country will not work here unless soft water is used. I have seen water heaters in this part of the country that in is less than 5 years that fill up with lime to a point they are not usable.

Alan

[Tom Godley]

I will agree that it is difficult to speak in broad terms regarding manufacturers because so much can change -- manufactures often will come out with a second line, or they are bought and everything changes.


Kohler has bought a lot of companies in the past 10 years.


When I had did rehabs I used to use Moen. They made two lines - Legend was the high end line and Chateau was the less expensive line. Normally I would install a legend in the kitchen. Moen like a lot of US companies did not keep up with design trends -- the products were good but they were dated compared to the german designs.

[Dan Karachio]

Bad luck with Price Pfister - not very sturdy. That's all I have for ya!