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Plumbing excites me. (Wait until I tell you about my toilets!) It ranks right up there with cabinets, counters, and flooring. It's a long-term, hard feature of your home. To me that means getting it perfect.
When choosing kitchen and bathroom fixtures there are all sorts of things to consider. In my world, function cannot take a back seat to style. In a bathroom, laundry, or kitchen faucet, I have some hard and fast rules:
- Single lever: I will not ever buy a faucet that has two handles, one for cold water and one for hot water. I want to turn on the water and adjust the temperature at the same time, with one hand. In case I'm eating chocolate, holding a child, wearing a cast, or have a limb amputated.
- Single unit: Faucet and handles in one piece mean less places for soap scum and crud to accumulate. I don't want multiple holes in my gorgeous counter surface, all with stuff dripping around them. Spout, handles, sprayer—all on one unit. No ugly deck plate. (I make an exception for the built-soap dispensers.)
I have also long been enamored with the industrial-style, spring spout kitchen faucets. I looked at them seriously when we built our last house in 2003. But the only ones I could find them were gigantic and/or ridiculously expensive. Much as I loved the idea, I thought they would look silly in a home kitchen. (I also thought my children would be tempted to flood the kitchen while dousing each other, but that's another web site altogether.)
Today, however, I found a gorgeous spring pullout kitchen faucet that is scaled for a real, home kitchen. It is the WaterRidge Colin Series Kitchen Faucet. Strangely, I can't find the faucet anywhere online. But I found one that is almost identical. The only differences I can detect are that the finish is stainless steel instead of brushed nickel and the faucet head has a very slightly different shape. It is the Danze Parma Collection D457158SS. Gorgeous!
Here are the features that are important to me:
- Looks great.
- Sprayer also acts as faucet when in locked position. No messy two- or three-piece water feature.
- Brushed nickel finish, which seems to have won out as my finish of choice.
- Single-lever handle. Thank you!
- One-piece construction. No deck plate needed unless you're dumb enough to buy a three-hole sink (or your fabricator is dumb enough to drill three holes) even though you don't need them.
- Dual-function spray head: aerated stream and full spray.
- Solid brass and copper waterways.
- Ceramic disc cartridge.
If you're looking for the perfect kitchen faucet, I think I've found it.
Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.
I am VERY intrigued by this!
We have just had our 4th single-lever handled kitchen faucet fail….we’ve used kohler mostly…but the last one came HIGHLY recommended from the plumbing store…can’t remember the brand. Broken handles/fittings on the kohlers and now leakage on this one.
I will look into this faucet….thanks!
The WaterRidge Colin Series Kitchen Faucet can be found at Costco now for $149.99! I just picked one up today, installed it in minutes, and love it! Build quality is great. The unit is imported by Costco according to the box, so it may be the only place you can purchase one.
Cheers!
b. sorry you had such bad luck.
We used Kohler in all the bathrooms of our last house. The only problem we had was the one on the master jetted tub failed out of the box. It was replaced and we had no more troubles in the five years we lived there.
Haven’t picked the other faucets yet.
Joe, that’s where we got ours, too. Having priced these out, I knew it was a deal. Glad to hear that’s it’s working well for you thus far.
Unfortunately (for consumers, anyway), Costco runs a model of scarcity. You never know how long something will be carried and when it’s gone, you’re out of luck. For long-term availability, you have to look elsewhere.
I’m an oil-rubbed bronze kind of gal….old fashioned, but with a modern edge!
We have oil-rubbed bronze in this house we’re renting now. They are pretty, just not quite my thing. I’m looking for something a little more shiny! 🙂
Alison,
I should have known you were a fixture person. lol You are very good at paying attention to details, most people don’t care much about faucets. The great thing is that you didn’t have to include “price” on your wish list. You go girl. Can’t wait to see the kitchen progress pics!
@Ileane
.-= ileane´s last blog ..Top 5 Blog Topics =-.
Oh, price is always an issue! Remember, I want to pay this whole house off! But we do want high quality that will last. (Otherwise, you’re just replacing stuff — I’ll blog about that some day, too!)
Still, you can get a good price on just about anything. Whether online or off, there are always sales, coupons, special deals. 🙂
I was a plumber in the Navy, and I can tell you that there is nothing more beautiful than a water heater with gorgeous brass fittings or faucets well chosen.
It’s like having jewelry to look at while shaving or brushing one’s teeth every day.
I am happy to hear that you chose the particular model you did. The flex neck will serve so well in that you will be able to wash your head in the sink on occasion when that is the only part of the body you really want to get wet.
Also, I have noted, in most home where the fixtures are chosen carefully, the home is going to last a long time because, just like with car upholstery, if that looks good, you usually don’t have to look for terrible defects elsewhere.
Stetson
Stetson, you make plumbing sound poetic!
Thanks for your comment and for your military service!
Good idea for Kitchen Interior Designs
I love these hose-style faucets. They are so much easier to use – you can control exactly where the water goes. This one looks great to, exactly like you would fine in a professional kitchen but scaled down and made more atheistically pleasing.
KD, that’s pretty much how we felt about it. The style is great without being overwhelming and, having used it for four months, I can tell you it’s a great faucet. Thanks for your comment.
The Danze Parma Collection D457158SS is indeed gorgeous, but for me i wont exchange the easiness of use for appeal, i still think single control pull-out faucets as a really food kitchen faucet. what do you think of the KOHLER K-10433-CP Forte Single Control Pullout Kitchen Sink Faucet ?
Eric, you’ll notice that the kitchen faucet detailed in this post is a single control faucet. Couldn’t be easier to use. After a year using the faucet, we love it. It’s functional and gorgeous.
According to my view style and function both should go together so that everything looks perfect. There are various designs available to faucet in the market that are attractive but the thing is that it should be functional too from each angle, so one should be quite careful before selecting the faucets.
Hi Alison
Great to see you chose one of my favourite kitchen faucets – single lever,shiny and spring action are the way to go if you are serious about maximizing functionality. There are many kitchen faucets reviews online – I like your review of the Danze Parma Collection D457158SS. It is certainly a higher end faucet which will fit so many different sink styles and counter tops – and built to last forever.
Thanks.
Bill
I agree with the comments. The most important thing to me is certainly the sprayer
Good idea for Kitchen Interior Designs