Without a doubt, installing faucets continues to be a popular service for our team year after year. And while it is a smaller project (in comparison to a sewer line replacement or repiping job), there’s no denying that new faucets can make a bigger difference than you might expect. That all being said, finding the perfect faucet for your home or commercial business can certainly be quite the task. After all, just take a walk down the faucet aisles at your local Home Depot or Lowe’s and see how many different options you come across. Don’t forget to keep in mind that this doesn’t include anywhere near every single possibility either! Once you start browsing around online too, you’ll be presented with a bevy of additional faucets.
Here at Stine-Nichols Plumbing, we understand that every homeowner might have a different vision in mind for their kitchen and bathroom. Whether you’re looking for a modern-looking faucet in the kitchen, something simple in the bathroom or anything else, we don’t like to limit the possibilities for your faucet. As such, we’re also here to help you with narrowing down your options and steering you in the right direction towards a reliable product. On this week’s blog, we’ll take an inside look at some of the qualities that make up a top-notch faucet. From the style and finish to price point and brand, there are certainly a number of things you’ll want to keep in mind.
Brand
While a brand name isn’t always a make-or-break quality, there’s no doubt that it is important with certain plumbing components, especially your faucets. Like I mentioned above, the faucet industry has gotten increasingly competitive over the years. With more than a few decades of experience in the plumbing world, I’ve been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to witness many of these brands first-hand (as well as see which ones have survived the test of time). For the purposes of this blog, I’ll list a few of the more reputable options currently on the market. This doesn’t include every single one, but will certainly touch on a few of the main ones.
Delta
Kohler
Moen
American Standard
Pfister
If you have some time and would like to browse through some of the styles associated with each of these brands, many of them have a lot of their faucets pictured on their website, as well as across their social media channels. This should help immensely in crafting a general picture of what you would like installed in your own home.
Added Functionality
Much like many other aspects of the plumbing world, the faucet industry has also come a long way over the years. As we mentioned above, the industry as a whole is particularly competitive and as such, it’s important for these companies to try to set themselves apart from their counterparts. With that being the case, plenty of innovation has followed. Here are a few of the more widespread innovations:
Touchless – Particularly with the Covid pandemic, Americans are placing an increased emphasis on cleanliness. This is a major reason why touchless fixtures have become more and more popular in the commercial world, and are even slowly starting to gain steam in the residential sector too.
Touchless x2 – We already mentioned basic touchless fixtures above, but it’s safe to say industry leaders have taken it up another notch. With this, I’m referring to voice-activated faucets (which are quite popular in kitchen settings) and even solar-powered options (such as this one from Sloan). Long story short, faucets have seen remarkable advancements over the years.
Style and Finish
While you certainly want a faucet that can survive consistent usage and has some cool added-features, you also want it to look good, right? This is particularly true for your kitchen faucet or the one in your master bathroom. That being said, perhaps the funnest part of faucet shopping involves selecting the style and finish that matches your overall vision. And believe us, there are no shortage of possibilities to consider. We’ll highlight just a few of the key decisions you’ll make in your hunt for the perfect faucet.
Style – Even though commercial faucets typically end up being more basic and purely focused on functionality, the same can’t be said about residential ones. First off, you’ll need to decide between a single-handle and double-handle faucet. Both are certainly popular, although due to ease of use and a quicker installation, single-handle faucets tend to be a little more common in the kitchen. Continuing with the theme of kitchen faucets, you’ll next need to consider the height and arc. As you can likely guess, kitchen faucets tend to be much taller than bathroom faucets and this represents another area where you can let your creative juices flow.
Finish – After you have a general style in mind, it’s time to finalize the finish. Much like with the style, you won’t have to worry about having a shortage of options with the finishes either. Some of the possibilities include stainless steel, brass, nickel, chrome, bronze and plenty others. A couple of things to keep in mind when evaluating the different options is how it will blend in with your other kitchen/bathroom components and how prone it is to water spots and/or fingerprints. While the second option might not be a necessity for every person, it is a quality some homeowners consider.
Need a commercial faucet? For commercial settings, durability is a MUST. These faucets are likely going to see higher usage levels and with this, you’re going to need something that will hold up. If you’re in this situation, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team to discuss our commercial faucet recommendations.
Price Point
Thus far in this blog, we’ve already highlighted all of the fun components involved in the faucet purchasing process. Browsing through different finishes, checking out brand’s social media pages and even keeping tabs on new innovations in the industry. Nonetheless, something that all homeowners will undoubtedly evaluate is the price point. After all, when you set out to make this switch, I’m sure you had a general budgetary number in mind, right? Luckily, the nice part about many of the faucet industry leaders is they have options available at a wide range of prices. Take Moen for example. You can easily head over to Home Depot and find plenty of affordable kitchen and bathroom faucets made by them. Likewise, if you’re looking for something a little more higher-end, you can check out their online catalog which includes more than a few stunning faucets capable of being a true statement piece. In the end, it’s about finding a high-quality faucet that also aligns with the correct price point.
Faucet Installation Services in Kansas City
As we mentioned briefly in the introduction, faucets are certainly a popular service for our plumbing technicians at Stine-Nichols. It’s one of those components that is not only something you need on a daily basis, but also one that can truly change the look and feel of a room (without turning it into a huge renovation project). We hope you found some value in this blog that’ll help the next time you need to purchase a new faucet. Just as we highlighted with the first point, the brand that you select is an extremely important decision. By going with a reputable brand, you can ensure your faucet looks great and also won’t deteriorate quickly.
Whether it be for a new installation, repair or even to just get some advice on what faucet to consider, don’t hesitate to give us a call at (816) 348-3481. From residential to commercial, we have you covered for all of your faucet needs!