As we often say, two areas where homeowners may opt to put a little more thought into their plumbing fixtures selections are the kitchen and master bathroom. In the master bathroom, you’re going to have a number of fixtures to select, including the bathtub, shower, toilet, and likely one or two faucets/sinks. On the other hand, for the kitchen, you’ll have a faucet, sink, garbage disposal and possibly even a pot filler. With each of these fixtures, homeowners will likely want to find something that blends in seamlessly with the other elements in that room. Wouldn’t you agree with that statement?
With that introduction in-place, that leads us into the topic of this week’s blog post. Considering physical appearance and aesthetics are a major factor in the kitchen design world, it’s important to find plumbing fixtures that align with your vision for the space. And one of those fixtures that’ll play a role in the design of your kitchen will be the faucet. Over the years, our team has had the opportunity to install numerous kitchen faucets, including faucets from a wide variety of brands. Thanks to this experience, we feel confident in our ability to provide homeowners with advice on selecting a quality kitchen faucet for their home. In this week’s blog post, we’ll do just that and provide you with some easy tips for finding the right faucet for your kitchen!
Appearance
Trust us, functionality and durability are extremely important qualities to look for and we’ll discuss them shortly, but we wanted to kickstart this blog by analyzing the role appearance plays in the faucet purchasing process. When it comes to appearance, there are a few different topics worth mentioning:
Match Other Elements – As mentioned above, you’ll certainly want a faucet that meshes with the rest of your kitchen. With this, I’m referring to the sink, countertops, backsplash and even possibly the other appliances. A major factor in making this happen will revolve around selecting the right faucet finish. Along with the different physical appearances that a finish can impact, you’ll also notice that the finish can affect the price of the faucet and even the amount of maintenance/cleaning needed to keep that flawless look. Some of the more popular finishes include matte black, chrome and stainless.
Size of Faucet – In addition, since we’re on the topic of physical appearance, you’ll also quickly notice that faucets come in a number of different sizes too. While kitchen faucets are generally taller than bathroom faucets, it wouldn’t hurt to consider the faucet’s height prior to finalizing your decision. Keep in mind that the depth of your kitchen sink could easily be something that has an impact here!
Matching Soap Dispenser – One final appearance-related topic worth mentioning is whether or not you would like to have a matching soap dispenser with your faucet too. As you’ll notice, many kitchen faucets come with a soap dispenser included. With a soap dispenser resembling a similar style/finish as the faucet, this is yet another excellent way to ensure everything in the kitchen has a seamless flow.
Durability
With all plumbing components that you have installed in your home, durability should consistently be a quality you look for. This is true for everything from the drain lines and water lines to the water heater and so on. Many of these plumbing pieces are used on a routine basis, so it’s important to find quality products capable of withstanding the daily wear and tear. This is especially true with faucets, which certainly see their fair share of usage as the days go by. Having said that, durability is something worth monitoring when considering a potential kitchen faucet. While it’s impossible to say a particular faucet will last a certain number of years, a good rule of thumb in choosing a durable product is to evaluate the brand/manufacturer.
Furthermore, with so many faucet brands on the market nowadays, it can seem a little overwhelming to do your due diligence on each and actually determine if you’re purchasing a reliable product. Nonetheless, a solid strategy to utilize here is to look out for the established brands that have years of experience. The faucet world includes several reputable brands, including Delta Faucet Company, Moen, American Standard and Kohler.
Functionality
Just as you want a faucet that looks good and can hold up over time, you also need a faucet that works, right? With that in mind, it’s no surprise why our next quality to look for is functionality. Luckily, for the most part, the purpose of a faucet is pretty straightforward and we probably don’t need to go into much detail on that! However, understanding some of the added functionality possible is worth talking about.
Added Features – Remember how I just mentioned the importance of purchasing fixtures made by quality and reliable brands? Well…another benefit to be had from this is the realization that many of these industry-leading brands have also been at the forefront of innovation on countless occasions over the years. For kitchen faucets, in particular, one cool innovation we wanted to bring up here has been the voice-activated options. Pair your faucet with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa and all of a sudden you can ask the faucet to perform specific commands. If you’re someone that enjoys implementing this cool new technology into your home, be sure to look out for other smart plumbing fixtures as well!
Style – While style can certainly fall under the “appearance” category, we added it here because it also has ties to the functionality aspect of a faucet. With this, I’m referring to a number of variables, including:
- Single-handle vs dual-handle faucet
- Pull-down vs pull-out faucet
You can certainly break down styles even further than that, but I wanted to provide you with a brief glimpse at a couple of the main categories.
Price
The final characteristic that we’ll discuss in this week’s blog post is price. Fortunately, this is another area where consumers will benefit from all of the quality brands currently in the faucet market. If you’re looking for something basic that still has a professional appearance, you should be able to find a faucet fitting that criteria. Likewise, if you’re searching for a kitchen faucet that has all of the bells and whistles, you’ll have no trouble finding something there as well! In the end, if you have a general ballpark price in mind on how much you’re looking to spend for the faucet, that will also be a great way to filter out options that don’t fall in your desired price range.
Kitchen Faucet Services in Kansas City
As a plumbing company offering residential, commercial and new construction plumbing services, you can probably guess that we’ve worked with more than a few kitchen faucets over the years. Throughout this week’s blog post, we highlighted a number of qualities that are worth considering prior to purchasing your new kitchen faucet. Even though there are quite a few options to pick from, narrowing down your search by brand, finish, size and price can make things a lot easier! If you live in Kansas City and need a kitchen faucet installed, we would be happy to help. Feel free to give us a call at (816) 348-3481 to speak with a member of our team!