Time for Part 4 of “Who’s Who in Plumbing Brands.” If you’ve been following along on our plumbing blog, this is a series that we started earlier this year. The reasoning behind starting it is fairly straightforward. In the plumbing industry, there are quite a few different brands and manufacturers to pick from. For the average consumer, it can even feel a little bit overwhelming to browse through these and truly separate the reliable brands from the lackluster ones. Knowing this, we thought why not compile these in an easy-to-read blog post that fills you on the information you need to know? Maybe that means discussing the history of the brand and how long they’ve been around for. Or possibly it involves breaking down the products they sell and how much flexibility the consumer has in terms of finding something capable of matching their vision for the space. In either case, there are simply a lot of brands to pick from and we wanted to simplify the buying process for consumers!
Interested in checking out the previous editions of this blog series? Here are links to the individual blog posts, along with the brands that were featured:
Part 1: Delta, Kohler, Toto and American Standard
Part 2: Moen, General Electric, Gerber and Grohe
Part 3: Elkay, Sloan, InSinkErator and Pfister
With that being said, let’s get right into our latest edition of “Who’s Who in Plumbing Brands!”
North Star Water Treatment Systems
When it comes to water softeners, our team at Stine-Nichols primarily works with two different manufacturers. One of these is the citrus-based, NuvoH2O, that we’ve featured on multiple occasions on social media. The second is North Star Water Treatment Systems, which sells salt-based softeners. Both sell tremendous products and we feel comfortable recommending them to our Kansas City customers. For the sake of this blog post though, we’ll discuss North Star in greater detail.
As is the case with any reliable brand, a perfect barometer of their effectiveness comes down to “experience.” Founded back in 1925, North Star is closing in on 100 years in the water treatment business. Having said that, it’s not hard to see how they’ve been able to position themselves at the forefront of countless innovations in this particular industry. Another positive is their continued focus on top-notch quality and not taking any shortcuts in doing so! As stated on their website:
“Our three manufacturing facilities, all located in the U.S.A., boast ISO 9001 certification. And since we manufacture 95 percent of all components in our systems, we maintain strict control over the quality of our finished products.”
Before we move on to the next brand, a final positive with North Star is their flexibility on products. They truly are a one-stop shop for salt-based water softeners. Residential or commercial, they have a few softener models to pick from, as well as filtration systems.
KitchenAid
Our next brand that we’ll highlight might not be something you would expect to see in a plumbing blog, but there are certainly plenty of connections between the two. And that brand is KitchenAid. This is a brand that has been around for awhile and offers a wide range of products! In fact, KitchenAid celebrated their 100-year anniversary in 2019. It’s safe to say over this 100-year period, they have constantly been innovating better ways of doing things, expanding their product lines and essentially making the shopping experience for consumers that much easier. How about some key milestones that’ve been notable throughout this journey? Here’s a few of our favorites listed on their website:
1919: Their original kitchen stand mixer was brought to the market. Known as the “Model H-5,” this has certainly become one of their most well-known products over the years.
1949: KitchenAid enters the dishwasher industry with a residential model utilizing a pressurized system.
1986: After acquiring another company, they brought refrigerators to their product line in the 80’s.
2008: Another new product for KitchenAid, as they started selling cooktops as well.
A common theme throughout all of this is growth. Just as their name says, they are dedicated to making the entire kitchen experience as seamless as possible. Microwaves, dishwashers, blenders, grills, you name it. Considering this is a plumbing blog though, I wanted to highlight one product in particular and that is garbage disposals. You’ll notice their garbage disposals all typically come in their signature red color and are sold at any major home improvement retailer, such as Home Depot or Lowe’s. Yet another quality kitchen appliance for the kitchen company that sells it all!
Kraus
A blog about different plumbing brands wouldn’t be complete without one that specializes in faucets, right? If you checked out any of the previous posts, you’ve likely seen a handful of faucet brands. It certainly is a competitive industry and one filled with plenty of top-notch brands. That brings us to our next brand we’ll discuss, Kraus. Kraus primarily sells sinks and faucets. Based out of New York, Kraus is also a much younger company, as they were founded in 2007. Since then, they have worked to put a new spin on the faucet world. On their About Us page, they mention their original goal of “revolutionizing affordable kitchen & bath design by making a wide variety of clean, modern, high quality products accessible to every consumer.” Considering most of the major faucet brands have been around for decades (some even over a century), it certainly is interesting to watch how a younger company approaches things.
Despite being a younger business, Kraus is certainly no stranger to innovation. If you browse through the faucets pages on their website, you’ll notice there’s no shortage of sleek designs and of course, high quality options. All in all, there’s no denying that the faucet industry is a competitive industry. Whether it be residential, commercial, kitchen or bathroom, Kraus has become a well-known brand in it.
Special thanks to the awesome team at Kraus for supplying the photo used on this blog thumbnail, as well as the images on the social media posts!
Need Installation Help or Advice?
We hope you enjoyed our latest edition of “Who’s Who in Plumbing Brands.” From North Star’s industry-leading water softeners and KitchenAid’s 100 years of experience to Kraus’ innovative take on faucets, it was fun highlighting these amazing brands. Believe it or not, even after doing four of these blog posts, there are still plenty more brands and manufacturers to discuss. Whether it be high-end faucet companies, name brand water heater manufacturers, freestanding tub businesses or anything else plumbing-related, we’re actually just scratching the surface so far on this blog series! Stay tuned for an inside look on some of the top brands in the plumbing world. Trust us, there’s plenty more out there!
Do you live in the Kansas City area and need help with installing a plumbing fixture? Maybe you’re ready to update your faucets, but have no idea where to begin? No worries, you’ve come to the perfect place. Our trained technicians at Stine-Nichols Plumbing have years of experience with not only plumbing repairs, but also installation services. Water heaters, faucets, sinks, showers, tubs, garbage disposals, water softeners, you name it! For more information or to simply speak with a member of our team, don’t hesitate to give us a call at (816) 348-3481. You’re also more than welcome to fill out our online contact form and a member of our team will be in touch!