What to Look for When Searching for Your Next Kitchen Faucet
Your Kitchen is Your Command Center
Prepping for spaghetti night. Bathing the baby. Watering the plants. It should come as no surprise that you spend more active time in the kitchen than any other room in the house. And from selecting a finish to starting installation, there are plenty of things for you to consider when choosing your next kitchen faucet.
Think About What Goes on in Your Sink
When it comes to taking care of business in the kitchen, you need a faucet that’s built to handle everything you throw at it. Think about your everyday experiences and then see how the right combination of features — including handles, spout height, and sprayers — can help you create a space that works your way.
Hands-Free Convenience
Touchless Kitchen Faucets with MotionSense™ feature touchless activation, allowing you to easily turn water on and off with the wave of a hand.
Keep Everything in Reach
Whether you’re rinsing down the corners of your sink or cleaning fresh veggies from the garden, a faucet with the right sprayer helps make quick work of your kitchen tasks
Get Smart About Arcs
Have you ever shimmied a large pasta pot under a low spout or had your window view interrupted by a high spout? if so, then you understand how important it is to have a faucet that’s just the right height.
How to Choose the Perfect Kitchen Faucet for Your Kitchen?
Buying Considerations
Going head first into buying a kitchen faucet can be a costly venture for the unprepared. Beyond the pitfalls that could lead to you calling in a plumber, is getting it installed only to see it’s not really what you want. The kitchen faucet decision should be treated with care since you’re dropping so much on one item. Every kitchen has its own little theme so tailoring your wants and needs to a specific type is vital in the search, as what your neighbor has may be completely different than what you need. Below are some of the main considerations when looking for a kitchen faucet that you can use efficiently. After reading the 5 sections you should have a better overall idea of what it is that would work best in your kitchen, and you may even get some ideas for some of your friends. Don’t be afraid to spread the word or even do some Christmas shopping! There is always someone that could use a great kitchen faucet.
How to Install Faucet?
Take a good look at the area that you will be installing your new kitchen faucet into. Is there a faucet already there that needs to be replaced? Is this a completely new build that doesn’t have the hoses in place? And do you have a specific theme?
These are the questions you should be asking yourself when you want to purchase a kitchen faucet. And since not every brand is created equally, you’re going to need to decide on what install you want to do.
What Type of Sink Do You Have?
This may come as a surprise to some people, but there is a variety of kitchen sink types other than stainless steel. Stainless steel makes up the bulk of the industry and is clearly the leader. It is installed in more homes than all the other sink types combined, a statistic that won’t be changing anytime soon.
What Design Does Your Kitchen Sink Suit?
The design of a kitchen faucet will come into play when deciding if you are comfortable with the two lever or single lever system. As a reference, the two lever system is considered to be dying out, as the advantages of having it have been trimmed down to simply being able to use if one of the handles go out.
Our New Kitchen Faucet and 8 Easy Tips for Choosing the Right Faucet
It may seem like a strictly functional piece of hardware in your kitchen, but the truth is that your faucet is often a major focal point to the space. Usually sinks and stoves are the focal points in a kitchen. And a beautifully designed faucet not only complements a newly designed kitchen, but can also be the perfect finishing touch to a DIY-renovated-on-a-budget kitchen makeover as well.
Think about your the general style of your kitchen as well as the style of the sink that you have selected. Pairing a cast iron farmhouse sink with a super modern faucet may not work together unless you are going for a very edgy or eclectic look. Similarly, a strongly modern stainless sink would not suit a traditional bridge style faucet
Faucets generally come in three main finishes: chrome, nickel (or other brushed metal), or bronze. Consider the nearby cabinet hardware, as well as lighting and other metal finishes in the space. It doesn’t all have to match exactly, but choose a faucet whose finish works well with the other finishes in the space. Because I chose chrome and nickel finishes throughout the space in the cabinet hardware and lighting, I selected a chrome faucet to complement these finishes.
Faucets with a high arc are very on trend these days… but you need to consider the amount of space you have above your sink. If you have low cabinets or shelves above the sink, you may not wish the arc to be too high. Another thing to consider is the size of your sink…. a large sink may require you to select a faucet with a larger reach. The farmhouse sink that we selected is quite wide and deep, so choosing a faucet that had a spray option that would reach all the corners of the sink easily was critical.
A sprayer on a faucet is an amazing tool… a good sprayer can remove all kinds of gunk and mess for you, and it also can help to keep your sink cleaner. Often faucets with a separate side spray are not as convenient or effective as a sprayer that is built into the faucet itself. Some faucets, such as the one we chose, even have a little button on the faucet head to turn the spray on and off making this feature super convenient and easy to use.
How to Choose Your Kitchen Sink Faucet
As one of the most used features in your home, choosing the right kitchen faucet is not a decision to take lightly. This comprehensive guide gives you all the information you need to make a good choice. Find comprehensive tips on faucet mount, number of holes needed for installation, picking the right faucet style, finish, and features and how to measure for kitchen faucet size and reach. This guide also includes a comparison of pros and cons for kitchen faucet finishes.
Measuring For Kitchen Faucet Size and Reach
It’s important to check every aspect of the size of your faucet before you order. First, you need to address size as it relates to functionality. Second, to look balanced, your faucet should be in proportion to the sink. A large faucet would visually overpower a small prep sink, while a small faucet might look odd in a large sink and countertop area.
Height
You may find height expressed as deck to top of faucet and/or deck to aerator. Make certain you are choosing a faucet with adequate height to accommodate the items you’ll be washing or filling. The higher the spout, the easier it is to fit tall pots under it for filling or cleaning. If you have a shelf above your sink or a wide window ledge, a tall faucet may not fit.
Reach
This important (and often overlooked!) measurement refers to the horizontal distance from the faucet spout to its point of connection with the sink or countertop. In other words, how far the faucet extends into the sink. This measurement determines how large an arc your faucet can cover within the sink basin. This aspect of your faucet also needs to be coordinated with your sink size so the water stream does not hit too far back or forward within the basin.
Clearance to backsplash
Let’s say you fall in love with a faucet whose single handle controls temperature by rotating back. You bring it home and install it, and it looks fabulous. Then you turn it on…and find out that the handle hits your backsplash before it’s fully extended. Check the product specifications to see if there is a minimum recommended clearance to backsplash. Make sure the space between your backsplash and the handle allows for the recommended measurement, or select a faucet whose handle(s) have only forward motion to operate.
How to Buy a New Kitchen Faucet
Buying the right kitchen faucet depends largely on the existing plumbing. Choosing a new kitchen faucet can be easier than you think once you consider three important details before you begin shopping.
Start With the Sink’s Faucet Holes
There are many different kitchen faucet and sink designs available, but they’re not always compatible. Start by taking a look at your kitchen sink to determine how many pre-drilled faucet mounting holes are available. This applies if you’re installing a new faucet in an existing sink or buying a completely new faucet and sink.
The location of the sink mounting holes is another thing to keep in mind. Often, the faucet is located close to the center of the sink, but this is not always the case. If the faucet will be mounted on one side of the sink, the spout needs to be long enough to reach the opposite basin for it to be of use. A tall spout with a pull-down spray nozzle is another option for a sink with corner mounting holes
Where’s the Mount?
There are top-mount and bottom-mount faucets. Top-mount faucets attach from underneath the counter. The screws are screwed in through the bottom of the faucet. Bottom-mount faucets attach from the top of the counter. The screws are installed through the top of the faucet piece.
Check the Water Lines
Make sure the new kitchen faucet you want is compatible with the water supply lines. Look under your sink towards the bottom of the cabinet and note the size of the existing water line and the shutoff valves.