Kitchen Faucets--Introduction

The kitchen faucet (along with the kitchen sink) is perhaps the most often used appliance in your kitchen, or even in your entire home. It is a good thing, therefore, that kitchen faucets are also perhaps the simplest and most dependable appliances on the market. All you have to do is pull, twist, or lift the faucet handle, and water rushes out of the spout at an adjustable temperature.

 

Several manufacturers offer kitchen faucets; Delta, Kohler, Moen, Pfister, and American Standard are among the leading dealers. Basic faucets (which are perfectly adequate) cost as little as fifty or sixty dollars while elaborate models with multiple features and exquisite styling can cost $750 or more. Home improvement warehouses, such as Lowe’s and Home Depot, offer a wide variety of faucets, but you can also find faucets at hardware stores, some general retailers, and plumbing supply stores.

 

 

·        Compression: This traditional (and inexpensive) kitchen faucet uses a washer to seal the water passageway. The presence of rubber washers makes these faucets prone to dripping, but they are also easy to fix.

·        Ball: In these models, a rotating metal ball controls the water flow, so there is less need for maintenance than with a compression faucet.

·        Ceramic-Disc: These faucets use two discs to open or close the tube to the spout. Disc faucets are extremely durable, but they are also more expensive than other models.

·        Cartridge: Cartridge faucets have similar advantages and disadvantages to ceramic-disc models.

 

Before you purchase a kitchen faucet, make sure that it matches your sink, both in decoration and logistics. A small sink, for example, usually looks best with a small faucet, and you may want to match colors as well. Your sink also has preset holes to match a faucet and a certain number of handles, so make sure your faucet can fit these restrictions. Some sinks and faucets are sold as a package, but in this article, we are focusing solely on faucets.