I'm going to guess that when you replaced them it wasn't because of a problem with the finish, but the function. This article justifies their "compare the finish only" approach by saying that "all but the cheapest faucets" now have better valves, etc., so they're assuming function is the same across all the brands. To that I say, "Really??" As if people are spending money for the durability of the finish.... I don't think so.

I think alot more goes into pricing than just quality; for example you will probably pay more for a fancy name, or if something is a new style or shipped from overseas. And some good 'name' brands might have cheaper models with plastic parts that are sold at the big box stores.

All I know is that I've been happy with Kohler (kitchen, 4 baths, 1 mudroom/laundry sink) so I'm sticking with it. We used cheaper faucets in the basement bath, old laundry room, and basement mini kitchen area, and they're OK but not great.

I also know my mom spent several hundred for a Grohe, and the spray mode didn't stay on unless you held it down. She hated it and replaced it with a Delta (uglier, but for her more functional.) But other people love their Grohes.

For me, I appreciated going to a store where several faucets were hooked up to a water source (Abt in Chicago area.) It's nice to kind of play with them in person to see what you think.

Looking at how something functions,
how well, how poorly, and
whether problems develop over the years....
I think there could be a consensus that one needs to avoid the no-name cheapest of the cheap.
These days it's hard to define where to draw the line.
Once you accept that you might want to spend more for goodwill in a brand name, you are now moving up the scale.
Once you accept that you might want to spend more for specific physical attributes, you are now moving "upmarket".

If you want to be cheap, look at how much you have money you have blown on cars, and leave faucetsnobbery alone. The cost of a faucet is 1/1000th the cost of your cars and their operating costs.

There was a thread opened a few days ago about something similar. But that thread didn't accuse "GW" of saying cheap faucets weren't worth it.

In that thread I posted 60 hours ago that "At a low price in a HW store, the faucets are all made in China. Get any old faucet with a pulldown spray. Far in the future you can upgrade. Even in the cheapest hardware store you will find faucets with a brushed finish, at a low price. Moen, Delta and Price Pfister will have long guarantees (that they honor) and will probably remain US companies for another few years or longer. Some of the house brands have no guarantees at all, although it can be hard to figure that out when you read the fine print. ...."

Here is a link that might be useful: Desperately need advice ...

We got a Chicago brand faucet for our kitchen and a Jado for our bathroom. You can actually feel the quality when you handle them (not installed yet). It reminds me how when I went from a Nissan and then test drove a Honda. The Honda had me when I closed the door on it. It had a much more solid/quality feel than the tinny Nissan I was leaving behind. Sometimes things may look similar but there is a difference.
Now, that is not to say that the best value is the most expensive. You can often find very functional and pretty at a lower price point. One does not need the Rolls Royce version of every element to have a good kitchen (or life, lol). You may find reasonable faucets that do the job just right too.
I am guessing the cheapest ones out there may not serve you as long as others, although price is no guarantee of quality.

There was a thread opened a few days ago about something similar. But that thread didn't accuse "GW" of saying cheap faucets weren't worth it.

No, not "accusing". There are some that have been lucky with the lower-priced fixtures but overall folks on here seem to recommend the uppermarket brands: Grohe, KWC etc and nothing is wrong with that at all. I'm on your side, really ha ha. I'm sick of replacing my shower heads & sinks every other year thus I have been reading ALL threads on here, and on the web, and consensus is I need to shell $$$ for my faucet **sigh**

OTH, I found out on here I can buy a Ticor sink for cheap that's GREAT quality (like Blfenton has) so I'll take that savings to buy a Grohe or KWC!

Good points about the finishes Kris_Ma.

Well, I found a few plumbing supply stores near me that sell KWC, Grohe etc so I'm off to play with some faucets.

My challenge is I need something on the kind of small side.

If you have a lot of faucet failure, you may have water quality issues. (Not unhealthy water--just bad on faucets!)

Nothing feels as solid as a Chicago Faucets faucet, I agree. But I've had American Standard faucets that were over 80 years old (you need one of those hardware stores that have "old guys" working the counter to maintain those) as well as new ones. Delta, Kohler, Moen, generic, etc. It's not high tech. They are just faucets. If you're getting a non-chrome finish, though, it might be worth getting something that isn't cheap. My generic brass faucet functioned beautifully but did it in a weird shade of green.

I just saw the Kraus faucet site.
Some are small: 14" h : http://www.krausproducts.com/kraus-kraus-kraus-stainless-steel-pull-out-sprayer-kitchen-faucet-kpf-2140_2524.html

Pure stainless through and through: http://www.krausproducts.com/kraus-single-lever-stainless-steel-pull-out-kitchen-mixer-kpf-2170_4194.html

http://www.krausproducts.com/kitchen/kitchen-faucets

--
Some people have said these are small: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=faucet

Grundtal bathroom faucet swivels like a kitchen faucet: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90144179

--

It is true that most kitchen faucets are too big to be called small.

Very good points fori, we do have very hard water & have installed a good water softner which should help somewhat--I hope!

Davidrol, thanks for the recommendations & I do love the look of those too. I have been hearing good things about Kraus. I just got back from our local plumbing store & I'm leaning towards the Grohe Dual Spray Pull-Out Kitchen Faucet, Asford model. It's very substantial and solid feeling. Although the trend is the longer neck ones I like the smallish ones--at least for my kitchen!
So thanks again everyone. Now I just need to find a good on-line store! :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Grohe Ashford - simple but sweet

I was terrified after reading all the GW faucet info. DH was set on a Price Pfister and I figured it would be awful and break very soon. Well it is nothing of the sort, it looks cute (IMO) and functions very well over 2 years later. I think sometimes we get a little carried away with trying to find the best of the best...

When it comes to plumbing I will spend top dollar in a heart beat (ok maybe not TOP because I didn't buy the ten thousand dollar turtle faucet I wanted for ds) but for quality plumbing, you do get what you pay for.

We purchased one cheap faucet in our last remodel and if we didn't have several welders on staff fixing the crap valves on that thing so it would install properly it would have cost a nightmare to deal with it. (the valve had to be reconstructed with new parts due to cheap construction techniques).

In our new house we replaced the old crap faucet on the old crap sink with a very high end faucet because we were tired of the leaking issues. Crap sinks I can deal with but crap faucets....never.

Fori,
Water Quality!!! Yup that is it. I have had no issues with
my Price Pfisters. I also have Kohler in the bathrooms..
It all starts with out entire house filter system, water
softner and purifyer.
All this time I was thinking I had a deal with my PP.
~boxer

Davidro1,
Excellent point! I use my faucet far more than my car and
I can honestly say I have spent lots for my cute little
BMWrrr. I wonder if there is a good German faucet. : )
~boxer

I usually think CR totally misses the point, but I have to say that the only thing wrong with the bathroom faucets that came with my house is that the finish is going. They're 25 years old. There was a drip on one, but the plumber fixed it. Didn't replace a part. Fixed it. (It's pretty even if the finish is going, so I wanted to keep it.)

OTOH, the kitchen faucet and master shower mixer both died. I wonder if it's single handle mixers that are the problem? We have very moderate water.

I think you can do as well, monetarily, with a cheap faucet and some DIY repairs as with an expensive, trouble free faucet. If you need a plumber to fix your faucet, however, the top quality one will probably pay for itself over time.

I had a problem with an Herbeau and a Harrington, each of which was a $1,000 item.

But they looked good doing it!

The plumbers told me the inner workings of these were junk.

Yet I am buying Herbeau again in my kitchen, pool bar sink and mudroom powder room. Those french, they get us every time!

mtn - you make me cringe... they get you because you let them. Fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice....

There are too many faucets in the sea to settle for paying a lot for poor quality....

I got my Jado for a steal or I'd have bought from AS or some other normal company.

In my experience some of the higher priced faucets are just not worth the $. We got so fed up with our expensive $900 Kohler kitchen faucet leaking we finally threw it in the garbage. Kohler was less than helpful, as was the retailer. We replaced it with a Delta unit that we really liked, it worked well & was easy to install.

In this house we decided to put in a Price Pfister because we weren't sure if we were staying here or not & it's been great. We had a problem with the soap dispenser no longer dispensing & they sent us a replacement, delivered free of charge directly to our house.

Most on this forum are enthusiasts, or TKO'd as it were.

Consumer Reports is usually not evaluating products for the enthusiast, but rather for the ordinary consumer who simply wants a faucet that functions fine.

Which most all do. The job of a faucet is very simple - pull lever, water comes out - and the technology is centuries old, so it makes sense that functional faucets should be widely and inexpensively available.

You can probably say the same for ranges and other appliances. I mean, the appliance industry has probably produced a billion ranges, they have more or less figured out the basics by now.

The $1,000 faucets, $2,000 sinks, $10,000 ranges, etc that we dig here are jewelry for the kitchen. Not actually necessary to wash dishes and cook food. But oh so fun for the TKO'd . . .

Dianaol,

There are really no other faucets that look like the ones I am getting from Herbeau. It is down to specifying what the hot and cold buttons look like. The Herbeau worked fine, it's just that it was wall mounted on a North facing outside wall in a powder room. No matter how much we insulated, it kept freezing. When the plumbers worked on it, they told me the inner workings of Herbeau and other high end faucets were often as junky as inexpensive brands .... it was all about the look.

SO to be fair, the problems with my Herbeau had to do with where it was installed, but as an aside my plumber dissed them.

As for the Harrington, that WAS a bad faucet. Drip problems, problems w sprayer not turning on , not turning off etc.

Truly i think Herbeau does a great job on design, esp for a period look. For example, I dont think you can find a substitute for the one below (uh oh, this is not a challenge to the GW'ers to go find one for half price, lol!)

Here is a link that might be useful: for my bar sink

For the heck of it, I started to count how many times I
touched my faucet.

washing hands, filling the dog bowl, watering plants,
cleaning vegetables, filling dish washer, rinsing a coffee
mug, washing hands (I must do this too much),

I touched my faucet handle 50 times yesterday. 50 TIMES!!
I had no idea I was using my faucet so much. It was
Davidro1 that had me thinking about the amount I use my
faucet and how much I have spent on it. I paid under $100
for a faucet that I have used already 10,000 times. And this
does not include 3 kids, DH and countless friends who hang
out at my home for dinner parties.

I cheaped out on my faucet. Don't get me wrong. I am lucky
with a good water filter, softer, purifyer my simple
Price Pfister Parisa faucet is doing great. But to realize
this is the Work HORSE of my kitchen and I am expecting a
$100 faucet to last 15 years.
Am I nuts?

And John, you are totally correct. CR is for the average.
The average shopper not kitchen guru or even car guru.
I am keeping my faucet but with no expectations and hoping
it lasts for another 10,000 uses.
~boxer

When I see faucets costing as much if not more than a major appliance then I have to draw the line. With faucets as with most things in life, the adage "You get what you pay for" is a damn lie. This is usually dragged out by those who need to justify the price. Price only partially correlates with quality. How is it, I can buy a Chicago faucet for well under $200 and this is a faucet that builders will tell you if you want a 100 year faucet this is a brand to get. Granted it doesn't have the styling that others do but I believe they are still made in the USA and apparently the quality is second to none.

In our new kitchen I replaced a $79 Glacier Bay from HD that was 4 years old. never a problem and I am sure it would have lasted years more. The new one is a Kraus stainless for $250. Great deal from Overstock plus a 10% coupon on top of it. I expect it to give me just as good a service as a very similar Kohler that costs almost $300 more. I guess what I am saying is that we use a lot of fictitious things to justify paying a high price for an object then defend that decision to the death. Sorta like how many got sucked into paying 30% to 50% more for a house that they knew wasn't really worth the money.

While researching faucet brands I came across the following reviews from a builder in Nebraska. (See link below.) It's a nice overview of what's available, price ranges, some pros and cons given for each line, in what seems to me an experienced and reasonable fashion (though, obviously my knowledge of plumbing is limited or I wouldn't have been doing this research in the first place.)

When I got to Chicago Faucets in their list and read "We have never heard of, nor do we know anyone who has ever heard of, a defective Chicago faucet" my choice became much easier.

Here is a link that might be useful: faucet ratings by Star Craft Custom Builders

I should have added that the ratings listed above also include a run-down on which conglomerates own which brands, where they're made, and sorts through some of the differences in seemingly identical models that come from home stores vs. plumbing supply places.

Faucet quality and price are determined by several factors.

The amount of real metal -- i.e brass -- in the faucet can be judged by how heavy it is. The quality of the metal machining is also a factor (technical but important).

Is the surface a "finish" made to look like metal or is integral/actual metal over brass. One Italian brand, mgs is 100% stainless steel inside and out (you pay for that, of course).

A majority of brands -- even the high end ones -- have plastic cartridges in the guts now though there are a few exceptions.

Then you have the brand reputation/marketing, prices and features.

There are good quality faucets at every price level -- I feel faucets are still really good values when you consider the amount of use they get.

It's possible to have a bad experience with so-called "top" brands (ask me how I know) and I don't especially care to pay for marketing of certain brands though they are very popular.

One reason why KWC is touted here is that these faucets have little plastic in them and operate beautifully. Customer service is good. F.ex. pull down hoses are metal vs. fabric mesh on others.

However, there are good quality faucets with less metal and many brands elicit enthusiastic recommendations (Grohe) with few complaints.

There are a lot of people in the world who would be thrilled with one of these.

Guess I don't need to chime in on what I think of faucets that cost more than dishwashers.

"You get what you pay for...dragged out to justify the price"... I disagree. Sometimes you DO get what you pay for. Sometimes spending a little extra on something that is built or engineered a little better is actually worth the money. And sometimes, you're spending money on just the name or a look. If you choose that knowing that the item isn't really built better than a less expensive counterpart, then that's your choice. And sometimes you're taken in by the price, thinking that it's better when it's really not--and that's where you have to put in due diligence researching. The information is out there, you just have to find it.

"I think sometimes we get a little carried away with trying to find the best of the best..."

For most of us, I'm not so sure that it's wanting "The best of the best" vs. wanting to get the best value for the money we are willing to spend on any given item. I'm totally willing to spend money (within budget) in order to get things that simply do what they are supposed to do, do it well, have a good track record for reliability, and are appealing to my eye--pretty much in that order. I chose where to spend to get a few 'extra' functions to feed my TKO tendencies and my passion for cooking, and where I can save on things I really don't care all that much about. I'm not sure anything that I have in my house could be considered the 'best of the best' in general. But for the most part, I bought the 'best', according to my parameters, that I can afford. That's good enough for me, and I am willing to let others make their own choices according to their budgets without judgment.

That said... $10K for a faucet in the kid's bathroom....holy WOW! LOL.

Just my $.02,

Cj