I am working on the plans for my kitchen remodel and am trying to determine if I can install a couple of wall-mount fixtures, namely a kitchen sink faucet and a pot filler along a North-facing exterior wall that experiences midwest winters. Yikes, that sounds crazy already. But wait, there's more.

The house, built no later than 1940, is structural brick; that is, two-layers of load-bearing brick (8"), then standard 2x4 framing plus 1" lathe/plaster for a grand total of 12.5" thick walls. The brick is tight with no cracks. The windows are Marvin replacements and very efficient. Ditto the basement windows. I have never had a frosting/freezing problem anywhere inside my house and I sure don't want to create one.

The kitchen walls will be coming down, so we will be able to see what it looks like back there eventually. In the meantime, speculating is more fun. :-0

I doubt there is much in the way of insulation, but we'll see. I know that there is a stack going up inside this wall which will be in the vicinity. Digressing here, but is there a minimum distance between the stack in the wall and the water lines?

Anyhoo, looking about the basement, I see that, the existing kitchen water pipes going up to the sink are 5.5 inches from the exposed brick but frankly, nothing feels uber-cold down there today. Maybe that's because it's a balmy 29 degrees F. outside?

Fwiw, the basement is unheated yet keeps an ambient temp in the 60's during cold weather. When I touch the brick inside the basement (above ground, obviously), it is only a wee bit cold. Nothing dramatic. Not that this is a fair test, but it gives me hope.

The non-kitchen walls upstairs also have this slightly cold-to-the touch feeling, however these rooms have 2x4 framing turned on its side (sorry don't know the technical term for this) plus 1-inch of lathe/plaster and probably little or no insulation. Under the kitchen sink, it seems like the same story. A smidgen cooler on the wall, but not cold.

So, given that we're going in like commandos with drywall and [new] insulation along the North wall, is there any chance wall-mount fixtures will work? Would I have to do anything new/special?

Got one plumber's opinion and he said he wouldn't do it, but he also has no experience with structural brick and it's insulating factor. [Like I do???]

Also wondering, what type of insulation to use? Have read that rigid foam board is a good choice for structural brick.

I do have a plan B: deck mount sink faucet and a side-wall or deck-mount or heck-just-forget-about-it with the pot-filler option.

For those who have made it all the way through this rambling piece of nonsense, your reward will be great. You can come over and help me paint this summer. :-) Bonus points for a response more useless than this post.