an ode to weird functional things.
you force it to move its shape, and it sticks.
you get to choose if you use one or both of two spray patterns.
you get to install the handle joystick where you want within 8": even on the sink wall.

I hope you love your Karbon. :)

I have no actual advice for you other than to tell you that I am right-handed and always end up turning on the hot water for everything, because that is the handle on the left. I seem to always have either a pot or a glass in my right hand, or else it's covered in something sticky and I'm reaching for the soap with it as I turn on the water with my left.

I second northcarolina's experience - I've got a moen aberdeen with a separate joysticky handle set to the right, and am forever having to put something down to turn it on. Handle on the left might actually be the best ergonomic position for righties?

Wishing you joy with the Karbon love. You really can't go wrong there.

Laughing, laughing, laughing! I've always thought that the Karbon looks dumb (but *love* the Stages 45 sink!!), and now you tell me it's highly functional! I'm definitely into functional.

P.S. With modern dishwashers, you don't really have to blast clean the plates. As long as you get the uneaten half a roll and the chicken bones off the plate, you're good to go. Well, there's dried-on egg yolk, but that can't be solved with blasting, only soaking.

Suzannesl - you're right and that makes me feel better. I guess I'm stuck with the get-it-clean-before-you-wash it mentality and I hadn't actually been fully crediting how dated that is anyway. So thanks.

The two happiest times I've had dishwashing were (1) hand-crank pump outside and down steps and around a corner away, and (2) commercial cafeteria setup. So ... maybe ever trying to gratify some idealized image was never a good idea anyway.

Suzanne - it's not yet installed but I'll tell you how it turns out in practice. One who loves it in part for its style and lines has mentioned it's not sufficiently "blasty" for cleanup perhaps, though others declare it trouble-free. I was as surprised as you by the practice run in the store.

And it sure isn't as if you can tell anything from the manufacturers' video - gosh those things, the faucet videos, have evolved straight out of the realm of utility; I'm surprised they don't set naked women to selling the things - or perhaps naked men. There's nothing of use on the official video, just random droplets of water jetting in random directions. Thanks, guys.

All you righty-Karbon users: wouldn't setting the joystick on the left and approaching it with dirty hands just result in the sleeves of your dirty hands getting wet as the water courses down on top of where you had to reach across to manipulate the joystick?

? Anyone out there mount the joystick to the left of the faucet and live to tell the tale?

Thanks...

Not if you point the Karbon over to the plant on the windowsill instead. I mean, what's the point of having one if it's going to aim down into the sink all the time? [ha]

The thing is, my right hand is the dirty/occupied one, so I turn on with my left. A right-mounted side handle would be the one getting my sleeve all wet.

Personally I think the only reasonable place for a single handle is above the faucet -- or better yet, turn the thing on with your foot to avoid the issue -- but don't listen to me, I've been stuck with a two-handle one for years and really anything would be an improvement, for the way I use my faucet.

(p.s. I have been thinking about a Karbon too, though it would blow my budget and probably not go with my kitchen style, if I ever have a style. Function, function, function. Plus it comes in a wall-mount.)

I always always always turn on faucets with my right hand. I'm very right handed, and my left is mostly there for a counter balance. That means I hold stuff in my left and turn on with my right. Always.

My biggest hesitation with the Karbon was the controller. I would have rathered one on the stalk, plus the controller needs a bigger hole than standard. Crazy. But I also got a tapmaster--not something for keeping costs down--so only use the controller when my housekeeper has turned it off. I think it bothers her. :) I also only use it for prep. I thought I'd be rinsing baking things in my prep sink, but I seem to carry them the extra couple of yards to the clean up sink.

Both of my faucets have good sprays. The MGS (also not budget friendly) has a slightly better spray than my carbon, but then I only have one kind of spray on it, as far as I know, and David mentioned two.

Re giving up the blast-o-matic: I know you're environmentally conscious. Using all that water is a no-no! If you have blast worthy gunk, like Suzanne's egg, or a dishwasher which hasn't quite gotten with the program, run a little water in each of the dishes and rinse them quickly with low flow, and you'll get to the same place with a lot less water volume down the drain. And if you can manage the straight into the machine version, all the better. The new machines use less water for a whole load than hand washing in any by the most conservative, camping, style.

Re looks, every design needs tension. The odd thing out. The--dare I say it?--ugly thing. The Karbon can only enhance your kitchen by being a bit strange looking. And like that old film with the desk lamp, you can anthropomorphize it and let it reflect your mood. Sometimes mine is a happy bird; sometimes it's Eeyore.

May I please ask for pictures of your Karbon/sink arrangements? thank you in advance.

That tapmaster would necessitate yet another hole, too, no? Or .... could you retrofit the airgap with tap master? Hmmm.... I hate soap dispensers almost - but not quite as much as - the extraneous airgap. Hmmmm....

Plllog, actually the semi-pro T&S Brass low-flow spray valves actually uses less water than the residential stuff (link below). They've actually engineered blast with hole-design and more. But they didn't account for niceties of bay windows and non-chef-whites.

OK, so now I'll adopt the thing as cute *and* ugly. I can live with that. A lot of us around here might fall under that rubric! I do take your point about, essentially, contrast and texture.

efs - I'll post mine anon. In the meantime if you google site:ths.gardenweb.com karbon you'll find several threads, many of which have photos.

Here is a link that might be useful: Low flow pre rinse spray head

The Karbon faucet was one of the very first things I decided on for my new kitchen. Didn't love the price but loved everything else about it.
There is 5" between my joystick and the faucet, seems perfect to me. I never considered putting the joystick on the left. My sink is 32" and there is plenty of spray to reach everything.

Here's my set up...

Nancy

No karbon here, nor will there be considering the price. I'll chime in on the stick side though. My faucets have always had a separate controller stick, and it's always been on the right. I'm very right handed, but always turn the stick with my right hand. I use the knife with my right so my left touches the pulpy mango as I chop or the toast as I butter it, etc. With my left usually dirtier than the right, I reach to turn on the water with my cleaner hand. If both hands are particularly nasty, I bump the stick with the back of my right hand.

How do you usually turn on your water?

Whew! The way you were headed, I thought your reveal pics would show a 4 horsepower under-sink gas motor driving a 3,000 psi pressure washer as your kitchen faucet. A Karbon sounds nice.

John, you're funny. Doesn't that rank a wacky picture of the sort that shows up in the appliances forum where overpowered ranges are the norm with periodic squabbles of preference among the TKO?

Breezy - I dunno?! I've got a single-controller faucet right now in the laundry sink that we've used for a year that's on the right side and I'm OK with that. I like your argument about the left hand actually getting dirtiest when they're not symmetrically filthy at least. This is a cleanup sink and the DW is to the left, dishes will be coming from the left; I think controlling stuff should come from the right. As long as I'm not hearing everyone saying 'geesh, those Kohler folks are *so right*, this is just a misconception to control from the right, it's left that we've all been missing for all these years' - as long as there's no hidden epiphany like this to be had, I'll just go with the seemingly-intuitive right placement. I wonder why they filmed it otherwise? Just trying to be obtuse, like the faucet, I suppose.

Regarding function: I chose single handle mounted above the faucet. I find that single handle to the either side of faucet is not multifunctional for various tasks. Depending on what I am doing, I may reach from right or left. Sometimes, I mix yucky stuff with my left hand and the left hand is dirty. I will turn on the water with the clean right hand. I hold the dirty dishes with left hand the water spray with the right etc. I like the versatility.

Other issues:
water to blast food before DW. As others have said, this is a no no. I scrape the plate with a large wooden spoon, spatula or whatever is dirty and used already that needs to be washed. I use minimal water to get dishes into the DW. The dishes come out perfectly clean. i have not "rinsed" my dishes in more than a decade with 3 different DWs that I have had over that time.

Restaurant commerical DWs do not really "clean" the dishes. They degrease and sanitize. You know this to be true when you see accidental lipstick stains left on the glasses at restaurants. They hire many people to make sure that there are no lipstick stains left on the drinking glasses by hand washing/blasting/cleaning the dishes before the DW. I don't know about you, but I would rather rely on the DW that takes care of dishes without blasting!

I finally went to see the faucet in action...

David you wrote:"one or both of two spray patterns."

The one I saw had only one "spray pattern" (two ways of water flow, but only one spray- is this what you meant?) and once the spray was on, it can only be turn off (switched back to a regular flow) with turning off the water and "restarting" the flow- is this normal for this faucet?

yes, and yes.

two ways to have the water flow.
"narrowstream or broadspray"

thanks and I should have asked as well: does it bother you?

Most of the cleaning up involves cleaning out your wallet.

too funny.

this is amazing to me that you finally ended up with a karbon... what a shopping adventure! (i ended up with a boring price pfister because i couldn't get excited about anything in my price range.)

well, it seems like a cool/fun faucet. enjoy it. :)

I've got a pull down faucet with attached control on the right, and am forever having to use my left hand in an under the faucet motion to get to the control on the right. Handle on the left might actually be the best ergonomic position for righties! i think about this allll the time.

As I read through this post I forgot it was about a faucet. I think I got lost with the right handed adventures and laughed and laughed :)))). Sorry! Being a completely left handed person, (including appliance cord locations and spatula slopes and the twist ties on the bread when right handed people twist them) everything is backwards in my under-represented world.

Aliris, A haiku for you

Oh endless choices
Your new kitchen has many
Shopping is not fun

Plllog - I hope your faucet is always a happy bird.

Celtinne, thanks for the good wishes. :) I don't actually set my own to my moods, but when it's being Eeyore, I do sometimes go and change it. Eeyore is cute (and my favorite second to Pooh, really), but his outlook can be a downer. :) Great haiku. :)

Efs, I knew about the no going back for the spray when I bought the Karbon, but it was about the only practical choice for my prep sink and how I was going to be using it. It annoyed me for a few weeks, but it's no big deal. Then, like anything else, I got used to it. Not the kind of used to that's a constant annoyance, but the kind of used to where that's the way it is and I don't notice anymore. The annoyance that doesn't go away is that it won't spray (dribble) on a very low amount of water.

I love my Karbon, especially because it's 'broken' and only sprays, not streams. Kohler is sending me the missing part so that I can have both options, but I hesitate to install it! I am loving the spray.

I am left handed and have the controller installed to the left of the faucet-that's left as I face it. It's fine. I turn it on with my left and can grab it with my left. I have a 30 inch wide sink and a third hole for a soap dispenser.

I am so happy with the function and looks of my new kitchen that I simply don't fret about all the details I worried about, before the new kitchen. I love my Karbon.

You can only question the placement of the controller on this forum, because to the outside world you'd only be nuts.

celtinNE:

Buying things makes me:
loco bonkers crazy nuts
What's wrong with a hut?

plllog: we Karbon Karers need a how-to guide! I just checked and I think I've got a blue heron roosting. Maybe it's a night heron. How do you entice pooh to visit?

To reno kitchens I think we have to be loco bonkers crazy nuts.
At this point a hut sounds devine:)

I've now had the Karbon for about 2 months and basically love it. The joystick, however, not so much. Very difficult to control volume/temperature. Can get one, but tough to get both right. Seems to me Kohler should engineer it better.

Napabill, try adding a Tapmaster. Then once you get the stick in the right place, you control the on/off with your foot! :)

CeltinNE, just saw your query for the first time. Sorry for the confusion. Eeyore is my favorite Milne character after Pooh (the original, not the Disney). I haven't seen Pooh in the faucet yet--I think he's too gregarious to stand still that long. Eeyore inspires the Karbon regularly, but when he looks too sorrowful I do sometimes change him to the flamingo.

We have two of the Karbons on the 45 Stages sink as we have no space for a prep sink (we have loved this set up and the Karbons) - we opted to put one joystick to the left and one on the right. If only one of us is using the sink, we always seem to use the right faucet with the joystick on the right (DH and I are both lefties) I always seem to have a dirty plate in my left hand... here is my totally over-posted pic :-)

Hard to over-post that, Laura. So funny that you just split the difference and installed one of each way. Very social birds.