Thanks gaucho_gordo. So that has a 1.5 gallon tank? When that's used up, does the unit heat water for continued use, or does your primary water heater kick in by then?

I really like the idea of instant hot water at the kitchen sink. Living in water starved CA, it kills me to run several gallons of water down the sink to get hot water for the hand wash or to clean the counters. Have you read the reviews on the unit you're thinking of though? Of the 39 people who reviewed it, roughly half thought it was acceptable (4 or 5 stars, evenly divided) and the other half thought it was terrible (1 or 2 stars, close to evenly divided). Only a couple gave it a 3. The complaints in the reviews were pretty consistent about warm vs. hot water and it only working when the water volume is turned way down. Even given that more unhappy people will be motivated to review a thing, this is still a sad performance.

We are also doing a major renovation, so I'd love to hear from folks who found a point of use heater that makes sense for quick hot water at the kitchen sink.

Both I guess. The tank is refilled by house hot water, which is cold initially. So if I run hot water continuously for a few minutes, it will start hot, then get noticeably less hot after about a minute, then start warming up again after 100 seconds. We almost never run enough hot water at once to notice this, but when we do, the heater recovers after a few minutes.

I hadn't actually looked at reviews of the unit Suzanne, just noodling around with the idea. This summer was really dry even in Seattle, and I'd run water into a watering can waiting for it to heat up, which saves water, but isn't the most convenient.

I'd guess the complaints are more a result of incorrect sizing and expectations than a failure in the units. Based on a quick google search for Seattle's tap water temperature and a look at Rheem's water temp and flow rate chart, I'd need the model 13 or 18 to get water up to just 105 degrees. Unfortunately, the 18's price jumps up to $390 on Amazon. EcoSmart units seem to have better Amazon reviews.

Gets tankless water heater with a recirculation module. I have the Rinnai Rur98i. Hot water is at faucets in under 5secs. The recirculation mode has a timer so we set it at the time we use the most. If you still want a point of use unit, look at models by Stiebel Etron. Before I went to a whole house tankless, I had the eemax point of use at my bathrooms which were farthest from the water heater.

Tankless and recirc have pros and cons. Tankless requires more electrical or gas service, which comes at a cost. And recirculation heats pipes unnecessarily, which is inefficient, especially if the house wasn't insulated for it by design.

This is a great idea. There are many of these units I would keep looking until you found a better reviewed brand.

I looked into converting from natural gas fired tank water heaters to tankless -- primarily to be more 'green'. After getting estimates, I figured we wouldn't live long enough to recoup the costs to re-fit.

We already have a recirculating pump on our hot water lines. This provides hot water to every tap in the house in seconds. (2900 sq ft single story)

Is tankless more green or less expensive to operate?

I have not had my tankless long enough to view the costs of use. My gas bill is lower but that is just for the last month. It has been installed for two months. The tankless unit I have has a recirculation pump built in so I did not have new plumbing installed. The cost of the unit was more expensive than a tank based water heater but due to the size needed to support three bathrooms and the location it could be placed in, I could not use another tank based water heater. The tank based water heater had to be cut apart to be removed from its location