Post in the Kitchen forum for more feedback. Also post your budget for a faucet. This will impact the feedback.

MGS Faucets

Dornbracht

KWC

My selections above are based on stainless steel units.

Good luck!

Thanks. Budget is "as needed", which we can probably call $1200 max. If I'm going to eat a $3-400 faucet every couple of years, I can pay more up front to get one that lasts. Stainless or chrome finish is where we're headed.

If Kitchens will get me more traffic, I'll cross post over there.

2flying yorkies,

Looks at the MGS Faucets if you like the style. Really great quality and heft.

Good luck!

I'm partial to KWC. Great Swiss workmanship.

Big bucks doesn't always mean high quality. I go with standard American brands whose parts are easy to obtain. For example, I had a modestly priced Moen pullout faucet in my kitchen for over 10 years. And, when it developed a leak, they sent a new one free.

Are there any models (from any manufacturer) where the pull out spray is metal rather than plastic? That's been the weak link on my last couple of faucets of that type.

The reason so many of them have a plastic head is to prevent injury if you are holding the head while running really hot water through it, and to lessen the risk of breaking something if the head hits something. What problem have you been having?

Among other things, i've had cracking of the threads where the hose attaches to the head, and leakage around the spray/normal toggle. The Blanco was clearly made from a higher grade of plastic, but it was still somewhat disappointing. The Hansgrohe felt flimsy out of the box, and didn't take long to actually fail.

Note that it's just the two of us in the house, both engineers, so we generally are careful with things and know how to assemble and care for them. So abuse/misuse isn't terribly likely as a cause.

2flyingyorkies,

What is the quality of your water? Hard or soft water?

We have relatively soft city treated water. We're at about 130 mg/liter (7.5 grains/gal). Certainly not completely soft, but not so bad that we see lime scale or calcium buildup on things.

Look at Kohlers that have a lifetime warranty.

You don't say what finish you want, but I love Kohler's Clairette. Had them in my last 3 houses.

Our water heater is set at a typical 120-130F, so nothing unusual. And we rarely run things at full hot for long. Water pressure is also typical, at 40-45psi on city water.

The Blanco's primary undoing was a leak that developed in the main body around the cartridge. the sprayer wasn't perfect, but wasn't dripping/leaking too badly. This current Hansgrohe, though, is definitely not right at the sprayer connection threads. I've got it locked down for the moment, but i'm sure it's only temporary. Hopefully enough to get through the holidays, at any rate.

Regarding finishes, probably looking at stainless or chrome. The KWC's do look nice, particularly the Suprimo (which is the general configuration we're going for). Just need to figure out how far it throws the water, as the nozzle is at a 30 degree angle. No bricks and mortar places that sell them locally, so I can't try before I buy.

Interesting and curious that you have this repeated problem. I did a remodel over a year ago and bought a Hansgrohe at Costco for $150. It has a great spray head that has given us zero problems....

Yes, we've had more faucet problems than I would have expected. Even the bulletproof traditional Delta Classic in the laundry needed a replacement cartridge a few years back. The Grohe Eurodiscs in the bathrooms have proven indestructible after 12 years, though.

Years back we had a Hansa and really liked it - the styling & feel. I did have to replace the ceramic cartridge every few years and that was an inconvenience. We remodeled our current house and went with a KWC. It started leaking after 8 or so years and we couldn't get a replacement part so we went with a Kraus. Nice, heavy feel but I don't like that if you're in the spray mode it doesn't revert back to regular flow when the water's turned off like our KWC did. I'm always surprised when turning on the water afterward and it's on spray.