I just made my choice of faucets. I am going to go with the Grohe pull down for 2 reasons: Pull down vs pull out: since I purchased this house recently, the pull-out faucet has constantly loosened and water has been leaking all over the sink under-cabinet! But as I had planned on doing a complete remodel (watch out cabinets, took me 2 hrs with a good hammer and built-in frustration to gut everything out!) On top of that, the pull-out ball front of the faucet kept hitting my tall pans and frustrating me even more! And forget trying to clean the sink all the way around! So a pull-down was an easy decision (got to be a nice improvement to the old pull-out!) 2. I chose Grohe after reading the hundreds of blogs on this incredible website and because Grohe is a german company who has been making incredibly strong and dependable faucets for so long! Check out their groheamerica website (http://www.groheamerica.com/t/25_4021.html) one of these days, you will be impressed with the number of medals they have won! Now I have to decide which Grohe: Ladylux or Bridgeford. Irawoods.com has them starting at $312 with free shipping and taxes and I know I am going to find it even cheaper on other internet sites.

Our Kohler Simplice retracts and stays in place better than our Elkay Moda, but like Breezy, I know part of the problem is too much stuff under the prep sink that interferes with how the weight works on the hose. I love having the pull downs. We've had ours over 4 yrs. Misslivvy, other things you might want to watch for is if the pull down actually has a spray option (the Simplice does and the Moda doesn't, so I miss that feature at the prep sink), and whether the spray option stays engaged when you're not holding the button and after you turn it off. It's nice not to have to hold the button down, but also, it's frustrating when the kids engage the spray and it comes on the next time I turn on the faucet and don't expect it. ;-) As Breezy said, also, I only find splashing to be a problem with user error... When we hold things in the stream of water too high and too close to the faucet. I imagine it depends on the depth of the sink, too....But ours aren't super deep. (7-9")

There's a huge range in price, as you say in sink faucets. Still, there are really good brands and buys at every price level. In theory, price should go up with the amount of brass and integral (meaning real finish not coated) metal used in a faucet. So the heavier the better. Most faucets have some plastic pieces. Certain brands carry a status premium -- Dornbracht, Waterworks. They are excellent quality but you pay plus for styling and name. I personally favor pull downs over side sprayers and pull outs (I have one of each) but that's very personal. As someone said, it's one less hole in the deck. But I'd suggest going to store and do a pull and touch and see what appeals. I have a pull out in our mudroom but found I don't care for the "heavy head". Pull downs tend to have smaller, lighter heads. Some pull downs have a switch to sprayer. There is the lock vs nonlock function on that to check. Some don't mind holding it down for the spray; others want to push the button and have it stay. Check which faucet silhouette appeals. (I pick the same shape over and over but not everyone will). Examine the hoses. On the mid-range and lower end faucets those pull outs will likely be a knit mesh reinforced with some metal. On higher end faucets they are all metal. Also be sure the length of the pull down will reach all around the sink. These can vary a bit. I also pull the specification sheets for every faucet from the mfgr website so I can see how it will work in the space behind the sink -- to see how it opens, how much clearance is needed, to be sure the spout swivel is ok and won't hit anything. That there's clearance for each aspect. A lot of people go for Deltas, Grohe and Kohler faucets. There are KWC fans on the high end plus several others including Rohl. Then there are brands like Chicago Faucet and one Sabjimata recommends (perhaps she'll weigh in here) that are said to be very sturdy and reliable. Someone linked a faucet quality assessment from a builder's website. I don't have it bookmarked but whoever does might link it. Basically it runs through a lot of brands and makes subjective judgments about them. I don't agree with all the categorization and judgments but it's all subjective anyway and there are a large number of brands reviewed so it's a useful place to check.

I haven't bought my faucet yet. I'm using a $10 stop valve for now, and it's on a flexible bendable pipe that holds its shape (Kitec iPex). For my ideal faucet spray, I think I's like the spray wand to be a little "tip" at the end of the hose. I don't like large spray wands, even when I have pulled the hose farther out of the tube. I've tested out faucets in other people's kitchens and I've been to every showroom and hardware store within 50 miles. I think that, according to all who have one, a pull-down or pull-out spray is easy to use. It seems to me that people pull it out (or "down") most often to rinse off the side walls of the sink. I've observed people pulling the spray out a few inches for this. On web sites, manufacturers' videos seem to show me most often people pulling the spray out a long way in order to fill a vase on the counter next to the sink. (This doesn't make sense to me: I could just put the empty vase into my deep sink... besides, I only fill a vase once in a blue moon, but I rinse the sink out constantly.... oh well, who cares about "real" needs when we can fantasize about vases.) Pulling downwards is easier than any other movement because your arm's natural strength is highest when you only move it from up to down. Pulling it downwards is one straight movement, with a straight arm using the big flat muscle under your shoulder blade. (Like in swimming or in cross country skiing). It's technically harder to pull something outwards sideways as it requires several other muscles. It's harder for two reasons. One is that more muscles = more coordination. The other is that the muscles coordinated are the smaller ones. I have a vacuum cleaner with a hidden self-returning coiled spring loaded electrical wire (hope that is clear). The effort is weird sometimes pulling it out. A pull-OUT spray makes you pull sideways. Pulling it out the longest possible length reminds me of pulling out the vacuum cleaner electrical cord. Mind you, I would almost never have a reason to pull the hose out the longest possible amount. Pulling sideways has one other disadvantage: it puts more stress on the junction points where the faucet body meets the countertop hole or sink hole, and where the swiveling part of the body sits in the fixed part of the body. In a small faucet body this is insignificant, but the bigger the body the more the rocking. I think this explains why larger faucets are mostly configured to have a rounded tube at the top, so you pull downwards (straight down) more than outwards (towards you). Pulling downwards puts a physical stress on the faucet base that is mostly downwards, and that is not going to weaken the faucet body swivel joint or the bolted connection to the counter or sink. Pulling more towards the side forces the metal body to receive this side to side force more often, and it could lead to something loosening up. The Arwa Surf faucet seems to me to be a good compromise in terms of shape, if you don't want a long rounded top on a high faucet. Use "Arwa Surf " as key words for your web search if you want to see it the shape. All faucets are installed a few inches away from the sink wall, and they reach forward about 8 or 9 inches. I'll guess the query about it seeming "like it would collide with the front of the sink" is more about the spray shooting too far forward, and not about any collision when one pulls the spray out of the tube. A spray that shoots straight down or slightly forward is going to end up hitting the sink bottom. All faucets do this; they project the stream down onto the sink bottom, some a bit more forward than others. hth