Like you posited, the splurge versus save means dont by poor quality plumbing fixtures, they will be failure prone, and the cost of repair/replace/damage remediation can be high.

Moen and Kohler are both good brands. Check our Starcraft reviews, Moen is the runner up in best midprice range faucet. http://www.starcraftcustombuilders.com/sources.faucets.Best.Value.htm

Get the best faucet that you like the style of. Personally I like simple style faucets because less nooks and crannies mean easier to clean.

You can buy a decent faucet for $150. It won't be the most stylish, etc... but it will be fine - esp if you like it. Nobody is going to feel differently about your house because you spent more money on the faucets. They may feel differently if you buy something that appeals to a narrow taste (leopard print wall paper, pink toilet, etc) but not mainline faucets.

People do have individual tastes. And if they don't like your choice in faucets, they can swap them out inexpensively

A home buyer looks at the neighborhood, the size, the layout, the general condition, and how it makes them feel. etc. They aren't looking at the faucets other than in the overall condition of the room.

The reality is that very few homebuyers will be able to tell the difference between a high end faucet and a less expensive faucet except in terms of the style. That is why there is a market for crappy faucets that look like higher end faucets.

If you are buying for yourself get the best quality faucet you can afford which would mean - generally speaking - a Moen or a Delta if you don't want to spend money.

You will find that the least expensive Moen or Delta faucets aren't that stylish but Moen or Delta do make more stylish faucets. However, the stylish Delta and Moen faucets will be more expensive than the crappy brands so you are paying for that quality.

Of course, if you want to splurge there are gorgeous high quality faucets. I upgraded to a more expensive fixtures than Moen and Delta because I could afford to and I knew I was paying for the aesthetics - not the functionality or "quality". I had a hideous Moen faucet in my kitchen prior to my remodel which was probably 15 years old if not more and it still worked perfectly - hot water when I wanted which I could mix to the exact temperature I wanted - shut on and off - no leaks :-).

I can tell you about the Kohler Devonshire sink faucets. We installed them in a double vanity, replacing the approx. 15 y/o Delta faucets that had the gold or brass plate finish coming off. Other than that, they worked fine.

The Kohler Devonshires have held up well for approx 15 years, the brass is still beautiful and I don't baby it, using regular bathroom cleaner in it. EXCEPT the one sink stopper is absolute rubbish. I've spent a small fortune on plumber visits and replacement stopper in the last 18 months. The bottom post of the stopper is plastic and it breaks off. The first one lasted a long time before it broke and the stopper would not raise or lower properly. It took three months to get the replacement, last year, it still never worked right. Another plumber call when I accidentally pushed the stopper down while cleaning the sink. The plumber had to go in under the vanity, remove some of the drain pipe, before he could get it unstuck and raised back up. I do not put drain cleaners down the drain, nor other corrosive chemicals, so cannot figure out why these keep failing.

in the meantime I now have to remember to pull the stopper all the way out, out every time I clean the sink. We did not replace it again,

We are doing a complete mstr bath remodel this year and I will go with some other brand and hope their sink stoppers aren't as problematic as this one. Oddly, the other sink in our vanity has had no stopper issues.

This sink stopper alone has me disappointed in Kohler. What this consumer can see is beautiful and lasts. The parts we cannot see are cheap plastic rubbish. Oh, right, I forgot about the cracked cartridge in the hot water handle (same sink) a few years ago. ~sigh~