AniaWin, That's why I love GW. You can talk to people that actually have an use the appliances you're considering. I'm personally pretty sensitive to noise. For example, our Kenmore induction range has no fan to cool the oven after use. The induction cooktop fan only turns on when using high heat, and is quiet / unobtrusive enough that I only notice it when it turns on and quickly forget about it. You'd never hear it over a range hood (and if you do, tell me who made your range hood). The convection fan in the oven, on the other hand, is relatively loud and annoying. It turns on when pre-heating the oven and when using any convection settings, and is one of my main dislikes about our range. It doesn't keep me from using the convection settings, but I will turn the oven on using regular Bake so that I don't have to hear the fan once the oven's pre-heated while I finish my prep work, and switch the oven over to Convection Bake once everything's done and ready to go in. I am, admittedly, sensitive to noise. For example, I switched all our bathroom fans out for the quietest I could find, and while they no longer bother me they're still not quiet enough for my tastes.

I need to replace my pull-out sprayer on laundry room faucet. The buttons that make it go from spray to steam are broken. It's a delta and they don't just sell the buttons - you have to buy the whole wand assambly. Anyhow, I was about to spend $67 on a new wand when I saw a universal wand for any pull out. It came in stainless steel and was less than $30.! I bet you can find a universal pull down too. That was at Home Depot. I didn't actually get that one bcause the lady at HD asked if my faucet was still under warranty. I didn't know and she called delta and it was! 5 - yr warranty apparently. So they are sending me a new wand assembly at no charge! So if you can figure out the brand you might call the company and ask to ship you one. If not, check out the universal ones.

LWO - I'm reading into your statement, but are you saying that Grohe is a crappy quality faucet? Correct me if I'm wrong. We've had a Grohe LadyLux Plus faucet for years without any problems. It doesn't have to be reset from spray when you turn it off. We love it. When we go to my sil's new house, I can see that that is one place she skimped. Her faucet is a piece of crap. Our Grohe has held up with heavy use and when we remodel we will use the same faucet and add another Grohe to our prep sink. However, if I loved the Kohler Karbon as much as you seem to, I'd try to swing that one if at all possible. I think it's a really cool faucet but I just couldn't justify the cost for *me.* Oh, and I wouldn't go with the cheap screw-on spray attachment.

I don't know if it is comparable at all but I had to replace my broken fixtures and the did it through the back where it is attached to the pipes anyway. Since you have relatively small footprint fixtures, any disturbance to the tiles might be able to be handled with some kind of matching metal plate. I just hired plumbers and any part of the wall now showing (i.e. isn't covered by metal parts) doesn't have holes so I assume they found fixtures that more or less retrofitted to the holes. I know that they attempted to just find internal replacement mechanisms for a repair but they couldn't so the front part also had to be taken out. I am completely a lay person with only the most basic understanding and no knowledge of plumbing nomenclature - all I know is that they went in from the back and then had to retro fit something to the front. Mine was a hideous fiberglass tub/shower enclosure but the principle would be the same in terms of not having a gaping hole where a different fixture was installed.