"When we bid out a bathroom remodel the contractor told us to pick Delta or Moen. He refused to even consider Kohler due to its lower quality." This is the type of statement that contractors and plumbers make that I don't understand. I look at a lot of real estate and as a designer I tend to look at some things very specifically. Every relatively inexpensive spec house, every inexpensive tract house my sister has owned or rented, every flipped house, every on-the-tight-budget bath renovation my non-design friends do: Delta, Delta, Delta, Delta, Moen, Deltadeltadeltadelta. The two pre-sale bathrooms done to put the house I recently bought onto the market without spending an extra penny: Delta. So here I am picking new fixtures to replace a two year old bathroom and a five year old bathroom where I can pull the Delta faucets apart with my hands, and my plumber is telling me that Delta is so much better than Kohler. I realize that there are different levels of quality within brands but still, Delta being superior to everything else has not been my experience. I simply think part of it is that they only like working with what they work with all the time. My current plumber, who is a great plumber who does tidy work and loves talking about plumbing on a higher plane, almost, he's not a sloppy git her done kind of guy, says he will not put in Toto skirted toilets because they all leak. Having had Toto skirted toilets and having spec'd Toto skirted toilets for other people, none of which have leaked, leads me to believe that when HE puts them in they leak, because he Doesn't Know How to install them very well. That's fine, I will probably Not put a Toto skirted toilet in this house because I don't want white. But why not say "I don't like installing Toto toilets, so if you want one you will have to get someone to do that part of the job." Not "They are not worth the money" or "they are a bad product". I used to be in another business, and there were some things that were really outside my expertise, or I did not do that well compared to some people and I would Tell the client "This is something I would refer you to someone else for" not "This is a lousy product/procedure" just because I couldn't do it that well.

By the way, here are photos from a few months ago when I compared a bunch of plumbing fixture brands. Photo w tile samples & lots of hardware: (L-R) Kohler Vibrant Brushed Moderne Brass knob, Kohler Vibrant Brushed Bronze knob, Delta Champagne Bronze hook, Moen Brushed Gold handle, Kohler Vibrant Brushed Moderne Brass handle Photo w tile samples & two pieces of hardware: Kohler Vibrant Brushed Bronze knob, Kohler Vibrant Brushed Moderne Brass handle Photo of hand and two pieces: Brizo luxe gold on the key ring, Kohler Vibrant Brushed Bronze knob Photo of hand and three pieces: Brizo luxe gold on the key ring, Kohler Vibrant Brushed Bronze knob, California Faucets Satin Bronze Hope this helps someone! Also for what it’s worth, I initially thought Delta Champagne Bronze was a great match for Kohler, but when compared to the Brizo it felt really off. Kohler & Brizo match beautifully, though. You may be able to match Kohler & Delta.

Delta hands down. Kohler is way over priced, and I have had bad experiences both with their quality and their customer service. If something goes wrong with Delta and you call, you get a new set of faucet guts quickly, no questions asked. When I remodeled the kitchen, I put in a delta drain trap with a duostrainer. Bad mistake. Both the stainless ring of the trap and the finish on the strainer are discolored. Additionally, the oring that seals the strainer to hold water in the sink is crap. Like $10 each to replace every 3 months. Finally got tired of that, figured out the ID and OD of the oring, then ordered a bag of 50 generic orings for like $3 online. That was at least a year ago, and the first of those orings still works like a champ. Tells you something about their design and quality control.

For my main kitchen faucet I went with the Kohler Purist semi-Pro K-24982-VS. Very happy with this one. For my prep sink and laundry sink I was supposed to have the Kohler Purist K-7505-VS, but it was back ordered and they had no clue when it might come in. I picked something else in the showroom that had a similar look, but was much more expensive. I can't find my invoice with this faucet brand/model, but I really dislike it. The spray is awful for a kitchen faucet, so underwhelming for the price. Really glad it isn't my main faucet. I'll try and find my notes with the model.