I'll give you some tips because I'm on NYC water as well. And let me tell you we are blessed. NYC water isn't even filtered from upstate! (well now it is because of a DEP law suit... but it didn't have to be until this year). It's extremely low in mineral content (soft), and IMHO the best water short of the North West... You'll want at least 2 stages, because sediment does end up getting in the pipes, a 5 micron sediment, and then a 5 micron carbon block would do just fine. I have a 2 stage from the filterguys.biz but I wanted a seperate water filter. You can filter your cold water entirely, but you can never filter hot, so in a mixed faucet (hot + cold) you sometimes aren't totally sure you're getting filtered... I mean turn it all the way to cold and it's probably fine, but I'd just rather be sure, no mixing etc... You can just go to home depot and get a standard sized filter "10" that has 3/8" compression fittings, or adapters... just take a filter out of the box and go to the fittings aisle and have at it... You do NOT want to filter Fluoride, there's a reason they put it in the water. RO (Reverse Osmosis) is also bad for you, it doesn't have enough minerals; plus NYC water is so soft it's almost like RO. Actually Brita filters DO filter Fluoride, which is bad. This is because they do ionic filtering. Simply it uses electron sucking technology... more reactive minerals "stick" to these filter media, and less reactive don't... If you break a used brita filter open you will see both carbon particles and round spherical plastic beads, those are the anionic/cationic (positive/negative minerals) filter materials. Anything with those little plastic beads will take good things like fluoride and calcium out of the water. I'm sure there are people willing to debate to death the benefits of fluoride etc... but tap water is monitored for bad things closer than any bottled water, and the only thing you should worry about is the chlorine taste and sediment that's made it into the water supply since it left the huge upstate reserves.

I checked the documentation and there are only two gaskets and springs (labeled seats and springs) inside the mixture area underneath the ball cartridge. However, I was able to *fix* the problem: I (again) cleaned part #7 (rp21539) labeled "Adapter" that is the long brass piece that attaches the hose to the underside of the faucet below the sink. I previously had blown it out with pressure, shook & banged it on the counter, and then rinsed with strong water from the bathroom: almost nothing came out. I had brushed the other end out, but not on this side. I even blew on the adapter side to ensure there was no obvious obstruction. This time, using a flashlight I saw there was 1 little piece of calcium/rusted metal stuck in one of the three tiny holes, removed it with a micro-pick and reassembled -- NO MORE KNOCKING The pressure still isn't what it was before the city changed meters, but this may be the new 100% now. PROBLEM RESOLVED (7 hours later). I still wish I knew why a partial obstruction causes the vibration & knocking....

I wish it was the old rubber washer and stem setup, that is the only type of faucet I ever repaired... until today. The picture is what I removed after unscrewing the collar. The plumbing supply guy was correct, it was a Valley brand cartridge, so the replacements he sold me were correct. When I removed the cartridge, I had to pry out the black rubber ring and spring. The white nylon insert for the spring was inside the rubber piece on one faucet, but it was in the other end of the spring on the second faucet. I called the supplier and he was uncertain which way was correct, but we reasoned that there was more need of the insert on the rubber side to help prevent the spring from cutting the inside of the rubber ring. His knobs and adapters were different, but the stops on the old adapters were broken anyway (they turned through 360 degrees) so I did a complete facelift on the fixture, only leaving the trim plates, so now I need to buff off that corrosion on the tub spout. The replacement parts did not include the handle screw for some reason. I went to the closest traditional hardware store (no big boxes there) to get the original screws (each screw was different when I took the old handles off so I suspected that neither was original). The hardware store had only one of my cartridges, and an employee finally found a Valley parts listing, tried to look up the proper screws but they were listed as not available. The inside of the new plastic replacement stem is unthreaded, so apparently you are expected to use an appropriate size and length sheet metal screw, so I bought a couple of SS screws to mount the new handles. I paid a premium for parts from the plumbing supply store, but the advice was well worth it, and saved me from calling a plumber for what turned out to be a fairly simple job after all. The hardware store I visited to get replacement screws did not have employees who were very knowledgeable about plumbing. They admitted that their fairly large selection of repair parts for faucets was an orphaned area in the store. I suppose that with the variety of repair parts and manufacturers, some of which seem to be out of business now, it is fairly easy to just throw in the towel and buy new fixtures now. I will probably be doing this same fix soon at my house. My fairly expensive delta faucets in my bathroom have started leaking already after less than 5 years in service, and I know they will take cartridges too. Quality is being sacrificed for cost... same with lighting IMO, as I see import stuff selling for hundreds of percent above what these fixtures are actually worth when you look at their construction and quality. Here is a link that might be useful: Valley faucet cartridge replacement

Nope, no complaints about drain placement---and I say that as someone who actually did think we wanted a rear drain when I started looking at sinks. (The only options with rear drains didn't work out for other reasons.) The stream of our faucet hits just about dead even in the center of the drain, but that's 100% coincidental---both the sink placement and the wall-mount faucet placement were dictated by established elements (sink centered on two windows in room, placement of plumbing pre-existing and not possible to move b/c of studs). Our faucet does swivel, though (as do most I think?) and can easily reach the dish tub and strainer we often put in the sink on one side or the other without impeding the drain. The Kohler Cape Dory cutting board is indeed beveled to hug the shape of the sink. My issue with it is not the board itself (beautiful quality and made in USA which was a pleasant surprise, and where I live there's no way you could get one for any less by having it custom made---the Kohler one was only $35 or so) but the fact that it sits lower than the counter surface, which isn't super comfortable to cut on ergonomically. However, I think (?) the sink can be either undermounted or self-rimming, so that may explain why. Regardless, I wouldn't bother with this accessory.