How to Decide on a New Kitchen Faucet

Choosing a faucet can be tricky. The kitchen faucet’s basic function is to dispense hot and cold water for washing dishes, food and hands. But beyond that, it plays a major role in defining the style of your kitchen design. It should come as no surprise that you spend more time in the kitchen than any other room in the house. And from selecting a handle to starting installation, there are plenty of options for you to consider when choosing your next kitchen faucet.

Handle Options:
Thinking about how you use your faucet every day can help you decide if a one-handle, two-handle, pull-out sprayer or insta-hot faucet is best for you. Typically, kitchen faucets have either one handle rotating directionally to change water temperature or two handles for mixing hot and cold water. These options offer a sprayer that sits to the side or a pull-out or pull-down sprayer that can remove all kinds of gunk and mess for you. Often faucets with a separate side spray are not as effective as a sprayer that is built into the faucet itself. Whether you’re rinsing down the sink or cleaning fresh veggies from the garden, a faucet with the right sprayer helps kitchen tasks get done in a timelier manner.

Mounting:
All faucets are mounted, but there are a couple options you should know before making your next faucet purchase. There are many different kitchen faucet and sink designs, but they’re not always compatible. When you’re replacing an existing faucet on a standard sink that requires fewer holes than what you have, look for a new faucet that comes with a deck plate at the base to cover up unneeded sink holes.

Deck-mounted faucets mount directly to the countertop, not the sink. If you’re installing an undermount sink, you have the option of mounting the faucet directly on the countertop. When installing a deck-mounted faucet, allow more than a finger’s width behind the faucet for cleaning.

As for wall-mounted faucets, be careful when placing the faucet to make sure it will work together with your sink. The distance the water spout projects will determine whether the two will be compatible. This tends to be more of an issue with a double sink.

Number of Holes:
What looks like handles and a spout on the outside can turn out to be something else entirely under the sink. Make sure you know how many holes are in your sink or counter before picking your faucet. If you are renovating or updating your kitchen and keeping an old sink you may need to consider how many holes your sink has. Many single stem faucets do come with a deck plate in order to cover extra holes, but be sure about that before selecting your faucet. Also, different styles of faucets may have their holes in different spots so double check that your sink and faucet will work together.

We see you have many decisions to make. That’s why our licensed, professional plumbers would be happy to help you start your next kitchen project!