Touch free kitchen faucets - recommendations, please.

Witchy Woman · ‎03-15-2010

Replacing my kitchen faucet for a touch free (hopefully).

If anyone has experience/recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

It will be a stainless fixture. I've seen a Moen with pull down sprayer that looks nice. But, I'd like to hear any pros/cons on this type of fixture.

Thanks!

Toot1920 · ‎07-22-2018

@Witchy Woman wrote:
Replacing my kitchen faucet for a touch free (hopefully).

If anyone has experience/recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

It will be a stainless fixture. I've seen a Moen with pull down sprayer that looks nice. But, I'd like to hear any pros/cons on this type of fixture.

Thanks!

@Witchy Woman , we have a Kohler that we purchased from Costco. I love it, the benefits outweigh the cons. We did purchase a power adapter because hated to keep replacing batteries. It's really nice when your hands are dirty and you don't have touch any handles. My husband does set it back to manual when we go on vacation, just as a precaution. Some of the ones that I've seen have the touch less part on top of the faucet, but others, like mine, are on the under part. The only con is that sometimes if you move your hand too quick, it doesn't recognize the movement and won't turn on or off. You just have to make sure the you place your hands in the right spot. I would recommend them highly.

Witchy Woman · ‎03-15-2010

@Toot1920

Thanks for the feedback. Honestly, in looking at them, I couldn't see anything I wouldn't like

The faucet I have is the original when we built 30 years ago. It had a feature that allowed me to pull the entire faucet up giving me a higher reach. It was nice in the day, but I'm tired of wrestling with it. And, the sprayer has had to be replaced twice. It's enough already! We've gotten our money's worth.

Most fixtures now have the higher, arched faucets which are so much nicer.

I'm trying to convince DH to do a new sink, too, but I'll settle for a new faucet. The sink was a very good one and expensive, so still in great shape. He's a builder and will be doing the installation, so I remind him it's not like we have to pay for THAT

We have a touch free paper towel dispenser, and it has been one of the best small purchases we've made! So convenient!

Enjoy your faucet!

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

@Witchy Woman I am looking at those too! I can't decide either although I'd like one with a good sprayer.

My plumber frowns and complains if we even think about anything but Delta! He's a long long time friend, and does know his business. . . but it's funny. So thanks for the input!

When we redid the kitchen in our last house, I bought an expensive Elkay ss sink and it was wonderful! Not noisy, sturdy, the finish was excellent, mounted below the sink. my mom bought a dinky little cheap one when she built her house and it was awful. Spend money on the stuff you use EVERY day.

I hate the sink we have now, it is rectangular and hard to clean the corners and it has that metal thing that you can move at the top on one side to hold stuff. And the metal grates that we put in the dishwasher all the time--what a pain! I'm afraid to replace it because we might break the granite (ask your hubby about that--it's undermount.)!

Toot1920 · ‎07-22-2018

I do have deeper sinks so the pull down spray head works well with rinsing everything off. Once I had a deeper sink, it's hard to go back to a shallower one.

drizzellla · ‎03-14-2010

I think every public restroom now has touch free faucets. Which is a wonderful feature - if they work. All too often I am standing there moving my hands back and forth trying to get the water to turn on. Often I end up going to another sink.

I realize public restroom's faucets get used much more than a faucet would at your home BUT it makes me wonder how long that feature will work. And will I have to replace the faucet every other year or so. That is why I a sticking with my old fashioned faucet. It works when I need it to work. I don't have to stand waving my hands, in hopes that the water will start flowing.

Witchy Woman · ‎03-15-2010

@Sooner

The one I looked at this morning online at Home Depot is a Moen. We have a Moen, but I don't care what brand we get.

It's pricey by my standards -- $388, but I don't want to cheap out on a fixture. I'm sure DH will choke when I tell him, and I'll try to shop around to see if I can get a better price.

At this stage of my life, I can afford to pay for better, and know the drawbacks to "settling" for something cheaper.

I have a very large divided stainless steel sink that I really like. I know they can cost a fortune, so I'm not sure he'll go for a sink AND faucet replacement all at once

I'll mention the sink situation you described and see what he has to say.

You know, when we built, I installed faux dark green marble formica countertops. And I have a LOT of counters in my kitchen, including an island with my cooktop.

I've been very happy with it over the years. I know that everyone is using granite, etc, now, but this has been so easy to maintain and I took care of it, so it still looks new.

DH has done several kitchen rennovations for clients over the years, and every time, he's done natural stone of some kind in the counters. He's asked me if I want to redo mine and I just cannot justify the cost.

To replace it now would be just because I wanted something different, and I'm kinda over that, too

World Traveler · ‎02-02-2015

When I purchased a new kitchen sink faucet from Lowes, I looked at the touch-free models and thought I would go with that. Seemed to be a really handy thing to have, especially if both of your hands are holding a pot of something and you want to rinse them off.

The sales guy told me that they get more complaints on having to fix the "touch-free" feature, calling out a repairman and getting new parts. So I didn't get it.

However, that was two years ago and things should have improved by now. Or perhaps it was just the particular brand they were carrying at the time.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

@Witchy Woman You sound like me. We need to refinish or paint the cabinets and I DREAD deciding and living with while it is done!

Your kitchen sounds lovely! Talk about it a lot while he is watching tv and he'll soon replace everything in the kitchen just to not hear about it again!

I had a Dacor cooktop in my last house and I sure do miss it. I need to install a hood and get away from the downdraft thing I HATE in this house. Nobody wants to tackle that though. . . I guess including ME!

Witchy Woman · ‎03-15-2010

@Sooner

I have a Jenn-air cooktop with downdraft, and Jen-air double wall convection oven. What don't you like about the downdraft? Mine just about pulls me through when I turn it on.

I cannot justify replacing them, as, even at 30 years old, they still look new -- as do my cabinets. I've kept them spotless.

The only thing that has aged is the hardwood floor. I've dropped things, so there are dings and marks, but....I remind myself this -- when we were looking at "older" homes before building our own, it was always the worn hardwood floors I was drawn to -- so, now I have them in my kitchen.

It's just me and my husband and he still works. Thankfully, when we built, I picked out every detail and continue to love almost everything I have.

I could easily find newer looking things, but...seriously, a kitchen rennovation is the LAST think I want to go through....and for what? It's a lot of money just to have a show kitchen. I don't know when I crossed that line, but it happened.