Rohl Faucets Review & Rating Updated: 08/05/21
Law Requirements
Warranty Footnotes:
1. The term "lifetime" is is defined as for as long as the faucet is in its "original installation." This definition may have unexpected results. See the main text for more detail.2. are not guaranteed. Lacquered or powder coated finishes are warranted for 5 years. Only electroplated and PVD finishes are guaranteed for a lifetime. See the main text for more detail.
Download/Print and read the Rohl warranty.
Learn more about faucet warranties.
This Company In Brief
Rohl is a company that embodies multiple business models under one roof.
It is primarily a , selling faucets imported from Italy and China in the U.S. and Canada under the Rohl name. It has also created a collection of faucets of its own proprietary designs, which makes it a of this one collection.
Rohl faucets are supported by a standard North American lifetime warranty except for some finishes. The warranty meets the requirements of the U.S. Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act with some minor exceptions.
Please Note: Rohl distributes and faucets in the U.S. and Canada and faucets in the U.S. (but not in Canada). These brands are reviewed in separate reports (click on the name to open a report). They are are not considered Rohl faucets for the purpose of this review. Here we consider only those faucets sold under the Rohl Brand.
Founded by Ken Rohl in 1983 as the Western States Manufacturing, Inc., the company was reorganized as Rohl LLC in 1991. It was until 2016, owned and managed by the Rohl family. Today it is owned by Fortune Brands, but still managed by members of the Rohl family.
Rohl has a long and impressive history of importing good quality faucets, sinks, sanitary wares, and bathroom and kitchen accessories from Europe. As Western States Manufacturing, it was an early distributor of plumbing fixtures and faucets in the U.S. It introduced KWC's pull-down/pull-out faucet to the U.S. market in the 1980s.
The company tells the story as follows in its official history:
"In 1983 Ken Rohl .... happened upon the now omnipresent pull-out kitchen faucet in Europe and, bringing it to the United States, proceeded to introduce it to kitchen and bath designers up and down the coast of California. Rohl knew he had something special. Designers and homeowners loved the beauty, functionality, and prestige of the faucet."
But, this brief tale glosses over the many years Mr. Rohl traveled up and down the West Coast trying to persuade skeptical owners of showrooms and plumbing supply stores of the merits of the new faucet design. Designers and homeowners may have ended up loving the faucet, but it was not instantaneous. It took a lot of persistence by Ken Rohl to cultivate that love.
Today, a large percentage of kitchen faucets (some sources say as much as 40%) are single-handle pull-out or pull-down designs and they make up a substantial portion of the Rohl kitchen faucet inventory. Rohl, however, is a relatively small player compared to the industry giants, Moen's bulb-head single-handle pull-out kitchen faucet (an unabashed take-off of the KWC original) was one of the company's best sellers in the 1990s and remains a top seller today.
Rohl does not, of course, limit itself to selling faucets and accessories. It is the North American distributor of some very high-quality sinks and other ceramic wares from Shaws of Darwen, a manufacturer of high-quality ceramic wares in the U.K. since 1897, and Allia from France, also well-known as a manufacturer of vitreous china bathwares since the late 19th century. Rohl also imports and distributes QUARRYCAST™ limestone-based composite sinks and freestanding tubs made by Victoria ⊕Albert in South Africa.
Rohl was owned by the Rohl family until 2016 when it was purchased by Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc.. Fortune Brands already owned as as part of a planned expansion into the premium luxury faucet market.
Rohl has for many years owned an interest in England's TCL Manufacturing, Ltd., the company that manufactures With its purchase of Rohl, Fortune Brands inherited the distribution rights to both faucet brands.
Moen has long needed a premium faucet division to complete with Delta's upscale The new acquisitions give Fortune Brands access to the premium showroom market in both the U.S. and Canada to complement its iron grip on 30% of the North American mid-priced faucet market.
Rohl's Three Business Models
| Business Model |
Dfinition | Rohl's Implementation |
|---|---|---|
|
Specifier
|
A company that designs its own faucets or has them designed by outside designers, but does not manufacture or assemble the faucets. It contracts manufacturing and assembly to other companies. | Rohl's Michael Berman collection was designed especially for Rohl. It is manufactured in China through Green's Tapware in New Zealand under contract to Rohl. |
|
Marketeer
|
A company that buys faucets from other companies that it renames and sells under its own brand name(s). | Most faucets sold under the Rohl brand are designed by the factories that manufacture them, not by or for Rohl, and are not exclusive to Rohl on the world market. |
|
Distributor
|
A company that buys faucets from other companies that it re-sells, keeping the other company's original brand name(s). | Rohl buys faucets from their respective manufacturers and distributes them in the U.S. and Canada under their original brand names. |
Rohl gained access to Moen's distribution channels and the option of deep-pocket capital investment in the development of innovative products. Rohl has never lacked creativity and imagination but often lacked funding sufficient to capitalize on its ideas. Hopefully, Fortune Brands will underwrite its creativity.
Rohl is unusual in the faucet business since it combines multiple business models in one company, none of them dominant over the others. It is, in relatively equal parts, a
Rohl buys faucets from Italy and China (by way of New Zealand) that it renames and sells under the Rohl brand. For the most part these are not faucets designed specifically for Rohl, but products out of each of its supplier's . The company's relation to these faucets is that of a .
Some Rohl faucets, however, are designed especially for Rohl and are exclusive to the company. The Michael Berman collection, for example, was created by the noted Los Angeles designer under contract to Rohl. This collection is exclusive to Rohl and with respect to these faucets, Rohl is a
Who Makes Rohl Faucets?
Rohl does not manufacture faucets. Those sold under the Rohl brand are made by Italian and Chinese companies. Here are the faucets manufactured by each supplier.
We cannot guarantee that this list is complete or accurate. Faucet companies add and discontinue faucet models nearly continuously, and change contract manufacturers periodically. So, by the time you read this, it may be out of date.
| Bathroom Faucets | ||
|---|---|---|
| A1477 | A2207 | A2208 |
| A2218 | A2228 | A2307 |
| A2328 | A33002 | A3307IW |
| A3318 | A3707IL | AC51 |
| AC95 | AC102 | AC107 |
| BA106 | BA108 | AC351 |
| BA351 | BE51 | BE354 |
| CUC102l | WA102 | WA751 |
| Kitchen Faucets | ||
| A3420SLM | A3430 | A3430SLM |
| A3431L | A3431L | A3445LM |
| A3445SLM | CU57L | CU253L |
| CY57L | CY657L | G1445LM |
| G1655LM | G7545LM | WA106 |
| WA1319 | WA751 | WA106 |
| ZA33BO | ||
| Bathroom Faucets | ||
|---|---|---|
| AWG104L | AWG652L | CA2201LM |
| CA2202LM | CA2211LM | CA2239LM |
| CA2311LM | CU51L | CA2202LM |
| CU102L | CU351 | CU354L |
| CUC49L | LV51L | LV102L |
| LV351 | LV354L | MB1928 |
| MB1929 | MB1930 | MB1931 |
| MB2009 | MB2018 | MB7545LM |
| ML2001LM | ML2001LM | SOR-09 |
| SOR-16 | SOR-19 | WE2301LM |
| WE2302LM | WG25L | WG26L |
| WG105 | WG652L | WWG25L |
| Kitchen/Prep/Bar Faucets | ||
| MB1928 | MB2030 | MB7925 |
| MB7927LM | MB7928LM | MB7929 |
| MB7930LM | MB7930SLM | R3100 |
| R3810 | R3830 | R7504 |
| R7504S | R7505 | R7505 |
| R7505S | R7506 | R7506S |
| R7514LM | R7514SLM | R7505LM |
| R7505SLM | R7519 | R7520 |
| R7521 | R7581LM | R7581SLM |
| R7663 | R77V3 | R7903LM |
| R7913 | R7923 | |
| Bathroom Faucets | ||
|---|---|---|
| MI01D1 | MI01W2 | MI09D3 |
| MI0102D1 | ||
| Bathroom Faucets | ||
|---|---|---|
| A1405 | A1405/44 | A1407 |
| A1008 | A1409 | A1418 |
| A1419 | A1423 | A1432 |
| A1632 | A1456 | A1458 |
| A1459 | A1469 | A1470 |
| A1707 | A1808 | A1908 |
| A2108 | A2707 | |
| Kitchen/Prep/Bar Faucets | ||
| A1405 | A1406 | A1416 |
| A1420 | A1456 | A1458WS |
| A1467 | A1467WS | A1459 |
| A1466 | A1466 | A1469 |
| A1470 | A1676 | A1679 |
| A1680 | A1679WS | A2679 |
| A2679WS | A2680 | A3408 |
| A3408WS | A1667 | A1676 |
| A1676WS | A1667 | A2676 |
| A2676WS | A3410 | A3606 |
| A3606WS | A3608 | A3608 |
| A3608WS | A3650 | A3667 |
| A3667WS | A3668 | A3680WS |
| A3688M | A3688MWS | |
Vicario Armando & c. S.R.L. trading as Armando Vicario. Rubinetterie
| Bathroom Faucets | ||
|---|---|---|
| EC01D1 | EC02D1 | EC08D3 |
| EC08W3 | EC09D3 | EC09W3 |
| Kitchen Faucets | ||
| TR55D1 | TR56D1 | TR60D1 |
| TR61D1 | TR65D1 | TR66D1 |
Please Note: Model numbers shown are root numbers. Usually, a suffix indicating a finish, handle style, or both will be added to the root. For example, A1679CR indicates a chrome finish on an A1679 Acqui faucet.
As a Marketeer, Rohl has developed an interesting approach that it seems to have pioneered.
It enters into agreements with foreign faucet manufacturers to become the exclusive U.S. importer of the manufacturer's faucets that it rebrands and sells under the Rohl name. There are hundreds of excellent boutique faucet manufacturers in the world, and most are looking for a low-cost entry into the giant North American market that is as large as all of Europe combined.
Rohl provides that entry with minimal investment by the manufacturer. In return, Rohl gets the exclusive right to sell some very stylish, high-quality, imported faucets in the U.S. and Canada. The Rohl approach has been widely copied by other upscale Marketeer faucet companies, including
Rohl brand faucets are supplied by the following companies.
- Cisal Rubinetteria S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of faucets and other sanitary fittings established in 1952.
- Cisal products are designed in the Italian tradition by an in-house staff of talented designers such as Raffaella Vecchi (designer of the Arcana collection) and architect Fabio Rotella supplemented by notable outside Italian designers such as Karim Rashid Giampiero Peia, Nevio Tellatin of Antonio Lupi Design, Luigi Trenti and Marco Poletti.
- The faucets are designed around proprietary ceramic cartridge valves created by lead engineer Daniele Sirini for the company in 1981.
- Nicolazzi S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of designer faucets established in 1960 in the Alpine foothills of Novara, Italy.
- Nicolazzi manufactures an astounding variety of well-designed, high-quality faucets in just about every style imaginable from classic to ultra-modern.
- Rohl sells a nice cross-section of these faucets in North America.
- Greens Global Limited is a New Zealand corporation trading as Greens Tapware.
- Founded in 1932 (or 1935, accounts vary) and incorporated in 1961 as Greens Industries, Ltd. It began manufacturing faucets and other sanitary fittings around 1978.
- Greens was a manufacturer until 2015 when it was dissolved after being forced into involuntary receivership. Certain of its assets including patents and trade names were purchased out of bankruptcy by investors from New Zealand and China who formed Greens Global Limited to hold the assets and resume the business under new ownership.
- The new company is not a manufacturer. It concentrates, as it stated on its website, on "design and engineering", developing its own faucets, showers, and accessories, but then contracting out the actual manufacturing to factories in China.
- The company sells mostly in Australia, New Zealand and the rest or Oceania. Its products are also exported to the U.K. as well as to Rohl in North America.
- Greens at one time supplied sink faucets to Jacuzzi, Ltd. That relationship, however, appears to have ended. It also has supplied, and may still be supplying, faucets to that are sold in the U.K.
- Carlo Nobili S.p.A. is part of Nobili Group that also includes Rubinetterie Stella, a faucet company established in 1832, and C.G.S. Srl , an Italian manufacturer of goodd quality, well-designed drains and overflows.
- Nobili is one of Italy's largest faucet manufacturers with a modern million square foot factory in Novara.
- The company supplies the striking Miscelo series of contemporary faucets to Rohl.
- Vicario Armando & c. S.R.L., trading as Armando Vicario Rubinetterie, has manufactured in Gozzano, Italy since 1974. It is a fairly small company that makes well-designed contemporary faucets, fillers, and showers. It also manufactures faucets for
With some exception, Rohl faucets are off-the-shelf items, taken right out of each manufacturer's, They are not designed by Rohl or designed exclusively for Rohl. They are designed by the companies that supply the faucets to Rohl and the designs are the property of the supplier companies.
The faucets are sold outside of North America by the supplier companies under their own brand names. Inside North America, however, Rohl has a protected territory giving it the exclusive right to sell the faucets which it does under the Rohl brand. This arrangement ensures that no other company can import the same faucets to compete with Rohl. Rohl typically pays a premium for this exclusivity which is reflected in the price of the faucet.
For example, Rohls' distinctive Wave collection of very contemporary faucets and bathwares is a Cisal Rubinetteria S.p.A.. standard catalog faucet. It was designed for Cisal by Nevio Tellatin and is sold by Cisal all over the world except in North America where Rohl has the exclusive right to sell the faucet.
The Rohl R3810 De Lux top-lever pull-out kitchen Faucet is made in China and supplied to Rohl by Greens Tapware. Greens sells the faucet under the Greens brand in Australia, New Zealand, and throughout the Oceania as the Marketti Blade pull-out spray mixer. It was sold in the U.S. and Canada, however, only by Rohl under the Rohl name. (The faucet is now discontinued in North America although it may still be found at retail outlets.)
In addition to being a Specifier and Marketeer, Rohl is the North American of
- a line of upscale English faucets manufactured near London by TCL Manufacturing, Ltd.; and
-
a family-owned German company formed in 1909 that is
nearly as old as the faucet
itself,
Price Comparison Table
The street prices for Rohl's Italian faucets in North America are considerably higher than the street prices for the same faucets in the manufacturer's home territory. Here are examples (all prices converted to U.S. dollars).
| Cisal WA006520 Wave sold by Rohl as the WA652L Wave |
||
|---|---|---|
| U.S. (Rohl) $1,911.20 | Italy $562.12 |
|
| Greens Marketti Blade sold by Rohl as the R7913 De Lux |
||
| U.S. (Rohl) $686.50 | Australia $293.09 | New Zealand $343.72 |
It is also the U.S. distributor of Canada's faucets.
Rohl is not a or an It has no manufacturing facilities and does hot make its own faucets. The company is not above hinting that it might, however, and sometimes making an outright claim to American manufacturing.
When the new Michael Berman collection was introduced a few years ago, a spokesman for Rohl told us that the faucets were being manufactured in the U.S. When we asked Rohl to identify any American factory that manufactured its Berman faucets, its spokesman declined to answer, claiming that the information was "proprietary". In fact, the factory simply does not exist. We easily confirmed that the faucets in the Michael Berman collection were made by Greens Tapware which at the time was still manufacturing its own faucets in New Zealand. Today they are still imported through Greens but are manufactured in Chana.
A faucet identified in company literature as "manufactured by Rohl" is not, in fact, manufactured by Rohl. It likely was not even designed by Rohl, but simply selected from the standard catalog of one of Rohl's suppliers.
We did find one California company that does some minor manufacturing for Rohl. This company makes and sells its own line of very good faucets. It does not, however, make any of Rohl's faucets. (In order not to jeopardize its relationship with Rohl, the company asked not to be identified in our report.)
We compared street prices for a sample of Rohl's faucets to street prices for the same faucets sold in Europe and the South Pacific and found a considerable difference.
| Rohl Finish Availability By Collection | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1983 | Acqui | Arcana | Bella | Campo | Cinquanta | Eclissi | Gotham | Graceline | Lombardia | Lux | Meda | Miscelo | Palladian | Patrizia | Pirellone | Quartile | San Giovani | Soriano | San Julio | Tuario | Verona | Viaggio | Vincent | Wave | ||
|
Brushed Stainless Steel | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
French Brass | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Italian Brass | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||
|
Matte Black | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||
|
Pewter (Gun Metal) | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Polished Chrome | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |
|
Polished Nickel | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
|
Rose Gold | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Satin Brass | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Satin Gold | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Satin Nickel | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||
|
Satin Unlacquered Brass | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Stainless Steel | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Tuscan Brass | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||
|
Unlacquered Brass | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||
|
No warranty
Five year warranty Lifetime Warranty |
•
Available on kithen faucets only.
• Available some products in the collection, not on others. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
The street prices for Rohl's Italian faucets in North America are considerably higher than the street prices for the same faucets in the manufacturer's home territory.
For example, the Rohl WA652L Wave faucet in polished chrome sells for an average of $1,911.20 USD ($2,428.51 CAD) in North America.
The average street price for the same faucet in Italy is less than one-third of the Rohl price: $562.12 USD ($704.14 CAD).
Rohl's North American prices are also higher than the prices for the same Greens faucets sold in Australasia.
The Greens Marketti Blade kitchen faucet sells for an average of $293.09 USD ($372.40 CAD) in Australia and $343.72 USD ($436.84 CAD) in New Zealand.
As the Rohl De Lux kitchen faucet (now discontinued), it sold in North America for almost twice the price: $686.50 USD ($872.26 CAD).
There are, of course, costs associated with importing foreign faucets into North America that have to be accounted for in pricing.
The faucets have to be converted from the metric system used by most of the world to our quaint customary units (inches and fractions of inches) so the faucets can be connected to North American plumbing.
The faucets also have to be transported long distances and they have to be tested and certified to joint U.S./Canadian standards.
All of these costs can add up to as much as $21 to the price of a faucet But, this is very little of the price differences we found, leaving us to conclude that Rohl awards itself a generous markup on its imported faucets.
Before you telephone Zio Carlo in Siracusa to order a discount Rohl faucet from Italy, keep in mind that European faucets do not comply with U.S./Canadian faucet standards and are not legal to install in a drinking water system in North America; they are metric and will not fit U.S. plumbing connections unless adapted; and Rohl will not provide warranty or parts support for these bootleg faucets.
There is little likelihood of a substantial discount on a Rohl faucet. The company enforces minimum pricing on its products through a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policy. One of the purposes of the policy is to discourage internet discounting and protect brick and mortar showrooms which are the company's bread and butter. To further encourage in-store rather than internet sales, Rohl urges potential customers to buy Rohl faucets
"only through dttorative plu1nblng and supply and hardware showrooms and not over the Internet. Showrooms provide a place where you ean see, touch, ond feel the qualily of Rohl products in person … "
The chilling effect on internet sales resulting from Rohl's MAP policy has annoyed some online retailers to the point of suing for restraint of trade (See e.g. Worldhomecenter.com, Inc. v. Rohl LLC 2:03-cv-06104 E.D. New York (2003)). However, courts that have considered MAP policies have typically found them not unduly restrictive to trade and allowed them to stand.
A MAP policy does not mean that a dealer cannot sell below the minimum advertised price, but does prevent the dealer from advertising that price to attract customers. A dealer that violates Rohl's MAP policy is at risk of being cut off by Rohl.
Rohl faucets are a part of collections that may include coordinating kitchen and bath faucets, showers, tub fillers and spouts, and accessories such as towel racks, robe hooks, soap, and lotion dispensers, tissue holders, and even air gaps. The collections are uniform in design and finish, making it simple to assemble a well-coordinated bath. At present Rohl has twenty-five collections.
The faucets come in a total of 15 finishes. Not every finish is available on every faucet. The Graceline bath collection offers eight finishes (not counting split finishes), the highest number of different finishes found on any one collection.
See the Finish Chart elsewhere on this page.
Every faucet except the Soriano kitchen faucet comes in polished chrome. Nickel is the next most frequent finish. Rohl has two nickels: Polished Nickel and Satin Nickel. Some finishes are available in just one collection. Brushed Stainless Steel, for example, is offered only in the Soriano collection, and Pewter/Gun Metal only in the Graceline collection.
At least five faucet collections can be ordered in a in which a base finish is highlighted by second, accent finish. The Ciclo collection, for example, includes three split finish combinations: black/brushed chrome, black/brushed gold, and black/chrome. Other collections that feature split finishes are Eclissi, Graceline, Miscelo, and Tuario.
Four finishes are what are called in the faucet industry: French Brass, Tuscan Brass, Unlacquered Brass, and Satin Unlacquered Brass. Living finishes are designed to show age and use. They are expected to tarnish, discolor, and stain. These are features of the finish, not defects, and not covered by the Rohl warranty. So, if you do not want a finish that ages, stains, discolors, fades, and tarnishes by design, stay away from living finishes.
The stainless steel finishes are intended to complement stainless steel kitchen sinks and are available only on kitchen faucets. One kitchen faucet, the Soriano comes in no other finish. Unlike most other finishes, stainless steel is not a coating applied over the material the faucet is made from, it is the actual material of the faucet cleaned up and polished or brushed. Unlacquered brass finishes are also the actual brass from which the faucet is made, polished, or brushed to create a living finish.
Other Faucet Brands Distributed by Rohl
In addition to selling, supporting, and sometimes designing the faucets sold under the Rohl brand, Rohl is the North American distributor of other faucet brands. As a distributor it provides retailers with marketing materials, and training; coordinates orders with suppliers; and handles post-sale consumer issues and warranty claims.
Rohl's involvement in the North American distribution of faucets is decades old.
Rohl is rumored to have played a major part in persuading the founders of TCL Manufacturing (then Avilon Limited), Bob Perrin and Greg Rowe, to shift the company's focus from contract fabrication to manufacturing faucets by guaranteeing the company a market in the U.S.
Since the brand's introduction to North America in 1996, the U.S. and Canada have been Perrin & Rowe's largest export market.
Rohl solidified its association with Perrin & Rowe in 2014 by buying a 50% interest in TCL Manufacturing, Ltd. According to Companshy;ies House, Lou Rohl became one of TCL's directors as a person with "significant control" of the company.
With the purchase of Rohl by Fortune Brands in 2016, the entire TCL board was replaced by representatives of the new owner.
Perrin & Rowe is worth a look by anyone seeking to reproduce a Victorian, Edwardian or Georgian theme and who loves the luxury look of hand-polished finishes on a handsome, well-made faucet.
Rohl's distribution of Jörger's very upscale faucets dates from 2013.
Jörger is one of the oldest faucet manufacturers in Germany, dating from 1909 when Bernhard Jörger, then the master plumber to the last Grand Duke of Baden, founded the company. (The duchy was abolished at the end of the first world war in 1918).
Jörger faucets are one of the few German brands still made in Germany. Unlike other German faucets such as those from that have never seen Germany or been touched by a German, Jörger faucets, including most of the components that go into the faucets, are manufactured, assembled, and finished in Germany.
Before its purchase by Fortune Brands, the U.S. was a minor market for Riobel. It concentrated its efforts in Canada and had virtually no distribution in the United States.
Fortune Brands, however, is pushing to increase Riobel's sales in the U.S. and has enlisted Rohl to spearhead that effort, taking advantage of Rohl's established U.S. marketing expertise and its already robust presence in a vast array of upscale showrooms across the country.
Rohl takes care of Riobel customer service for American customers. Riobel still handles its own distribution in Canada and provides post-sale service to Canadian customers.
After several careful readings of the convoluted Rohl warranty, our panel of warranty lawyers decided that it almost but does not quite meet the standard for faucet warranties in North America. The warranty does, however, meet the requirements of the U.S. Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (15 U.S.C. §2308) except for the fact that it is not written in the "simple and readily understood language" required by the law. (Magnuson-Moss does not apply in Canada.)
The word "faucet" never appears in the warranty, but the panel decided that sink faucets are included in the class of "Rohl® Kitchen & Bath Sanitary Ware," which is covered by a lifetime warranty (except for some finishes).
The warranty specifically excludes living finishes (French Brass, Tuscan Brass, Unlacquered Brass, and Satin Unlacquered Brass) from any warranty whatsoever, which is normal. Most faucet companies do not guarantee living finishes.
Four finishes – Italian Brass, Satin Gold, Matte Black, and Gun Metal – are covered for just five years from the date of sale (not the date of installation).
See the Finish Chart elsewhere on this page for the warranty that applies to each finish.
These five-year finishes are all or lacquered. Powder coats are a form of paint applied as a powder then heated in an oven to melt and harden the coating. Lacquer is used to protect a raw metal that would tarnish without the coating. Italian Brass and Satin Gold, for example, are native brass protected from tarnish by a clear lacquer.
Powder coatings and lacquer finishes are considered semi-durable at best – slightly more robust than the finish on your car but not nearly as durable as metal finishes like chrome or nickel. They require more care in both use and maintenance to avoid damage and protect the finishes.
The finishes with lifetime warranty coverage are or (PVD) finishes – both are considered durable coatings.
Electroplating is the traditional faucet finish that has served the industry very well since the industry began.
PVD is the newer and much-improved finish technology that is rapidly replacing electroplating as the faucet finish of choice. PVD is much more durable than electroplating – by some estimates, 10-20 times more scratch-resistant than electroplated chrome. In our experience going back 30 years, PVD finishes are nearly indestructible.
Traditional lacquered brass finishes are quickly becoming a thing of the past. PVD is increasingly used to create brass-look finishes out of a more durable, inert metal – commonly zirconium – that cannot possibly chip, tarnish, or change color and will easily last a lifetime and longer. Traditionalists like Rohl offering older-technology brass/lacquer finishes are becoming a rarity.
Under the lifetime warranty, Rohl will replace a defective part and even a whole faucet, if necessary, for as long as the faucet remains in its "original installation". The term "original installation" is not defined. Our panel thinks that the term, given its common English meaning, could produce some unusual and probably unintended results.
For example,
The buyer replaces the sink on which the faucet is installed. The warranty ends because the faucet is no longer in its "original installation" on the old sink. The same is true if the faucet has to be uninstalled to be repaired.
Another oddity in the warranty is the lack of a continuing ownership requirement. No provision in the warranty requires the original purchaser to continue to own the faucet for the warranty to stay in effect. As a result, it is possible for the buyer to retain all rights under the warranty even after he or she transfers ownership of the faucet to someone else.
Here is an example:
Buyer sells her house to Cousin Nell. The warranty does not end at the sale because the faucet is still in its original installation. The ownership of the faucet passes to Cousin Nell with the house but not the warranty which, by its terms, is not transferable to a subsequent owner. So Nell owns the faucet while Buyer still owns the warranty on the faucet.
If the faucet develops a defect, could Buyer make a warranty claim for Nell's benefit? The answer is yes. In most states and provinces, a party to a contract can enforce the terms of the contract for the benefit of a person who is not a party to the contract.
An odd result indeed, but that's the way Rohl has chosen to write its warranty. The "original installation" provision in the warranty needs to be reconsidered. In fact, the entire warranty needs to be rewritten in the clear and simple language required by Magnuson-Moss.
For more information on faucet warranties, see Faucet Warranties. For more on how to enforce a product warranty, see The Warranty Game: Enforcing Your Product Warranty. Download/print the Rohl warranty from the Rohl website.
We have received several complaints over the years about Rohl's warranty service being unresponsive. Our experience is largely to the contrary. In our tests of Rohl's customer service, it performed well, scoring 4.1 out of a possible 5 points. Any score above 4.0 is satisfactory. The Better Business Bureau confirms our results. It has received no complaints about the company in its entire history.
Rohl agents seem to go the extra mile to be helpful, but you may have to explain a complex or unusual problem to several levels of supervisor before it gets resolved.
Getting into contact with customer service, however, by any means other than a telephone call may be problematic.
In our most recent tests of responsiveness, we sent five e-mails to Rohl technical support asking about various features of Rohl faucets. After ten days, we had received no response to any of the five. To test how long the e-mails lay dormant before being read, we sent them through a delivery service. The service confirmed that after five days none of the e-mails had been opened by Rohl.
Rohl's updated website is well-designed and colorful with navigation that is largely intuitive and with a powerful search feature.
Drilling down to exactly the faucet that meets your needs is facilitated by a filter system that allows you to select a faucet by configuration, finish, collection, style, installation type, and something called "shape" that is all about the shape of the faucet spout. We had to experiment a little with this filter to find out the difference between a C-spout and a U-spout.
The filters are tedious to use, however. Each time a filter is selected (or de-selected) the search results refresh and the site jumps back to the top of the page, requiring the user to scroll down again to select the next filter.
An Apply Filters button would neatly solve this problem, permitting the user to select several filters before the search result is refreshed. A Reset Filters button would also be useful to clear all filters rather than having to deselect filters one at a time.
We found that it was usually faster to use the search function, especially when looking for matching finishes.
Unfortunately, once a suitable faucet is found, the information provided about the faucet is not nearly adequate for an informed buying decision.
The faucet listing provides only a very brief description of the faucet and selection icons for finish options. Selecting a finish displays the faucet in the chosen finish, a feature that is very helpful in visualizing the faucet as it would appear in that finish.
A link in the listing downloads a specification sheet in .pdf format that provides additional information, including a dimensioned drawing (useful in determining whether the faucet will fit your sink), a showroom finder, and (sometimes) a link to a 3d CAD model of the faucet. The showroom finder has obvious utility, but the 3d model is of interest only to designers and architects.
However, even with the additional information in the specification sheet, critical buying-decision-relevant information is missing. This includes the following:
Faucets' Certifications: Rohl does not list a faucet's certifications or even whether it is certified at all to North American standards. Since most consumers do not know how to look up faucet certifications, they should be identified in the faucet listing if for no other reason than reassurance since so many uncertified contraband faucets are being offered for sale in North America these days.
Faucet Buying Rule: Never buy a faucet unless you know it is certified to joint U.S.Canadian standards. Get a copy of the certificate or certificates on which the faucet is listed from Rohl customer service. In our city, Lincoln, Nebraska, and an increasing number of other localities, the certificate is required by plumbing inspectors to confirm that the faucet is legal to install in a drinking water system.
Ceramic Cartridge: The ceramic cartridge used in the faucet should be identified by manufacturer. Rohl identifies them as "ceramic disc control cartridges." Not at all helpful. Almost all modern faucets use "ceramic disc control cartridges". There are, however, very good ceramic disc cartridges and some that are not so good.
Based on a visual examination of several Rohl faucets, we think they are all equipped with very good cartridges. But, we did not examine every faucet sold under the Rohl brand, so we cannot guarantee that every faucet contains a good cartridge. The identity of the company that makes the cartridge for a faucet is necessary to determine if it is one of the better cartridges, and that information should be included in each faucet listing.
Its ceramic cartridge is the heart of a modern faucet and should be your very first consideration when making a buying decision. It is the component that controls water flow and temperature. Its finish may fail, and the faucet will still work. It may be discolored, corroded, and ugly, but water still flows. If the cartridge fails, however, the faucet is no longer a faucet. It is out of business until the cartridge is replaced. It's important, therefore, that the cartridge is robust, durable, and lasts for many years.
Faucet Buying Rule: Never buy a faucet unless you know who made the cartridge. Since Rohl does not identify the cartridge on its website or in its catalogs, you will need to get this information from Rohl customer service. To determine whether the cartridge has a reputation for quality visit Faucet Basics, Part 2: Faucet Valves & Cartridges.
Faucet Warranty: New federal consumer warranty pre-sale availability rules permit a company to meet the pre-sale availability requirements by displaying a faucet's warranty or a "conspicuous link" to the faucet's warranty part of every faucet listing. The Rohl website does not display the warranty with its faucet listings or provide a conspicuous link to the warranty.
Installation Instructions: There are no installation instructions in the downloadable specification sheet nor a link to installation instructions as part of the faucet listings. These instructions help the plumber determine whether any problem with the installation may develop in the location chosen for the faucet and are a valuable pre-sale resource.
Faucet Images: Only one 3/4 view of the faucet is displayed in a faucet listing. It would be more helpful in visualizing the faucet if multiple views were available, or better yet a 360° rotatable view such as is provided by faucets. It takes the guesswork out of selecting a faucet from one or two static images.
We score Rohl's website an A- for design and navigation, but a C- for the information provided about its faucets for an overall B-. Rohl can certainly do better.
Faucets made in Italy or China, known to be fully certified, and comparable to Rohl products in quality include:
Rohl faucets are pricey but in line with premium faucets sold in the U.S. Don't expect big discounts no matter where a faucet is purchased. The Rohl warranty meets the requirements for a standard limited lifetime warranty but is unnecessarily convoluted and very difficult for even seasoned warranty lawyers to understand. It needs a rewrite. However, the warranty service is very good. If your Rohlf faucet does develop a defect, Rohl will take care of you under its warranty.
Rohl discourages discounting and maintains a strict advertised price protection policy. Rohl also vigorously enforces sales only through authorized outlets. Bde cautious of faucets sold as Rohl products non--traditional retail sites like eBay. These are often not true Rohl products. The company will not support faucets purchased from an unauthorized retailer, including internet sellers of lower-cost European and Asian versions of the faucets it sells.
We are continuing to research the company. If you have experience with Rohl faucets, good, bad, or indifferent, we would like to hear about it, so please contact us or post a comment below.