Guide to Faucet Reviews

We don't sell faucets. We don't accept payment of any kind from faucet companies. We don't allow faucet advertising (except Google Adsense, over which we have very little control).

We have no interest, financial or otherwise, in any faucet company. We do not promote any specific faucet, faucet line or faucet company. We don't recommend faucets unless specifically asked to do so.

We do a lot of kitchen and bath remodeling, so we buy a lot of faucets. That is our sole and only connection to the faucet industry — we are a customer.

We started our faucet reviews over 15 years ago simply because at the time there was no reliable independent information about faucets and faucet companies, and we got tired of not knowing exactly what we were buying when we purchased a faucet and tired of buying historically reliable brands that did not seem to be very reliable any longer. We also wanted to know which, if any, faucets were still made in North America, having heard the rumors that all faucet manufacturing had been moved to China.

It was only after collecting information about faucet companies for several years that we found out that other people were also interested, and decided to clean up the information and publish it on the web. To divorce the reviews from our regular business, we organized StarCraft Media, LLC as a non-profit corporation to sponsor and own the reviews. After more than 15 years it has grown to be a fairly substantial enterprise that takes a goodly amount of our time and involves dozens of homeowners and industry professionals, volunteers all, who devote a lot of time and some of their own dollars to producing our review reports. Without our dedicated volunteers who do most of the testing and research, these reviews would not be possible. So, many thanks to all of you.

We don't get the faucets we review from the faucet company. We know that many reviewers do but we think free faucets give the companies leverage over the review. The tacit expectation is that the company will receive a glowing review. If it does not, the reviewer will get no more free faucets. And, it is almost always a condition of getting a free faucet that the faucet company gets to approve the review. We don't let faucet companies have any editing or veto authority over any of our reviews. If we did, most would never be published because we commonly disclose information that the faucet company would rather not be told.

We get most of the faucets we review through ordinary commercial channels — plumbing supply stores, hardware stores, internet sellers, even big box lumber stores — to ensure that we are testing the same faucet that is available to the general public. To keep the company from knowing we are doing it, and possibly substituting a specially prepared "golden child" faucet, we typically employ straw buyers: volunteers located in different parts of the U.S. and Canada who buy on our behalf, sometimes even using their own money, God bless them!

Some faucets we merely borrow for testing from someone who already owns it. This is especially true of expensive faucets like where the purchase of a faucet or two would deplete half of our annual faucet budget. We can't test these as thoroughly, of course, because we have to give them back unharmed. But, other than destructive testing, they get the full range of examination, including being taken apart down to the last screw and bolt.

All of this is preamble to the following:

We rate faucet companies as objectively as we can, often after an extensive investigation lasting many months. We don't care what faucet you buy. We just want you to have the facts needed to make a good buying decision. It is then up to you to make an informed and intelligent choice.

In addition to our examination of the faucets, our ratings are based on the experiences of building professionals we know and trust, public records and interviews with faucet company managers and employees — and sometimes ex-employees. Building professionals we don't know and manufacturers themselves may disagree with our findings, conclusions or ratings. If so, we'd like to hear from them. We do not usually rate any faucet line that is too new to have a track record, or where information is too sparse for us to form an intelligent opinion. Eventually, we will (if they are still around in a few years) but not yet. If we can't tell who makes a company's faucets, then we usually will not rate the company.

Which Companies Do We Review?

We don't try to review and rate every faucet company. There are far too many. There are hundreds of boutique companies selling faucets in North America and more starting up every year. Some are barely "companies" as we understand the term — often nothing more than a name and a "storefront" on an internet hosting site such as Amazon or Wayfair; no physical address, no legal organization, not even a telephone number. Retail ghosts of little or no substance that are here today and disappear tomorrow.

We can't possibly keep track of them all. What we do try to review and rate are faucet companies that have been around long enough to suggest they are more than fly-by-night, and especially if readers ask about them. So, if your preferred faucet is not reviewed, and you would like to see it rated, contact us. We have added twelve company ratings in the past year, and have another ten in the hopper. When we have enough information to support a rating, these will appear in the list.

Information Included in Our Faucet Reviews

Our reviews provide a great deal of information that, as far as we can tell, is available nowhere else. This may include information that the companies do not want you to have including the actual origin of the company's faucets. The sum of the information we gather is reflected in our overall rating of the company.

overall Rating

Company ratings are based on our overall assessment of the company's faucets, warranty, customer service and consumer complaints (or lack thereof). Ratings range from 1 to 10, with 1 being completely worthless to 10 being nearly perfect. Four to 6 is average, 7 to 8 is good, and 9 is excellent. We know of no manufacturer who rates a 10 — although a couple are getting very close — and will not rate any company whose products do not reach at least a 4.

In determining a rating we look primarily at the quality of the faucets sold by a company, which is an amalgam of the quality of its materials, cartridges or valves, finishes and design innovation. Then we examine its warranty and post-sale product support.

Many companies make a range of faucets. They have an economy line, middle line, and top line. This is why we usually post ratings as a range — 4-6, for example — indicating that faucet quality runs from just below average to slightly above average. Three is below average, six is above average. So, while our ratings may help give you an idea of the overall quality of the company's faucets, it's always always, always necessary to investigate the particular faucet model you are planning to buy. There are good and not-so-good faucets in every product line.

Warranty Rating

We examine the company's faucet warranty and summarize the important parts in a table at the top of each review. The warranty is scored from zero to five stars. Zero stars means that the company does not offer a written warranty. One star indicates a warranty barely worth the paper it's printed on. We consider the standard North American warranty to be a "limited lifetime" warranty in which lifetime is defined as "For as long as the original owner owns the faucet and the house in which the faucet is originally installed." The lifetime warranty must apply to all three main components of the faucets: mechanical (body, spout, and handles), finish, and cartridge or valve. We accept a lesser warranty on hoses and electrical components (of automatic faucets).

Anything less than a lifetime warranty on any important component of a faucet will reduce the company's stars. Exceptional post-sale customer service with a lifetime warranty will raise the company's stars.

The standard faucet warranty promises to provide parts to replace or repair any defective part of the faucet, or a whole new faucet if repairs are not reasonably possible or likely to succeed but does not promise, and often specifically excludes, the labor required to effect the repair or replacements. A faucet company that offers at least this much in its faucet warranty gets three stars. If a faucet company offers more than merely providing the parts, it gets more stars. for example, and one or two Canadian companies, offer to provide or pay for the repair labor on its defective faucets, so they get additional points.

A warranty of less than a lifetime on any part of the faucet prompts the question: "What's wrong with these faucets that the company is reluctant to offer a lifetime warranty?" For less than a lifetime warranty on any critical faucet parts, the best the company can hope for is two stars. Ikea, which gained points by offering to pay for the labor required to fix a defective faucet, lost them again by providing a less than lifetime warranty: 5 or 10 years, depending on the faucet. (At least one Ikea faucet has no warranty at all.) We expect a shorter warranty on hoses and electronic components and do not deduct for less than lifetime warranties on these parts. We expect no warranty on a "living finish" and do not deduct if the company does not guarantee these types of finishes — no one does.

Any tricks in the warranty, and we generally dock the company a full star. We don't like tricky warranties. If the faucet company has gotten just too clever in its warranty language, like advertising warranty promises in the bold print that it later takes away in the fine print, we will tell you about it, and deduct points. One company, advertises a lifetime warranty on defects in material and workmanship but in the very next seance of the warranty limits it to 5 years on mechanical parts. Sneaky! Alfi's score nose-dived to one star.

are tied for second place with 4 stars each.

Company Name

We provide the company's actual legal name and contact information including telephone number(s) to the company's customer service. Most of these are published numbers. But, in few cases the companies do not publish their customer service number, preferring to be contacted by e-mail, as in the case of

In some cases, the company's name is also its primary brand name (i.e. Some companies sell under what is known in legal circles as a "fictitious" business name. For example, Clawfoot Supply, LLC conducts business as a duly registered and quite legal "trading as" name which is also the brand name of its faucets.

Brand Name

We list of all the names (or, at least, all we can find) under which the company sells faucets. Most companies sell just one brand but a number sell more than one, often targeting different groups of buyers. faucets through Costco stores, Sam's Club and Walmart. sells is store brand Aquasource faucets primarily to homeowners but has another brand, Project Source, targeting bulk buyers such as builders, multi-family housing, and some commercial users. In Canada, both faucets) sell builder-grade faucets. Baril sells the Jalo brand, and RONA sells under the Facto name.

Street Price

The real price of a faucet is its street price — the price at which it is sold at retail venues. We report street prices as a range from low to high. These are ordinary retail, non-sale, prices. We view manufacturers suggested retail prices (MSRP) as curious but interesting fictions, having little to do with the actual selling price of the faucet. However, a small minority of faucet sellers now impose some price controls in the form of "minimum advertised prices" (MAP) now that the Supreme Court has made price fixing legal again, which does tend to inflate the street price somewhat. Where we find these, we will tell you about them.

Product Range

Some companies sell all of the many kinds of sink faucets: kitchen, bath, bar, prep, laundry, utility, and commercial. Some sell only kitchen, and some sell only bath faucets. We indicate the types of faucets the company sells so you can immediately dismiss the company as a prospect if it does not sell the type of faucet you are looking for.

Country of Origin

Our reviews identify the country or countries in which the faucets are actually manufactured. This may be the same as the county in which the company's headquarters is located but often is not. for example, is a Swiss company that buys most of its faucets in China and Israel. These countries, not Switzerland, are the actual countries of origin of its faucets. faucets are sourced from China and Taiwan. None, as far as we can tell, are actually manufactured in its home country, Canada.

We generally determine countries of origin by examining customs and shipping records going back three to five years.

Made Here or Over There

"Made in U.S.A." and "Product of Canada" still sell merchandise, especially faucets. Our reviews identify the faucet companies that actually manufacture (or at least assemble) faucets in the U.S. or Canada. We also identify companies that pretend to manufacture or assemble in the U.S. or Canada but actually do not.

Many faucet manufacturers, especially the large manufacturers, sell a complex line of faucets composed variously of faucets made in the U.S., imported faucets, and faucets assembled from imported components. Some companies like even manufacture the same model faucet in two or more different countries. We try to judge the overall composition of the manufacturer's products when assigning a rating. We may be wrong, and if we are we would like to hear about it. (Be fairly warned, however, that if you claim your product is made or assembled in the U.S.A. or Canada we will probably want evidence. We will not take your unsupported word for it. We have learned through experience to be highly skeptical of "Made in ..." claims.)

Business Model

Faucet companies fall into one or more of five business models. These are discussed at length in Faucet Basics: Understanding Faucet Companies but for those of you who skipped that section, here is a summary:

You may ask yourself, why do I care about a faucet company's business model? All I want to do is buy a nice, robust, and inexpensive faucet that gives me a good value. And, here's the answer: A company's business model has a substantial impact on the quality of its faucets, its ability to support its faucets with an adequate warranty, the extent and effectiveness of its post-sale customer service and replacement parts availability. Generally, Manufacturers provide the best warranty and parts support, followed by Assemblers, Specifiers, Marketeers and Retail Rebranders.

Few companies fit cleanly into one business-model category. There is a lot of overlap, especially in a large company with several divisions and diverse product lines.

In our ratings, where a company seems to have multiple or overlapping business models, the overlap will be noted.

The Actual Manufacturers

Few faucet companies manufacture their own faucets. Those that do we class as manufacturers. For the rest, we find out and disclose the actual manufacturer or manufacturers of its faucets.

Some companies are very cagey about who actually makes their faucets — it's a "trade secret", doncha know. This is most often true of companies pretending to manufacture in the U.S. or Canada. Disclosing that the actual manufacturing is done in China, Taiwan, Korea or Vietnam tends to burst that bubble, and we usually get an unpleasant letter from someone at the company, sometimes even suggesting that the matter might be turned over to their legal department.

If we can't find the actual manufacturers but can identify the country of origin, we will tell you at least that much.

Faucet Certifications

Faucets sold in the U.S. and Canada are highly regulated products. They are required by law not only to meet certain minimum standards of safety and reliability but be able to prove that they meet the standards by a listing in a certificate of compliance. We will disclose whether a faucet company has gotten all of the required certifications for its faucets. These required certifications are:

A faucet that complies with these standards is a faucet that is safe, reasonably reliable and free of harmful amounts of lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and other unpleasant substances with a finish that is minimally robust. It meets the minimum requirements of all U.S. and Canadian plumbing codes.

A faucet that is not certified:

We very strongly suggest that you never (and by "Never" we mean "NEVER" and by that, we mean "N E V E R") buy or install a faucet that does not have these minimum certifications no matter how stylish or how cheap.

State and Provincial Regulation

Some states impose additional requirements. Both Massachusetts and California, in addition to compliance with the basic standards, require that faucets be approved and registered with the state. Both states prohibit an unregistered faucet from being sold, offered for sale or installed within the state. Colorado prohibits bathroom sink faucets that are not Watersense^® qualified. State law in Vermont, Louisiana, Maryland, and California ban faucets that are not lead-free. Georgia makes it a crime to sell or install an uncertified faucet. For readers from these states, we identify whether a faucet company complies with state requirements.

For readers from these states, we identify the faucet companies that comply with state requirements.

Optional Qualifications

Faucet companies may choose to pursue other certifications. For example, its faucets (or some of them) may be Watersense^® qualified or may have had its faucets tested for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These certifications are entirely voluntary but if the company has had some or all of its faucets certified to these additional standards, we will let you know.

Rev. 03/15/18