Barber Wlsons Faucets Review & Rating Updated: July 2, 2024
P O Box 1236
Westbury Avenue
Riverhead, NY 11901
(800) 727-6317
sjenkinson@barberwilsons.co.uk
Barber Wilsons & Co., Ltd.
Crawley Road
Westbury Avenue
Wood Green
London N22 6AH
Law Requirements
- Read the Barber Wlsons faucet warranty.
- Learn more about faucet warranties.
This Company In Brief
Barber Wilsons makes both kitchen sink and bathroom faucets, all manufactured in London and the Midlands.
Its kitchen faucets are nice but unremarkable. But, the bathroom faucets are distinctive — for the most part unmistakably English in three basic styles covering the Victorian to Art Deco periods as well as some transitional styles in tune with a more contemporary bath.
These are luxury faucets, expensive but well made and impeccably finished.
Unfortunately, however, the faucets are illegal in North America. The company sells only untested, uncertified faucets.
We, frankly, do not think most $1,000 faucets are worth the money.
Let's face it, a perfectly fine, stylish faucet that will give years of trouble-free service can be bought for under $150 if one shops carefully.
So why pay $1,000 and more for a faucet?
It would certainly have to be something spectacular: exquisitely designed with flawless workmanship and a hand-polished finish showing luster and depth that almost reaches Katmandu.
Fortunately, for those who love to surround themselves with beautiful things, there are such faucets in the world.
The British company
So is Barber Wilsons except for one important concern: Barber Wilsons faucets have not been certified to North American standards and are not legal to sell or install in the U.S. or Canada. All of these other brands are certified.
The Company
Barber Wilsons, a family-owned and managed company manufacturing water fittings in England, is one of the oldest members of the club.
Established by Edward Barber with brothers William and Walter Wilson as a partnership in 1905, the company opened its factory on Crawley Road, off Westbury Avenue in London that same year and began manufacturing plumbing fittings — a new and exciting industry in the first decades of the 20th century.
The company has been in business in the same location and under the same family's control since its founding in 1905, during the reign of Edward VII (1900-1910), "By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith" and Emperor of India".
According to Companies House records in London, the company was subsequently incorporated on November 17, 1908, and has been in continuous existence since that date.
It did not begin to concentrate on decorative fittings, however, until the 1980s when it resurrected its traditional Edwardian and Art Deco designs that take up most of its current catalog.
We have been looking at these faucets for years, hoping to acquire one for an examination.
Fortunately, a generous reader agreed to let us examine her new Barber Wilsons faucets provided we returned them unblemished. We were impressed. They are gorgeous — well made and impeccably finished. There is nothing about the quality of these faucets to complain about.
The company makes both kitchen sink and lavatory faucets, all manufactured in London and the Midlands.
Its kitchen faucets are nice but unremarkable, similar to the kitchen faucet styles available from several high-quality manufacturers.
But, the bathroom faucets are distinctive — the faucets Victorians dreamed about — and, for the most part, unmistakably English.
Valves and Cartridges
The company is slowly converting its faucets to use the new technology ceramic valve cartridges.
However, the standard Barber Wilsons valve is still the tried and true compression valve — a good choice for areas with very hard water as it is not as likely to be damaged by the inevitable mineral build-up inside the faucet.
The disadvantage of the valve is that it requires periodic maintenance to replace the compression washer – a minor annoyance but simple to do by anyone who can wield a wrench and a screwdriver without risk of substantial injury to self or others.
The ceramic valves are the well-respected cartridges manufactured by the German firm Flühs Drehtechnik, GmbH (often spelled Fluehs for English speakers).
It is the preferred cartridge of many high-end manufacturers such as
Unless you do not mind the minor chore of replacing rubber washers every year or so, opt for the ceramic valve cartridge.
It will reduce your choice of faucets, but also your annual maintnenance chores. Look for faucets identified on the website with the code "CD" in the catalog entry. Presumably, this stands for "Ceramic Disk".
Barber Wilsons Website
The company's North American website has been entirely revamped. In contrast to its earlier site, faucets are described in plain English instead of the largely undecipherable codes that plagued its earlier site.
Navigation is menu-driven and intuitive.
The website is gorgeously presented with scads of well-staged images of the company's plumbing products.
Unfortunately, however, it is deficient in the hard information about its faucets required to make an informed buying decision. Pretty pictures are nice, but hard data is necessary.
The listings for most faucets do not show any sort of basic information like flow rate, or finish type (electroplate, PVD, etc.). Technical information is limited to a dimensioned drawing. Detailed specification sheets, installation instructions, and exploded parts diagrams are entirely missing.
The site uses British terminology throughout, so lavatory faucets are "basin taps", "accessories" what we would most likely call spare parts
, the mud room is the "dog and boot room," and so on.
Barber Wilsons Collections
Faucets are arrayed in collections that include lavatory faucets, kitchen faucets, showers, tub fillers, bidet faucets, and spare parts.
The Regent and Regent Lever collections contain the same basic faucets. The only difference is that Regent faucets have cross handles while Regent Lever faucets are, of course, fitted with lever handles. The levers are available in all metal or ceramic versions.
The Regent Editions collection is another variation of the Regent faucet featuring cross handles with a more rounded appearance. The styling is late 19th-century English and very suited to a Victorian kitchen or bath.
Mastercraft and Mastercraft Lever collections are more Art Deco, suitable for a kitchen or bath of the Arts & Crafts and early mid-century periods, from 1910 up to about 1945.
The Manhattan collection features the angular profiles of the New York styling of the mid-century period.
The Brigade collection faucets are a contemporary design with an industrial look similar to the Brooklyn 31 collection.
The company offers a wide range of eighteen finishes sufficient to fit anyone's personal style.
Most of these are finishes, not the more modern (PVD) finishes.
Some are designed to "tarnish, patinate and expose base colours" over time. The polished brass finish
, for example, is just native brass without any protective finish. It is not coated with any sort of protective film and will stay polished only so long as you polish it. Otherwise, it will turn an interesting shade of brown.
Other finishes are what the company calls "established" finishes that …
"Over time [will] change subtly in appearance but if cleaning instructions are followed, they will retain a sharp and pristine appearance."
The term "established finish" is again Brit-speak for ordinary, non-living finishes. All non-living finishes will indeed "change subtly," but not enough to notice. Most companies do not even bother to point that out, so kudos to Barber Wilsons for doing so.
Living finishes are identified in the finish chart on the company website so if you don't want a finish that changes appearance over time, you can avoid these finishes.
Care instructions for both types of finishes are on the company website.
Barber Wilsons Warranty
The standard for residential faucet warranties in North America is a lifetime warranty pioneered by in the 1950s.
Barber Wilsons held a Royal Warrant of Appointment to supply kitchen and bathroom faucets to HRH Elizabeth II.
The warrant expired on her death in 2022. A royal warrant is a seal of approval from the British monarch. Only royal persons designated by the monarch may issue a warrant. It does not indicate that the product or service is necessarily the best, only that it is the brand preferred by that particular royal household.
To get a warrant, a company must have been doing business with the Royal Household for at least five of the past seven years, and apply for the warrant. Warrant holders do not pay a fee for the royal endorsement and are not expected to provide their goods and services to the royal family gratis, or even at a reduced price.
Warrants of Appointment are not limited to U.K. companies. U.S. companies that have held royal warrants include Kelloggs Co. (cereals), Heinz (baked beans), S. C. Johnson Co. (household products), and the McIlhenny Company for Tobasco®, the Queen's preferred pepper sauce.
Barber Wilsons offers a one-year warranty in North America, the same warranty that it offers in the U.K.
It guarantees that the faucet will be of "satisfactory quality within the meaning of the Consumer Rights Act of 2015." For "failure of the faucet caused by a defect in "workmanship, materials, or operation," the company will replace any parts found to be defective.
Consumer warranties in the U.S., however, are not subject to the UK's Consumer Rights Act of 2015 but to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (15 U.S.C. §2301), the law that sets the minimum content and form for consumer product warranties in the U.S.
The Barber Wilson's warranty does not comply in the slightest with the requirements of Magnuson-Moss.
The upshot of this failure is that in any lawsuit over the warranty, your state's warranty of merchantability will generally substitute. This warranty requires the company to do much more than replace a few parts. It will need to shoulder the entire cost of repairing the faucet including plumbing labor, shipping, packaging, and so on.
Barber Wilsons will also have to pay your attorney fees – a little penalty built into Magnuson-Moss for companies that do not comply with its mandates.
Testing & Certification
The Barber Wilsons' catalog notes that "[m]any of our fittings are sent for testing to the WRC Evaluation & Testing Centre and, therefore, comply with the requirements of the current Water Bylaws".
The Water Bylaws, however, are a British standard. They have no applicability in North America and do not indicate that the faucets are legal to sell or use in Canada or the U.S.
We dould not confirm Barber Wilsons' routine claim that its faucets are certified to U.S. requirements. Barber Wilson's spokespersons dispute our findings, but when asked for listing certificates as proof of certification, the company has been unable to provide any. It has now been days since the request was first made, plenty of time to produce the certificates if they existed.
Metallic Lead in Barber Wilsons Faucets
Most North American sellers of European-made faucets take great pains to ensure that their faucets are fully certified. Barber Wilsons is one of the very few that do not – in fact, it is the only one we know of.
At one time its faucets were tested and certified compant with North American standards by CSA Group (formerly the Canadian Standards Association). That certification lapsed, however, with the more stringent lead content rules of the amended federal Safe Drinking Water Act that went into effect in January 2014.
The certificates have not been renewed, suggesting that Barber Wilsons has little confidence that its faucets will pass today's much stricter lead content tests.
Lead is very dangerous, especially to the health of children. It is known to cause a range of health problems including stunted growth, lowered IQ, behavioral issues, and learning disabilities.
Children six years old and under are most at risk from exposure. Because their bodies are still growing, children tend to absorb more lead than adults.
The U.S. has adopted strenuous and even draconian measures, including criminal penalties, to keep lead out of our drnking water systems and that includes keeping it out of faucets.
Unfortunately, however, faucets are typically made of brass and brass commonly contains lead. Faucets for use in the U.S. are required to be made of lead-free brass.
The only way to tell if a faucet is lead-free, however, is through testing and certification.
Registration Requirements
Moreover, Barber Wilsons has not complied the water conservation registration requirements of the U.S. Energy Policy & Conservation Act (EPCA).
The EPCA prohibits the distribution of faucets in commerce in the U.S. unless the required certifications have been filed, which means that Barber Wilsons faucets may not be legally imported, advertised, offered for sale, sold, or delivered after the sale in the U.S. or any of its territories.
Penalties for not registering are stiff – fines of $40.00 per day per faucet. Looking back just one year, the company's fine for the 23 basic faucets offered for sale in the U.S. would be $3,693,800. Obviously, by failing to register, the company is taking quite a chance.
Comparable Faucets
Imported faucets comparable to Barber Wilsons in the rich English style of the Victorian Era include the excellent quality English crafted
For an American-made faucet of this caliber, look to
Conclusions
We would love to commend these faucets to anyone looking for a luxury faucet. They are wonderfully styled, well-made, and beautifully finished. Unfortunately, however, they are also illegal.
They are illegal to sell in the U.S. and illegal to install in a drinking water system in either the U.S. or Canada.
Installing uncertified faucets in a system, public or private, that provides drinking water is at best a civil offense and in some states a crime. It is not Barber Wilsons that will be paying the penalty, however, it is you, the homeowner. Since these penalties in some states are criminal in nature, it is wise to stay away from Barber Wilsons faucets unless and until the company submits its products for certification and testing.
We are continuing to research the company. If you have experience with Barber Wilsons faucets, good, bad, or indifferent, we would like to hear about it, so please contact us or post a comment below.
- For More Good Reading
- Learn more about black market and contraband faucets at Illegal and Black Market Faucets in North America.
- For a list of illegal faucets sold at Amazon.com, see Amazon's Contraband Faucets.
- To learn how faucets are regulated to protect your health, see Keeping Faucets Safe & Reliable