Dominion Faucets Review & Rating Updated: March 3, 2023

Imported

Taiwan

Kis­sler & Co., Inc.

Tradding as

Dominion Faucets

770 Central Blvd.

Carlstadt, NJ 07072

(201) 896-9600

sales@kissler.com

Rating

Business Type

For more information on the five faucet company business types, see Faucet Companies

Product Range

Kitchen, bath, prep, bar, laundry, utility, and commercial faucets

Certifications

Brands

Dominion

Street Price

$25 - $280

Warranty Score

Cartridge

No Warranty

Finishes

No Warranty

Mechanical Parts

5 years

Proof of Purchase

N/A

Transferable

N/A

Meets U.S. Warranty
Law Requirements

N/A

Warranty Footnotes:

1. The Dominion website claims that its faucets have a warranty lasting 5 years. Retail sites, however, universally identify it as a 1 or 2-year warranty. Neither the company nor any of its retailers could produce a written warranty, however.

---

Learn more about faucet warranties.

This Company In Brief

Kissler & Co. founded in 1923 is a distributor of plumbing repair and replacement products. Its inventory of more than 30,000 parts and fittings includes older, hard-to-find items, many of which Kis­sler manufactures itself in its 80,000 square foot manufacturing and distribution center in New Jersey.

The Company

Kissler is well-known for its ability to manufacture one-of replacement parts for vintage plumbing fittings no longer being made. Send in a broken or worn component and Kissler will reproduce it as good and often better than the original.

Kissler sells two private brand fau­cet lines, Do­min­ion and

Do­min­ion is its build­ers' line manufactured in Tai­wan. Con­cin­ni­ty is its upscale line made in Israel and Italy.

Do­min­ion fau­cets are reviewed here, Con­cin­ni­ty fau­cets are reviewed separately. (Click to open the review.)

The Manufacturers

Do­min­ion fau­cets are made by

• Chung Cheng Fau­cet Co., Ltd. a Tai­wan­ese manufacturer selling its own CCF brand fau­cets throughout Asia, and

• Rin Shing Me­tal Co., Ltd. also manufacturing in Tai­wan.

Both companies are manufacturers.

In addition to the faucets they supply to Kissler, both manufacturers also make faucets for Kissler's compepetition in the plumbing supply distribution business.

Chung Cheng, for example, makes many of the faucets sold by

Rin Shing supplies economy and mid-prced faucets to

• to Afeel Corporation distributing faucets under the
• Durst Corporation selling
• Ferguson Enterprises selling as through its various brick-and-mortar and internet oulets, and
• one of the original importers and distributors of Taiwanese faucets.

Because they supplied by the same manufacturers, many Do­min­ion faucets are identical to faucets sold by these other companites.

Do­min­ion fau­cets are stock products out of each manufacturer's largely unmodified except for the adaptations necessary to conform to the common connection sizes used in North America (where we still cling to our quaint customary units – inches and feet – rather than metric units adopted by the rest of the civilized world). They are not custom faucets designed by or exclusively for Kissler.

The Collections

Kissler gathers the faucets into three residential collections, sorted by quality: Gold, Silver, and Bronze, and a commercial collection.

• The Gold series contains the best designs and fau­cets that are equipped with ceramic cartridges.

• Faucets in the Silver series are less stylish and are fitted with washerless valves.

• Bronze series fau­cets are plastic, identified by the company as "non-metallic" or "ABS", (both industry codewords for "plastic.")

• Commercial series fau­cets are heavy brass, fitted with compression valves.

Faucet Materials

The base material of the fau­cets in the Gold and Silver series is lead-free brass. But even in these "brass" fau­cets, some components are not brass.

Parts of the faucet not under water pressure are usually zinc or a zinc-aluminum (ZA) alloy. This includes most handles and some base plates. Other handles and baseplates are plastic.

Zinc and its alloys are not as robust as brass. But in ancillary parts of the faucet that are not subject to water pressure, the materials work well at a lower cost.

Their use has become a widely adopted industry practice. It is particularly common in faucets made in Asia. For economy fau­cets such as the Do­min­ion lines, the practice is virtually universal.

But, while zinc properly used is not a problem, plastic can be. Plastic, like zinc and zinc alloys, is often used in handles and baseplates. Some of the Do­min­ion fau­cets we examined had plastic handles. Plastic in these uses is seldom an issue. Plastic in spray heads, however, are another matter and spray heads in Do­min­ion fau­cets are plastic.

Plastic spray heads ("wands" in faucet-speak) are becoming increasingly common even un upscale fau­cets like Unlike metal wands, they do not get hot in use, and they are much less expensive to manufacture. Un­for­tun­ate­ly, they are also much more prone to failure. Only a few companies still use metal spray heads. Two of these are

Faucet Styling

The Gold series includes a few fau­cets with contemporary styl­ing, but most Do­min­ion faucet designs harken back to the '50s, '60s, and '70s for their designs.

If you are revamping a kitchen in a Mid-Century Modern theme, many of the Do­min­ion designs – based on Delta, American Standard, and Price-Pfister designs of the Post-War period – would fit the decor. The company does not offer any designs that fit the Victorian or Arts & Crafts periods.

For a contemporary kitchen, a few fau­cets in the Gold series will look appropriate. (See, for example, the 77-6205 high-arc fau­cet or the 77-2891 fau­cet).

Valves & Cartridges

Dominion is very careful about identifying the type of valve or cartridge used in each faucet. They vary by series.

What the company does not do, however, is provide a description of the valve or cartrige. Most buyers do not know anything about a washerles or compression valve, so it would be very helpful to a lexicon explaining the capabilities and limitations of each type of valve or cartridge.

Gold Series - Ceramic Cartridge Valves

Faucets in the Gold series are equipped with the newer technology ceramic disc valve cartridges invented separately by in 1970s. Water flow is controlled by nearly indestructible ceramic discs rather than rubber rings and washers.

The cartridges are made in Asia. Based on configuration and markings we believe they are supplied by Kuching International, Ltd., the manufacturer of the KCG-brand cartridge, and by Sedal S.L.U., a technical ceramics company chartered in Spain but manufacturing in China. Both brands are widely used in Chinese fau­cets specifically made for export to the West.

Neither brand is considered a top-line cartridge, but they are more than adequate and should provide years of leak-free service.

Once a ceramic cartridge wears out, however, it cannot be repaired. It can only be replaced. Replacement is simple and takes between 5 and 10 minutes. The cost of a replacement cartridge is usually between $12 and $20 ($15 to $25 CAD).

Silver Series - Washerless Valves

Silver series fau­cets include Delta-style washerless ball valves introduced by in 1954. Delta-style ball valves are sill widely used in economy fau­cets like those in the Do­min­ion Silver series. (Delta, however, long ago replaced the ball valve in its own fau­cets with its revolutionary Diamond Seal Technology^® Ceramic super cartridge.)

The rubber seals on washerless ball valves wear out over time and need to be replaced every three to six years. But, if they are renewed regularly, the valves will last nearly forever.

Re­plac­ing them is well within the ability of even a mo­destly-talented do-it-yourselfer with basic tools. A repair kit with everything needed to replace the rings costs just a few dollars at almost any hardware store.

Commercial Collection - Compression Valves

Faucets in the commercial collection are fitted with a compression valve – the original faucet valve for two-handle fau­cets invented by the English firm of Guest & Chrimes in 1845.

It consists of a rubber washer attached to a screw device operated by the handle. When the washer is screwed into a seat, water flow is blocked. When backed away from the seat, water flows again. The washer wears out and needs to be replaced every one or two years, easy to do, but a nuisance that most homeowners prefer to avoid.

Despite the need for frequent routine maintenance, the venerable compression valve is still the preferred valve type in restaurant, hotel, and institutional kitchens where the ease of replacing the washer outweighs the nuisance of having to replace it fairly often.

For more information on the types of faucet valves and cartridges and their history, composition, and uses, see Faucet Basics, Part 2: Faucet Valves & Cartridges.

A busy Arby's or McDonald's kitchen cannot shut down for a day waiting for a replacement ceramic cartridge to arrive by FedEx, it needs to be able to get a malfunctioning faucet working again right away, and replacing the compression washer – which typically takes about 10 minutes and uses parts carried in every plumber's toolbox – usually does the trick.

Faucet Finishes

Finishes are limited. polished chrome is universal, available on all Do­min­ion fau­cets. Chrome is the only finish on Silver and Bronze series fau­cets. Gold series fau­cets may be finished in Brushed Nickel, also electroplated. The third most common faucet finish, oil-rubbed bronze, is not available on Do­min­ion fau­cets.

All finishes are , the oldest type of faucet finish that has severed the industry well for well over 150 years. The finish is scratch-, mar- and chemical-resistant and with reasonable care will last generations, but Dominion's care instructions should be strictly followed.

For more information on the types of faucet finishes, how they are created, their durability, and how long they can be expected to last, see Faucet Basics, Part 5: Faucet Finishes.

Dominion Website

The Do­min­ion website is not at all flashy, but simple to use with intuitive, menu-driven, navigation.

Faucets are easy to find, starting the search by clicking on the faucet location (lavatory, kitchen, utility, or commercial) or its series (Gold, Silver, or Bronze). The fau­cets can then be filtered by finish, flow rate, number of handles, handle type, spout type, spray type (for kitchen fau­cets), and valve type. The filtering process is fast and accurate.

The site keeps track of the fau­cets you have selected at the bottom right of the page, making it simple to return to a previous faucet for another look.

The site search function is powerful for searches limited to faucet characteristics. It should be kept to a single word, however.

Multi-word searches are not always productive. A search on "ceramic cartridge," for example produced no results, but limiting the search term to "ceramic" displayed every faucet and shower with a ceramic cartridge.

To find all of the fau­cets with a nickel finish, we searched on "inckel" which did the trick, displaying two pages of fau­cets and shower components finished in brushed nickel. "Brushed nickel", however, did not produce as many results.

There is no "where to buy" feature, which is a strange omission by a distributor that does not sell its fau­cets from its website. To find out where to buy a Do­min­ion faucet, you will have to trust in Google, which, in our experience will identify web retailers, but not local retail sources.

Once you have selected a faucet, the information about the faucet is displayed in summary on the faucet listing page. This usually includes the faucet's flow rate, finish, spray type, and certifications. Certifications are particularly well explained. A "Technical Doc" tab displays links to installation instructions and a specification sheet in portable document format (.pdf).

Installation instructions are exactly the instructions that will come in the box. These are useful to your plumber to identify any special tools needed or problems that may have to be overcome to install the faucet in the location you have selected for it.

The Specification Sheets are a disappointment: nothing more than a dimensioned drawing for most fau­cets. Where actual specifications were provided, they were very sparse, little more than the same summary information already displayed on the faucet listing page.

Faucets are pictured in just one 3/4 view. Views from the side, front, and even the top would be helpful in fully visualizing the faucet.

Better still would be a 360° visualization capability such as that provided by faucets. Click on the 360° icon and the faucet is displayed in a box that allows you to rotate the faucet with your mouse to view it from any angle.

A lot of information necessary for an informed buying decision is entirely missing, including

Overall, we give the company an A- for its web design, but a mere C for the information about its fau­cets.

Dominion Faucet Warranty

Kissler advertises a 5-year warranty on Do­min­ion fau­cets. Most retailers, however, identify the warranty as either a 1-year or 2-year warranty.

We could not find the warranty document on the company website, the Kissler catalog, or the website of any of its retailers. Nor was a written warranty included in the box with any of the Do­min­ion faucets we acquired for examination and testing.

None of the Kissler customer service representatives we spoke with knew anything about a written Do­min­ion warranty, and referred us to Kissler's National Sales Manager, Sean Kaplan. Mr. Kaplan, however, did not respond to the half-dozen or so messages we left asking for a copy of the warranty.

His only response was to order us not to publish this review without Kissler's permission.

We assume from the lack of a relevant response from Mr. Kaplan and the complete unavailability of a copy of a written warranty, that there is no written Do­min­ion faucet warranty.

For more information on faucet warranties, how to read them, and what they can reveal about a company and its fau­cets, see Faucet Basics, Part 6: Understanding Faucet Warranties.

Testing & Certification

Kissler makes a number of statements about the certifications of its faucets that are not true.

It claims on its About-Us page that all Dominion faucets comply with all required North American faucet standards. However, our research found that while most of Dominion's faucets are certified to the North American basic and lead-free standards, some are not.

Our research found no certifications for faucets with model numbers higher than 77-8605, which inclues all of Dominion's commercial faucets.

For model numbers 77-8605 and below, only those faucets made by Chung Cheng Faucet Co. have been fully certified to all standards. Those manufactured by Rin Shing Metal are certified only to one but not both of the two mandatory lead-free standards.

None of Dominion's faucets have been certified compliant with the water conservation standards of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. This is not a safety standard, however, and a faucet otherwise fully certified is safe to use in a drinking water system even if not certified to the EPCA standard.

In its own words, Kissler "has a 'ground up' knowledge of the faucet industry with its nearly 100 years of experience." It certainly knows the laws and regulations that govern the testing and certification of faucets. It has just chosen to ignore them.

To ensure your safety and that of your family, do not buy a Dominion faucet unless the company can show you a current, valid listing certificate proving that the faucet complies with each of ASME A112.18.1, ANSI/NSF 61, and ANSI/NSF 372.

If you are not sure about the authenticity of a listing certificate, send it to us at starcraftreviews@yahoo.com. We will verify it for you free of charge.

For more information on how testing and certification help keep faucets safe, see Faucet Basics, Part 3: Keeping Faucets Safe & Reliable.

Comparable Faucets

Faucets made in China and Taiwan comparable in quality to Do­min­ion Gold and Silver faucets include

All of these companies provide a standard lifetime warranty on their faucets. Most are at about the same level of quality but not necessarily at the same price point as Do­min­ion faucets.

Commercial faucets comparable to Do­min­ion commercial faucets, include:

These faucets are made eveywhere from the U.S. to China. Banner and Central Brass faucets are from Taiwan. Chicago Faucet, Symmons, and T & S Brass manufacture mostly in the U.S., but include imported parts in their faucets. Some Chicago Faucet, Elkay, and Symmons faucets are made by contract factories in China.

We are of the opinion that unless and until Do­min­ion offers a written warranty on its faucets and makes that warranty readily available prior to any sale as required by Magnuson-Moss, and has all of its faucets tested and certified compliant with the laws and standards applicalbe in North America, a Do­min­ion faucet probably should not be your first choice in an economy faucet. Consider as an alternative one of the faucet brands listed above.

We are continuing to research the company. If you have experience with Do­min­ion fau­cets, good, bad or indifferent, we would like to hear about it, so please contact us or post a comment below.