Isenberg Faucets
Review & Rating
Updated: February 20, 2024
Our panel of consumers and industry professionals has recognized Isenberg faucets as a Best Value in lucury faucets made or assembled in Asia. Read the Best Faucet Value Report for more information.
1927 Mustang Rd.
Ste 100
Dallas Tx 75234
(972) 972-9198
support@isenbergfaucets.com
Law Requirements
Warranty Footnotes:1. "[F]or as long as the original consumer purchaser owns their (sic) home …"2. See the main text for an explanation of the warranty's violations of federal warranty law.
Learn more about faucet warranties.
This Company In Brief
In business in the U.S. since 2008, Isenberg Bath imports good quality faucets primarily from China. Some of its critical components, however, including ceramic cartridges and aerators are supplied by European companies.
The faucet collection is well thought out and artfully coordinated and the components used in the faucets, especially the ceramic cartridges and aerators, are some of the best available.
The faucets are of generally good to excellent quality using top-line components. For the price, they are a good value backed by a strong warranty.
Infinity Wall-Mounted Lavatory Faucet
The innovative IF.1000 Infinity wall-mounted lavatory faucet has won several design awards including a Good Design award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in 2020.
Isenberg is unceasingly innovative, selling well-designed, well-made faucets for a fair price primarily through design studios and plumbing outlets but also over the internet.
A substantial and growing number of its faucet are in-house designs, including at least one faucet that has won international design awards.
The Company
The company started in India as Isenberg India Pvt. Ltd., importing and selling up-scale sanitary wares, including faucets, to the sub-continent.
Isenberg Bath, founded in 2008, was, for a short time, structured as an offshoot of the Indian firm. At present, however, the two companies are separate enterprises and do not appear to have any common ownership or financial ties.
Isenberg Bath is organized as a Texas corporation to sell faucets, showers, tub fillers, and bath accessories. The current corporation dates from 2012. Texas tax records identify Abbas Poonawala as the corporation's sole officer.
Isenberg Business Model
Isenberg's faucets are divided into two categories:
- Faucets that Isenberg designed and owns outright and
- Faucets that were designed by Isenberg's suppliers.
All of its faucets are purchased already assembled with the possible exception of ancillaries such as cartridges, handles, trim, and baseplates.
Any additional assembly performed by Isenberg to attach handles, insert cartridges, and the like is incidental, and does not rise to the level of assembly required to be considered an .
For a faucet to be identified as Assembled in U.S.A., it must meet two conditions:
- Its final assembly must occur in the U.S., and
- The final assembly must be "transformative."
If an assembly turns a collection of parts and components into what is recognizably a faucet where before the assembly there was no recognizable faucet, then the assembly is considered transformative.
Mere attachment of additional components to an already recognizable faucet is not "transformation". The faucet was already a faucet before the components were attached.
The company is not, therefore, an . However, it does design some of its faucets and, with respect to these faucets it is a . Otherwise, it is a , selling faucets designed and manufactured by its suppliers.
For more information on the various faucet company business models, see Faucet Basics, Part 7: Faucet Companies, Some Good, Some Not.
Isenberg's Suppliers
Isenberg has chosen its primary suppliers well. All of its manufacturers are companies. These include the following.
- NCIP, Inc., a company chartered in Taiwan but manufacturing in China. NCIP manufactures at least two faucets for Isenberg: the 60.1000 4" centerset lavatory faucet and the 60.2000 8" widespread lavatory faucet. At one time it also made the 100.1409 all-brass pull-down kitchen faucet. This faucet has now been discontinued in favor of stainless-steel faucets made by Nokite.
- NCIP also manufactures faucets and faucet components for
- (Taizhou) Catly Sanitary Wares Co., Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer located in Zhejiang Province.
- It is a subsidiary of Wenzhou Yideli Detergent Tools Co., Ltd., a company that, despite its name, specializes in the manufacture of bathroom fixtures, fittings, and accessories for export.
- Catly makes the majority of Isenberg faucets and faucet components including some faucets that Isenberg designed in house.
- Catly also manufactures some of the faucets sold by Omaha-based Westover, Inc.
- (Foshan) Shunde Nokite Plumbing & Sanitary Product Co, Ltd., a Chinese company wholly owned by the Swiss conglomerate, Franke Group. It is one of its 50 or so subsidiary companies. Another subsidiary, Franke Consumer Products, Inc., sells upscale kitchen faucets in North America.
- Nokite makes Isenberg's Klassiker™ collection of stainless steel kitchen faucets.
- In addition to the faucets Nokite supplies to Franke and Isenberg, it manufactures
- Lota International Co., Ltd., one of China's largest faucet manufacturers.
- It supplies faucets to the who's who of the North American faucets industry, including
Isenberg's Designs
Most of the faucets sold by Isenberg are stock faucets taken from its supplier's . The designs are owned by the supplier.
However, Isenberg has designed in-house or through contracted designers a dozen or so of its faucets – a list that keeps growing year by year.
These faucet designs are owned by Isenberg. Some are patented. Among these are
- The two-handle 196.2000 widespread faucet from Serie 196™,
- The four contemporary faucets in Serie 145™,
- Two transitional faucets in Serie 240™,
- The three minimalist faucets in Serie 250™, and
- The striking and innovative IF.2000 Infinity faucet.
The IF.2300 Infinity wall-mounted faucet, designed by Anmol Sarin, has been widely recognized for its innovative design.
It won a Good Design Award in 2020 in the Bath and Accessories category.
Good Design, sponsored since 1950 by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design: is the oldest and most prestigious of the product design awards.
Other honors awarded this faucet design include a listing by Better Homes & Gardens as one of the 30 most innovative products of 2020 and a design award by Hospitality Design magazine in the Bath category.
Mr. Sarin is also credited with the design of the Tanz™ kitchen faucet.
Casio™ Kitchen Faucet
This faucet, manufactured for Isenberg by Nokite is sold around the world by a number of faucet companies.
In Australia, for example, it is the Swedia Signatur mixer tap sold by the Vangard Design Group.
Isenberg's Exclusive Faucets
Some faucets are exclusive to Isenberg in North America not because it designed the faucets and owns the designs but because it has contracted for a protected territory.
The way this usually works is that an importer guarantees to buy a minimum number of a particular faucet model. The manufacturer, in turn, guarantees the importer an exclusive right to sell the faucet in the U.S. and Canada.
Isenberg's Serie 260™ lavatory faucets are an example.
These faucets were designed by Jochen Schmiddem of Schmiddem Design in Berlin for Steinberg, GmbH, a German faucet company.
Steinberg identifies itself as a German manufacturer, and that may be true for some of its faucets. But, the faucets it licenses to Isenberg are not manufactured in Germany. They are made by Catly Sanitary Wares in China under an agreement between the two companies dating from 2006.
Steinberg sells the faucets throughout Europe, South and Central America, the Middle East, and parts of Asia as the Series 230.
Isenberg has acquired the exclusive right to sell these interesting faucets in North America.
Isenberg's Collections
Isenberg's bathroom sink faucets are, in most instances, a part of larger collections of complementing fixtures and accessories that include showers, tub fillers, towel racks, toilet paper holders, robe hooks, and so on.
Of the three major style groups: traditional, transitional, and contemporary, virtually all Isenberg faucets are contemporary: stark and minimalist with clean lines and no applied ornamentation other than the faucet finish.
One series, the Serie 240™ is identified by Isenberg as transitional in styling but even the faucets in this series are more contemporary than transitional.
We can find no faucet in the Isenberg catalog that features traditional styling.
If you are looking for a faucet to finish off a bath or kitchen in a heritage or traditional decor, you may have to look elsewhere for a faucet that is suitable for any period other than the modern era.
Faucet Materials
Isenberg specifies top-line materials for its faucets including lead-free brass and stainless steel.
Brass
The brass used in its all-brass faucets is lead-free where it comes in contact with water, as required by law.
Lead is very toxic, but before 2014, a faucet could contain as much as 8% lead and still call itself lead-free. Now the maximum lead content of those parts of a faucet that touch water is 0.25% (1/4 of 1%), basically just a bare trace. In fact, there may be more lead in the air you breathe than there is in a modern faucet.
Lead in brass is used to reduce the brittleness of the material making it more malleable and easier to form. To comply with the new restrictions on lead, today's faucet brass uses other additives. The most common are bismuth and silicon to reduce brittleness without adding toxicity.
Bismuth is similar to lead – right next to lead on the periodic table of elements – but it is not harmful to humans. It is, however, very expensive. It is 300 times rarer than lead, even rarer than silver, which is the reason that bismuth-brass alloys are considerably more expensive than leaded brass.
Zinc
This increased cost has encouraged many faucet manufacturers to use substitute materials in their faucets where possible. The most common are zinc or a zinc-aluminum alloy commonly called pot metal.
Zinc, however, is not as strong as brass and does not resist water pressure as well as brass. Its use in the non-pressurized parts of a faucet – handles, base plates, etc. – does not harm the quality of a faucet, however, and may save a few dollars.
According to Isenberg, it has chosen not to use zinc. It uses brass for its ancillary faucet parts. This does not mean that every part of its brass faucets is lead-free. Common leaded "alpha" brass, is often used by faucet manufacturers in the parts of a faucet that do not contact water. Leaded brass in these parts is perfectly acceptable, posing no health hazard.
- The 240.100 single hole faucet in chrome, and
- The 240-2000 three-hole widespread faucet in Matte Black with wood handles.
Plastic
The company has also chosen to avoid plastic – a very wise choice indeed. Kitchen faucets pray heads (the industry term is "wands") made primarily of plastic are standard for many manufacturers, including those that sell upscale faucets such as
Manufacturers typically give three reasons for their choice of plastic in this component:
- Plastic does not get uncomfortably hot in use like metal wands;
- Plastic is not as heavy and is more comfortable to hold for long periods; and
- Plastic is a lot cheaper than brass or stainless steel – even cheaper than zinc.
Unfortunately, however, plastic fails much more often than metal wands. And although engineers have made significant improvements to their reliability over the past decade, the problem has not been entirely cured.
The Sure Cure for Too-Hot Spray Wands: The simple cure for spray wands that get too hot is to reduce the temperature of the water. Dishes do not need to be rinsed in scalding hot water.
Better wands are made of metal and Isenberg's wands are the same stainless steel as its kitchen faucets.
Stainless Steel
The Klassiker collection of kitchen faucets is made from stainless steel.[1] Steel is much harder than brass. It can be made in thinner profiles that use less material and still have more than adequate strength.
Its real advantage, however, is economic. It is less expensive than lead-free brass and it does not need an applied finish. The material itself, buffed and polished, becomes the finish. However, while an applied finish is not necessary, it can be done.
Isenberg does so. Its Klassiker kitchen faucet collection can be ordered in any of its 20 special color finishes, including in which the native stainless steel of a faucet is accented by one of Isenberg's color finishes.
Dezincification
Of Isenberg's suppliers, Lota International is the only company known to use a patented alloy of lead-free brass that resists dezincivication.
Brass is basically an alloy of copper and zinc.
Dezincification is a chemical process that occurs when brass is in near-constant contact with water. The water slowly dissolves the zinc over time. The result is a brass that is porous and brittle with very little strength.
Tin is added to brass alloy used in some Lota faucets to protect the zinc and retard the dezincafication of its brass.
Why Stainless Steel Does Not Rust: Properly alloyed stainless contains at least 10% chromium (chrome) and a dollop of nickel. These form a coating of oxides and hydroxides on the outer surface of the steel that blocks oxygen and water from reaching the underlying metal, preventing rust from forming. The coating is very thin, only a few atoms thick, so thin that it is invisible to the eye under ordinary light. It takes laboratory instruments to detect it.
The stainless steel used in Isenberg kitchen faucets is 304 stainless, an alloy that includes chromium and nickel. The nickel gives the steel a crystalline structure which increases its strength. The chromium helps the steel resist corrosion. Stainless 304, also known as "food-grade" stainless, is by far the most common alloy used to make kitchen utensils, silverware, and faucets.
Faucet Components
Isenberg uses top-quality components in its faucets, the most critical of which are its valve cartridges and aerators.
Valve Cartridges
Isenberg's single-handle faucets are fitted with ceramic cartridges made by the European technical ceramics company, Kerox Kft of Hungary.
Kerox is the mixing cartridge preferred by up-scale faucet manufacturers. Its reputation is well-earned for extremely reliable cartridges that perform well even in relatively hard water. We know it to be a very good, long-lasting cartridge.
The cartridges used in Isenberg's two-handle faucets are by the German firm, Flühs Drehtechnik, GmbH, generally thought of as the manufacturer of the world's best single-function stem cartridge for two-handle faucets.
isenberg's Older Cartridges
Until a few years ago, Isenberg single handle faucets were designed around a cartridge made by Sedal S.L.U.. a technical ceramics company chartered in Spain but manufacturing in China.
These have been largely replaced by Kerox cartridges, but not entirely.
The Isenberg website indicates that some of its faucets still use the Sedal cartridge,[2] but, unfortunately, does not identfy the faucets so equipped.
Sedal makes a good cartridge, nearly the quality and reliability of Kerox products, but "nearly" is not the same as "equal to."
Earlier two-handle faucets were fitted with Tuopu cartridges manufactured by by Hent Technology Company, an technical ceramics manufacturer located in China.
Hent makes a reliable cartridge but not to the exceptionsl precision of Flühs cartridges. We believe that all of Isenberg's two-handle faucets now include Flühs cartridges and the Hent cartridge is no longer used. But, we have not examined every two-handle faucet and cannot be 100% certain.
Before purchasing an Isenberg faucet, you may want to check with customer service to confirm the source of the cartridge used in the faucet.
For more detailed information about faucet cartridges and valves, their history, and uses, see Faucet Basics, Part 2: Faucet Valves and Cartridges.
The major differences between Flühs (sometimes spelled Fluehs for English speakers) and most of its competitors are
- the extreme precision with which the German company machines its products, and
- the fact that its stem cartridges are mono-block products.
Rather than being cast, they start out as a solid block of lead-free brass that is then machined, step by step, into a cartridge.
Casting sometimes leaves voids and weak spots in the brass, faults that are avoided by mono-block production.
Flühs stem cartridges have established a reputation for leak-free reliability over the past 70 years.
Aerators
Most Isenberg aerators are made by Neoperl®, considered some of the world's best.
Faucet aerators used to be simple devices that merely added a little air to soften the water stream so it would not splash out of the sink.
Today, however, they are also used to limit water volume to the lower flows required by federal and state water conservation laws, and in some cases, to prevent back-flow that can result in the contamination of household drinking water.
It is important, therefore, that this little device, often smaller than a dime, be the best available. And that, almost by definition, is the Swiss-engineered Neoperl® aerator.
Faucet Finishes
Isenberg does not own a finishing facility and does not finish its faucets. It buys them already finished in several standard finishes that vary by manufacturer. If a special color finish is ordered, it is applied in a local facility.
Nearly every Isenberg bath faucet is available in chrome and brushed nickel. Kitchen faucets are made of stainless steel and their "finish" is the steel material itself, buffed and polished.
What other standard finishes may be available on a faucet depends on its manufacturer. Faucets made by Catly, for example, are also available in polished nickel and satin brass. Some bath faucets can be ordered in matte black. Standard finishes are what Isenberg calls "fast-ship" finishes. They are available in stock for immediate delivery.
Chrome is an finish. The other fast-ship finishes, except Matte Black, are (PVD) coatings.
Electroplating
Electroplating is the well-established traditional way of finishing faucets that has been around nearly since faucets were invented.
It involves immersing the faucet and the metal to be used as plating in an acid bath, then applying an electrical charge to both objects so metallic ions are drawn from the plating metal to the faucet. Usually, at least three coats are applied, an undercoat of nickel and then two coats of chrome. The final finish is polished to give the chrome its shine.
The process is potentially hazardous to the operator and the environment. It involves toxic and corrosive chemicals that must be disposed of safely. No other coating technology even comes close to the dangers involved in electroplating.
Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD)
PVD is the latest space-age faucet finishing technology, rapidly replacing electroplating as the finish of choice. Although the technology was discovered in the 19th century, it was not used in industry until the 1950s and then only rarely due to its great expense. Its first use was in nuclear reactors. Today, the technology is everywhere and the machinery required is getting smaller, faster, and cheaper all the time.
The process involves loading a vacuum chamber with unfinished faucet components. All of the air is replaced with a carefully calculated mix of nitrogen or argon and reactive gases. A rod of the metal to be used for the coating is heated to a temperature so high that the metal dissolves into individual atoms. These atoms mix with the various reactive gases to get the desired color and finish effects and are then deposited in a very thin layer – 2 to 5 microns – on the faucet components.
A micron is one-millionth of a meter or 1/26,000 of an inch. The average human hair is 83 microns thick. The smallest the human eye with excellent vision can see without magnification is about 5 microns.
Despite being just microns thick, a PVD coating is extremely dense and, in consequence, very durable. By some estimates, it is up to 20 times more scratch-resistant than electroplated chrome. From long experience, we know that PVD is nearly impossible to accidentally scratch or mar, never fades or changes color, and resists all forms of soiling.
Split Finishes
In addition to Isenberg's standard finishes, faucets are also available in 20 colorful special finishes. Some faucets, including those in the Klassiker™ collection of twelve kitchen faucets, can be finished in . Part of the faucet is left as stainless, the rest is colored.
Special finishes take longer, sometimes a lot longer to deliver than fast-ship finishes since the faucets are not in stock and are given their special finish only as ordered.
Thin Film Ceramic (TFC) Finishes
Most faucet companies produce their non-metallic color finishes using a process called (See: e.g. ). A powder coat is essentially a powdered paint. It is durable but not as durable as metallic finishes.
Isenberg's color finishes, by contrast, are produced using a new technology called a Thin-Film Ceramic or TFC coating.
TFC, like PVD, is a space-age coating that does not, however, require the elaborate and expensive machinery needed for PVD application. All it requires is a spray gun and a low-temperature oven to cure the finish after spraying.
A powder coat is essentially a powdered paint. It is durable but not as durable as metallic finishes.TFC [3] is considered a "high-performance" coating that was first used to protect firearms and military field equipment – items that are expected to see very hard use.
The same faucet is sold by the Whitehaus Collection as the WHS1644-SK (right).
Isenberg is one of the very first companies to use it as a faucet finish.
A TFC coating usually contains a mix of nano-particles of silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide. These ceramic particles give the finish its robustness, resulting in a very robust coating that resists damage. In standardized laboratory wear tests, TFC coatings were found to be ten times more resistant to wear than steel. The finish is also impervious to virtually all chemical cleaning solutions, resists fading from exposure to ultraviolet rays, and is anti-microbial in some formulations.
The Isenberg warranty guarantees TFC finishes for a lifetime against manufacturing defects, a warranty that shows considerable confidence in the durability of its ceramic finishes.
Keep in mind, however, that no warranty protects against all of the hazards that can befall a faucet finish, and Isenberg's warranty is no exception.
it protects against just those defects that result from errors in the finishing process: peeling, flaking, blistering, scaling, excessive discoloration, and delamination. These are extremely rare, and by "extremely rate" we mean "almost unheard of."
Most damage to faucet finishes results from over-zealous cleaning. Modern finishes do not require scrubbing. They need little more than a wipe-down with a mild detergent and a soft cloth. Harsh chemical cleansers or scouring pads are not needed. Finish damage caused by users is never covered by a faucet warranty.
Our most recent attempt to speak to the onwer of the company, Abbas Poonawala, for more information about the company's use of thin film ceramic coatings failed after several attempts. We have invited Mr. Poonawala to talk to us on the record about the companyh's experienced with the coating.
Where to Buy
Isenberg sells its products through authorized dealers. A Where to Buy
feature on its website identifies the showroom(s) nearest you. The faucets are also sold over the internet on sites such as
Plumbing Overstock,
FaucetLine,
Houzz, and even on
Amazon (although the selections may be severely limited).
Prohibited Provisions in the Isenberg Warranty
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is the federal law that establishes the minimum requirements for a consumer product warranty in the U.S. Its scope is universal. It applies to all 58 states, territories, and the District of Columbia.
It not only dictates what is required in a warranty but also what is prohibited. The Isenberg warranty contains at least four of these forbidden provisions.
- Tie-in Provision: The warranty contains a tie-in provision that voids the warranty if a "non-genuine Isenberg part" is used in or with the faucet.
- Tie-in provisions are illegal. (15 U.S.C. § 2302(c)) Magnuson-Moss prohibits mandating the use of a part or component "identified by brand name or corporate name."
- It's perfectly lawful to refuse to repair damage caused by non-Isenberg parts, but it is not legal to require their use in order not to void the warranty.
-
Sole option: According to its warranty, Isenberg's obligation …
"… in case of a defective part or finish is to have Isenberg, at Isenberg's sole option, repair or replace the defective part or finish."
The offending words are "sole option." The Federal Trade Commission has determined that a warrantor's claim to have the sole option to choose a remedy is a deceptive warranty term that is prohibited by Magnuson-Moss (15 U.S.C. § 2310(c) & (d)). -
Exclusion of Implied Warranties: Isenberg's claim that its warranty …
"… is in lieu of and excludes all other warranties … including but not limited to any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose …"
is prohibited. - The schema underlying Magnuson-Moss is that written seller warranties supplement state law implied warranties rather than replace them. Consequently, the Act specifically prohibits any attempt to exclude implied warranties (15 U.S.C. § 2308).
- Missing Required Disclaimer: All consumer product warranties are required by Magnuson-Moss to include the following disclaimer:
-
"This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from State to State."
- Isenberg's warranty does not contain the required language.
Under Magnuson-Moss, illegal provisions are simply void and without effect. In a lawsuit, a court will disregard them.
The real danger of these provisions, however, is they can deceive a consumer who is not familiar with the finer details of warranty law into believing that he or she has no warranty claim when, in fact, there is a valid claim.
These are the kinds of provisions that Magnuson-Moss deems deceptive because they are misleading. They are also prohibited by Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S. Code §: 45) for the same reason and if the FTC decides to get mean about it, can cause Isenberg some real problems.
If your choice is a faucet in a standard fast-ship finish, an internet purchase is an option. However, if you need a special finish or a coordinated set of faucets, other fixtures (tub fillers, showers, etc.), and accessories, then a showroom is probably a better choice. Showrooms are plentiful on the East and West coasts; less numerous in the middle of the continent.
Minimum Advertised Pricing
No matter where you buy, do not expect deep discounts on Isenberg products.
The company enforces a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policy that prevents dealers from advertising a discount greater than allowed by the policy. Violators are at risk of losing their dealership.
Its purpose is to discourage deep internet discounts that would undermine brick-and-mortar showroom pricing.
We are not privy to Isenberg's actual MAP policy, a document available only to dealers, but we were able to calculate the maximum allowable discount from Isenberg's list price as about 33%.
Isenberg Faucet Warranty
The company backs its faucets with a lifetime warranty that meets the minimum requirements of the standard North American faucet warranty.
It provides adequate protection against defects in the material or manufacturing process that produced the faucet
"to the original consumer purchaser for as long as the original consumer purchaser owns their [sic] home."
The warranty does not appear to have been drafted by a lawyer. It has many defects, some major and some minor.
The most problematic are its multiple violations of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (15 U.S.C. §2308), the federal law that governs the form and content of consumer product warranties in the U.S.
Apart from its prohibited provisions, other problems with the warranty lie in some of its language that may produce results not intended by Isenberg, a common defect in "cut and paste" warranties not drafted by a lawyer.
An example is the warranty's definition of lifetime: "for as long as the original consumer purchaser owns their [sic] home". It has two defects:
- It excludes buyers who are not homeowners. Because they rent rather than own their home, renters never receive warranty protection since the sole condition required for having warranty protections – owning their home – does not exist.
- It does not require the buyer to continue to own the faucet for the warranty to remain in effect. The result of this blatant omission is to expose Isenberg to the possibility that the benefits of the warranty may be extended to subsequent owners of a faucet.
Here is an example:
Buyer installs an Isenberg faucet in his house. A few years later he replaces the faucet with a newer Isenberg faucet and gives the old faucet to daughter Nell who installs it in her house.
The warranty on the old faucet is still in force because Buyer still owns "their home."
The question is: if the old faucet starts to leak, can Buyer claim under the warranty for the benefit of daughter Nell?
And, the answer is "yes." The warranty is a contract, and in most states, a party to a contract can enforce the contract for the benefit of a person who is not a party to the contract.
Isenberg may argue that the warranty expired when the Buyer gave the faucet away, but it will have to point to the language in the warranty that says that, and there is no such language.
It may be that Isenberg intends to exclude non-homeowning customers and allow the benefits of the warranty to extend to every subsequent owner of an Isenberg faucet, but probably not. These are just two of several examples of the unexpected consequences of the inexpert draftsmanship of the Isenberg warranty.
The Isenberg warranty urgently needs the attention of an experienced warranty lawyer to eliminate the illegalities and clean up its language.
However, its many flaws generally benefit the consumer, creating rights that Isenberg probably did not intend to provide. They do not detract from the level of consumer protection afforded by the warranty. While the warranty may cost the company, they are not likely to cost the consumer, so we can find no reason to deduct points from Isenberg's warranty score.
Faucet Warranties: For more information on how to read and interpret a faucet warranty, see Understanding Faucet Warranties. For information on how to pursue a warranty claim, see The Warranty Game: Enforcing Your Product Warranty.
For an example of a lifetime limited warranty that meets all of the requirements of Magnuson-Moss, see our Model Limited Lifetime Residential Warranty.
Isenberg Customer Service
Isenberg's customer service is responsive and effective. Formerly, however, getting in contact with a customer service agent could be vexing.
A telephone call to the company's toll-free number was greeted by one of the longest voicemail messages we have ever encountered – extolling the company's 20 color finishes and Cascade tub filler – repeated twice before allowing the caller to leave a voice message to be answered "within 24 hours."
This, thankfully, has all gone away. A call to customer support is now answered almost immediately by a person, eliminating all electronic answering. Robotic answering machines are one of the most annoying features of our electronic age, and for doing away with its electronic answering alone, Isenberg gets a gold star.
Problems get resolved quickly and courteously without much fuss. We did not conduct our usual formal customer service tests. For small companies like Isenberg, they do not work well. Agents quickly figure out they are being tested. But, the results of our informal contacts were more than satisfactory.
| Faucet Cartridge Table | |
|---|---|
| Isenberg Part Number | Cartridge |
| Flühs (Two-Handle Faucets) | |
| 160.2400-18000 | Flühs 18000 |
| 160.2400-18001 | Flühs 18001 |
| 240.1000-2929 | Flühs 5046 |
| 240.1000-2930 | Flühs 5047 |
| Kerox (Single-Handle Faucets) | |
| 100.1000-9853 | Kerox K-35A |
| 160.1000-9853 | Kerox K-35B |
| 160.1050-9853 | Kerox K-25 |
The Better Business Bureau rates Isenberg's handling of consumer issues an A+, the highest rating on its scale of A+ to F. However, the company has not been vetted and accredited by the BBB and is not pledged to its high standards of business ethics. It should become accredited.
Isenberg Website
The company's website is very well structured and easy to use with intuitive navigation.
Most of what you need to know about an Isenberg faucet, including its certifications and whether it is Watersense® or ADA qualified appears in the faucet's specification data or parts list all in English, and all well laid-out for easy comprehension.
Products are easy to find using filters arranged along the left edge of the web page. These allow the selection of faucets by location (kitchen or bath), collection (or Serie), finish, configuration (centerset, widespread, wall-mounted, etc.), number of handles, compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act or Watersense®, flow rate, and handle type (knob or lever).
We found a few weaknesses, however.
For many faucets, the cartridge used in the faucet is identified by name, not in the specifications where we would expect to find it, but under a tab labeled "Additional Information."
This is not true of every faucet, however. About half of the faucets listed on the Isenberg website do not show cartridge information, but most display the cartridge part number under the heading "Common Spare Parts.". Using our Faucet Cartridge Table, you can find the cartridge from the part number.
Another issue we found was a failure to link the faucet warranty to each page on which a faucet is listed. The warranty is referenced with the notation: "Limited Lifetime Warranty. See Warranty page for complete details", but there is no actual link to the warranty page.
A "conspicuous link" to the warranty is required by the Magnuson-Moss pre-sale availability rule. A warranty must be available to be read before the sale of a consumer product.
To find the warranty, the user has to go all the way to the bottom of the page and look under SERVICE AND SUPPORT for "warranty."
The site search function is robust. It easily handled searches for products. It found any series (as long as you remember that the correct term is "Serie" and not "Series"). It also produced good results when searching on a standard finish – useful in identifying all of the products available in a specified finish.
On non-product searches, it did not do as well. For example, it did not find the Isenberg warranty when asked to search for "warranty".
Other features of the website that we like are found at the bottom of each page. These include:
- A Where to Buy link,
- Codes and Approvals that list all of the standards to which Isenberg faucets are certified,
- Contact Us: All of the various ways the company can be contacted, and
- A Warranty link.
Some of the links are interesting. One we particularly enjoyed is the Color Your Kitchen link that displays extensive information on using Isenberg's large selection of color finishes to add a little pizzazz to your kitchen.
Testing & Certification
Isenberg has always been meticulous about ensuring that its faucets are certified compliant with all of the laws and regulations that govern the sale and installation of faucets in a drinking water system in the U.S. and Canada. In the several times we have checked on its certifications, we have yet to find an Isenberg faucet offered for sale that was not fully tested and certified.
CalGreen® Certified: At least some but not necessarily all Isenberg faucets comply with the energy-saving requirements of the California Green Buliding Standards Code. For a faucet to display the CalGreen label, it must have been tested for compliance with CALGreen Chapter 4, Residential Mandatory Measures, Section 4.303 Indoor Water Use and certified by an independent testing organization.
Comparable Faucets
Faucets sold in North America comparable in quality, but not necessarily in design or price, to those sold by Isenberg include
Conclusions
Our bottom line on Isenberg faucets is that they are a good choice for those looking for an upscale faucet without the upscale price.
Some of Isenberg's faucets are its own designs – very clean and elegant. Most, however, are well-chosen off-the-shelf faucets with good to excellent styling. While only a few of its faucets will please the design glitterati among us, for most of us "just folks", Isenberg's designs are just fine.
But, the best feature of the faucet line is that for what you get the faucets are cheaper – sometimes substantially cheaper – than most of its competition (see the list above). You can buy a good quality Isenberg lavatory faucet for under $200, a price point that even mid-priced faucets from struggle to reach.
Isenberg's thin-film ceramic special finishes are a long overdue and welcome innovation in the faucet industry. This very durable finish has been around for a number of years and we were waiting for someone to start using it on faucets. That day has come. However, be aware that selecting a special finish can substantially increase the cost of the faucet.
In sum, Isenberg faucets are well made by some very respected manufacturers and include good compoents. The finishes are varied and interesting. The company's Thin Film Ceramic finishes are a good choice for a non-metallic finish.
For the price, most Isenberg faucets are a very good to excellent value and well worth consideration by those looking for a stylish, well-made faucet supported by a strong warranty and excellent customer service.
We are continuing to research the company. If you have experience with Isenberg faucets, good, bad, or indifferent, we would like to hear about it, so please contact us or post a comment below.
- Some early Isenberg kitchen faucets, such as the 100.1409 pull-down kitchen faucet, were made of brass. These, however, have been retired. At present all Isenberg kitchen faucets are stainless steel.
- "Our faucets have ceramic-disc cartridges from Kerox. Flühs, and Sedal …"
- Isenberg's TFC is supplied by CeramTec, a pioneer in TFC coatings, and the largest supplier of TFC materials in North America.