Italia Faucets Review & Rating Updated: May 9, 2024
Box E240
2505 Anthem Village Dr.
E. Henderson, NV 89052
(877) 482-5422
support@italiafaucets.com
Law Requirements
Warranty Footnotes:
1. All parts of the faucet including finishes other than living finishes.2. Oil Rubbed Bronze, Antique Copper, Brushed Nickel, and Brass.3. The warranty is missing qualifying language required by the U.S. Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (15 U.S.C. §2301). However, the missing language does not diminish the rights of the faucet buyer, and may actually strengthen those rights.
This Company In Brief
Italia Faucets, Inc. is a Nevada business that imports Chinese faucets that it sells under the Italia, Fontaine, and Brienza brands through internet venues including Amazon, and Home Depot (online only).
The business is the successor to FSA Imports, Inc., a business started by Andrew Martin in 2003 that sold Fontaine brand faucets from Lake Forest, California until 2013.
Black Market Faucets: These faucets are not legal for sale in the U.S. and not legal for installation in a drinking water system in the U.S. or Canada. For more information on contraband faucets and how to avoid these potentially dangerous products, please visit Illegal and Black Market Faucets in North America.
Italia Faucets, Inc. is a Nevada-based importer of inexpensive Chinese faucets that it distributes in the U.S. under the Italia, Fontaine, and Brienza brands.
The Company
The company was founded in 2012 as a California corporation located in Irvine. That corporation is now dissolved. The business was reconstituted in 2013 as a Nevada corporation. Its sole stockholder, director, and officer is Amelia Liza Martin (formerly Kwik).
The business is the successor to brand faucets from Lake Forest, California until 2013 when it abruptly ceased business.
Italia inherited the Fontaine brand name but disclaimed any warranty responsibility for Fontaine faucets sold before November 2013.
Italia's business address is a mailbox at a UPS store in East Henderson, a Las Vegas suburb. It has no actual physical location that we can find other than the residence of the owner. (Following our privacy policy, we do not publish an owner's address unless it is also the stated address of the business).
Trademarks
"Fontaine by Italia" was registered as a trademark in the U.S. by Italia Faucet, but the registration was deemed "abandoned" by the Patent and Trademark Office in 2023 and has not been resurrected. The "Fontaine" logo, once owned by FSA Imports, Inc. has also been abandoned
Neither the name "Italia" nor the Italia logo have been registered. The "Brienza" name is also unregistered.
The lack of registration does not mean that Italia does not own the marks, it merely means that they have not been registered as proof of ownership and may not use a racol (®) to indicate registered ownership.
Italia's Faucet Brands
Italia sells three faucet brands: Brienza, Fontaine, and Italia. Italia's "flagship" brand is Italia. Brienza is also sold as Brienza by Italia and Fontaine as Fontane by Italia.
Italia acquired the Fontaine brand in 2013 upon the demise of FSA Imports, Inc., the brand's former owner. (See our report on
In its acquisition announcement, Italia indicated that it had acquired only the Fontaine name and would not be responsible for warranty claims on Fontaine faucets formerly sold by FSA Imports.
Nor has it undertaken to stock replacement parts for these older faucets. Consequently, FSA Fontaine faucets are orphaned, without warranty or parts support.
This is a concern with start-up companies like FSA and Italia. Most start-ups fail within ten years, and faucet companies are no exception. Italia may be one of the lucky few that go on to find a niche in the highly competitive North American faucet market but if it does not then any possibility of future warranty or parts support dies with the company.
The faucets sold by Italia as Fontaine faucets are not the same faucets formerly sold by FSA Imports. The FSA faucets were made by Italia does not get any of its faucets from Lota.
Italia's Faucet Sources
Despite its name, none of Italia's faucets are from Italy. They are sourced from China.
The company at one time bought most of its faucets through Markimex, the owner of the faucet brands.
Some of its faucets are still acquired through Markimex including a pulldown kitchen faucet in the Dupleix collection.
Ths faucet is manufactured by Seagull Kitchen & Bath Products Co., Ltd. in Guangzhou, China, as are a number of other fuacets in the Itallia inventory. Seagull makes finished faucets tht who's who of North American faucet sellers, including
Italia also buys from other sources.
At our last update to this report, the company had two faucet suppliers. It has since expanded the number of manufacturers from which it obtains faucets. As of the date of this report, these include:
- Jiangmen Anmei Industrial Co., Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer selling faucets under the Lanerdi brand. Anjmei also manufactures faucets for
- Jiangmen Luxury Houseware Co., Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer that manufactures pot filler faucets for Italia. It also manufactures Artos faucets for
- Ninagbo Yida Kitchen & Bath Technology Co., Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer selling under the Yida brand. As far as we can tell, Italia is this manufacturer's only customer in North America.
- Wenzhou Haijun Sanitary Hardware Co., Ltd., a Chinese faucet manufacturer that sells Haijun brand faucets throughout the Far East. It also manufactures Artos faucets for
Italia's Faucet Collections
Italia faucets are grouped into sixteen collections that the company sometimes calls "Collections" and sometimes "Product Suites." A suite includes faucets and may include showers and tub fillers along with kitchen or bath faucets. Some suites include vessel sinks.
A drop-down from the website's main menu, "Product Suites", displays the suites available. Clicking on the suite name displays the products in the suite. On the left side of the home page, a list called "Collections" displays much the same information.
Some collections were empty as of the date of this report. These include the Adlias, Bellver, Montbeliard, Republique, and Vincennes.
The most extensive collection is the Palais Royal which includes kitchen and bath faucets, pot fillers, and tub fillers. The Dupleix collection, by contrast, contains just one pulldown kitchen faucet in two finishes.
Italia's Faucet Designs
Italia faucets are, with a few exceptions, very ordinary Chinese faucet designs of largely unremarkable quality, more or less indistinguishable from the faucets available from any of dozens of other importers of Chinese faucets (See the list below).
Italia faucets are neither designed by nor made especially for Italia. They are faucets offered generally to the industry at large by the Chinese factories that make them.
For example, the Contemporary Pot Filler faucet is made by Jiangmen Luxury Houseware and appears in the manufacturer's online catalog as the K124 07 "wall-mounted brass material chrome pot filler faucet."
Chinese faucet designs tend to be conservative, targeting mass-market customers.
A new faucet design that proves popular in the European or North American markets will ultimately find its way to Chinese factories. The lag time is normally three to five years behind the Western designs, by which time the design is no longer new.
Italia Faucet Finishes
Italia's standard finishes are Chrome, Brushed Nickel, Oil-Rubbed Bronze, Antique Copper, Gold, Matte Blac, and Stainless Steel. No faucet is offered in all seven finishes. The most we found for any one faucet was four finishes.
The finishes offered on a faucet depend on the finishes available from the faucet's Asian manufacturer.
The company does not disclose the processes used to produce its finishes. From examination, however, we believe that Chrome, Antique Copper, and Brushed Nickel are , Gold is a (PVD) finish, and Oil-Rubbed Bronze and Matte Black are .
Brass, a finish formerly offered by the company, is no longer available. Stainless Steel is not an applied finish. It is the actual material of the faucet polished to a nice shine. As of the date of this report, the finish is available on just one facet, a pot-filler in the S-Series collection.
The technology used to produce a finish has a great deal to do with its durability and care requirements.
Electroplating
Electroplating is the old standard. It involves immersing faucet components 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 components.
Usually, multiple coats are applied, one or more undercoats, and then two or more coats of the finish metal.
The top coat may be polished or brushed. Electroplated chrome, a relatively hard metal, is usually polished to a high shine. Nickel, a softer metal, is typically bushed to hide in inevitable minor scratches.
Physical Vapor Deposition
Two of Italia's finishes are physical vapor depositions, the most durable of the finishing processes.
Physical vapor deposition (PVD) is one of the latest space-age faucet finishing technologies, rapidly replacing electroplating as the finish of choice. (The other is thin film ceramic (TFC), a process that Italia does not use.)
Finish Durability
Some finishes are more durable than others.
Here are common types of faucet finishes and their durability from most to least durable.
- (PVD) finishes are 10 to 20 times more scratch-resistant than electroplated chrome.
-
, electroplating is a process of coating one metal with another using an electric current to transfer the metal ions through an acid bath. `The process has been used to finish faucets since early in the 19th century.It is a tough finish that will stand up to most abuse, but its durability depends on the metal used.Chrome is durable, nickel less so because it is inherently a softer metal – the reason chrome replaced nickel as the faucet finish of choice in the early 20th century.
- is essentially a paint applied in a powdered form and then heated in an oven to cure. It is considered semi-durable with about the same resistance to scratches and mars as the finish on your car.
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 to protect components inside nuclear reactors where an almost indestructible coating is an absolute must.
Today, PVD is everywhere, and the machinery required is getting smaller, faster, and cheaper all the time.
To create a PVD coating, a sealed chamber is loaded with unfinished faucet components. All the air is removed and replaced by 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. The atoms mix with the various reactive gases to get the desired color and finish effects and are then deposited in a very thin film – 2 to 5 – on the faucets.
Different finish colors and effects are created by varying the mix of reactive gases in the chamber.
Raw titanium, in its natural state, is a dull grayish color. But when combined with nitrogen gas in a PVD chamber, the metal emerges with a convincing gold or brass finish.
Adding a little methane to the mix reddens the color, resulting in rose gold. A touch of acetylene darkens the finish to a bronze with an antique effect.
Despite being just microns thick, a PVD coating is extremely dense and, in consequence, very hard and durable. By some estimates, it is up to 20 times more scratch-resistant than electroplated chrome.
Powder Coating
Oil-Rubbed Bronze and Matte Black are powder coatings. These are guaranteed for five years compared to other finishes that are guaranteed for ten years.
Powder coating is usually described as semi-durable
, not as robust as electroplated or PVD finishes, somewhat more durable as the finish on your car, but requiring more care to maintain a like-new appearance.
It is essentially a dry paint in powder form applied using a special low-velocity spray gun that disperses the powder while giving it a positive electrical charge. The particles are drawn to the item to be finished which has been given a negative charge.
Finish Care Instructions
Always read and follow the faucet seller's care instructions.
Careful cleaning and maintenance not only preserve the good looks of your faucet but also your finish warranty.
No faucet company guarantees its finishes against careless cleaning.
Once the powder is applied, the item being coated is baked in an oven, which melts and bonds the powder and changes the structure of the coating into long, cross-linked molecular chains.
Italia's Faucet Construction and Materials
All Italia faucets sold in the U.S. are made using conventional construction in which the body and spout channel water as well as give the faucet its appearance.
The primary material used is brass. The company claims that the brass is lead-free, but there is no independent verification of this claim. Secondary materials are zinc alloys and plastic.
Brass
Brass is the preferred material for faucets for two reasons:
- Brass is strong but easy to work with. It casts, forges, and machines with relative ease.
- Brass is naturally anti-microbial. The copper in brass kills bacteria, retarding the buildup of potentially hazardous microbes inside a faucet.
But brass has one serious drawback. It may contain lead.
Traditional (alpha) brass is a blend of copper and zinc with a small amount of lead (1.5%-3.5%) added to make the material more malleable, less brittle, and easier to fabricate.
Lead, however, is now all but banned in North America in any drinking water component due to its toxicity to humans, particularly children.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), lead, even in small amounts, causes slowed growth, learning disorders, hearing loss, anemia, hyperactivity, and behavior issues.
Before 2014, a faucet sold in the U.S. or Canada 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 faucet that has been certified lead-free.
Italia claims that its brass faucets are made from lead-free brass. However, its brass faucets have not been certified lead-free, so this claim has not been independently confirmed.
We do know, however, that Chinese faucet manufacturers tend to use much less expensive leaded brass in faucets made for their home market, and are not above exporting leaded brass faucets to North America. (See Lead in Chinese Faucets.) Many hundreds of these illegal contraband faucets can be found on Amazon alone.
To comply with the restrictions on lead, today's faucet brass replaces lead with other additives to reduce brittleness without adding toxicity. The most common is bismuth.
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 why bismuth-brass alloys are considerably more expensive than leaded brass.
This increased cost has encouraged many faucet manufacturers to use substitute materials in their faucets where possible.
Zinc and Zinc/Aluminum Alloys
The most common substitute is zinc or a zinc-aluminum (ZA) alloy. One of the most common is called ZAMAK, a composition containing 4% aluminum.
Zinc is not as strong as brass and does not resist water pressure as well as brass. But its use in non-pressurized parts of a brass faucet such as handles, base and wall plates, and is common even among manufacturers of luxury faucets.
It does no harm when used in these components and may save consumers a few dollars.
Plastics
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), a low-cost, easily manufactured, non-toxic, impact-resistant plastic is a commonly used substitute material for brass.
It can be safely used in incidental faucet parts like base plates and has been largely trouble-free in aerators and as casings for ceramic cartridges, but otherwise, its use is suspect, especially if under constant water pressure.
Among those suspect uses is in the spray heads of Italia's kitchen faucets.
Unfortunately, plastic spray heads (called "wands" in the faucet industry) have become the standard for many manufacturers, including some that sell upscale faucets such as
Proponents of the material give three reasons for the use of plastic:
- 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 of time; and
- Plastic is a lot cheaper than brass or stainless steel – even cheaper than zinc.
However, ABS plastic degrades over time from exposure to ultraviolet and is not dimensionally stable. It expands and contacts more than most other plastics with temperature changes making tight tolerances challenging to maintain.
These characteristics make plastic wands suspect for long-term use in faucets, products that most consumers consider lifetime products.
Although engineers have made significant improvements to their reliability over the past decade, the problems have not been entirely solved.
The general view in the faucet industry is that better wands are made of metal — brass, zinc, or stainless steel — insulated against excessive heat transmission.
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 water.
Italia Faucet Components
The critical components used in Italia faucets are ceramic valve cartridges and aerators.
Valve Cartridges
We inspected several valve cartridges and determined that they are modern ceramic valves in of a type that is made by any number of Chinese manufacturers.
The Faucet Cartridge
Its 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.
Some were imprinted with maker's marks, allowing us to identify them as made by (Ningbo) Wanhai Cartridge Technology Co., Ltd.
Wanhai cartridges are more commonly used in Chinese-manufactured faucets destined for the European Union where the company sells cartridges under the Quore brand from offices in Spain and Italy.
The cartridges have been certified to North American standards, meaning the cartridges have passed the North American life-cycle and burst tests.
The standard North American life-cycle stress test requires operating the cartridges through 500,000 cycles under 60 psi of water pressure without a single failure. At one cycle per second, the test takes six days to complete.
The burst test subjects the cartridges to a water pressure of 500 pounds per square (psi) inch – 10 times average household water pressure of 40-60 psi for one minute. If the cartridge leaks or deforms under this pressure, it fails.
In other countries, the standards are much less rigorous. The European (EN 817) and Chinese (GB18145) life-cycle requirement, for example, is just 70,000 cycles.
Since Wanhai has certified its cartridges to joint U.S./Canadian standards, we can say with fair confidence that the Wanhai cartridges used in its Italia faucets meet the minimum North American requirements for durability and longevity and should provide years of leak-free service. (Read the Wanhai listing certificate.)
However, we cannot confirm that all Italia cartridges are from Wanhai or that the cartridges will not be replaced with another brand in the future. Other cartridges may be of lesser quality.
Aerators
There are dozens of companies in China that manufacture aerators and spray-head assemblies. Most are at least adequate.
Faucet 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 backflow 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.
Unfortunately, Italia does not identify the source of the aerators used in its faucets.
We took several apart to see if the devices had any manufacturer identification, but they did not.
Italia Website
The Italia website is well-designed with intuitive navigation.
Multiple images are shown for most faucets as is dynamic imaging which changes the view of the faucet as finishes are selected to display the faucet in the chosen finish.
The information provided about each faucet is otherwise inadequate. There are no installation instructions, dimensioned drawings, or parts diagrams available online or for download. The cartridges are identified only as ceramic cartridges without identifying the manufacturer. Processes used to produce its finishes are likewise not identified.
The site search function is limited to searching for products. It is reasonably accurate. A search for "single hole bathroom faucets", for example, produced an illustrated list of faucets that meet that specification, but also a few widespread faucets and tub fillers that do not. Still, it is very useful in finding a particular style of faucet.
Searching for a particular finish is also effective: "Gold faucet" produced all of the company's gold faucets, but also one in brushed nickel and a "mother of pearl" vessel sink.
Italia's Faucet Warranty
The Italia warranty is below par for the North American market. The standard in North America is a "lifetime" warranty pioneered by in the 1950s.
Understanding Finish Warranties
A finish warranty does not protect against everything that can go wrong with a faucet finish.
It covers defects caused by faulty materials or errors in the finishing process, generally subsumed under the rubric "manufacturing defects."
Blistering, delaminating, peeling, and spalling are the usual manufacturing defects. These are very rare – almost unheard of. The bad old days of peeling China chrome are long gone.
Most finish problems these days are caused by overzealous cleaning and ordinary wear and tear, neither of which is covered by a finish warranty.
If it peels, Italia pays. But, if you scratch it or it turns a funny color after you polished it a few times with Wham-X All Purpose Miracle Cleaner, you are on your own.
In its first years, the company advertised a lifetime warranty that turned out to be a one-year warranty on all components of the faucet except the body and finishes. At present, the warranty is a 10-year limited warranty except for some finishes which are guaranteed for just five years.
Violations of Federal law
The warranty does not comply with the minimum requirements of the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, and its restrictive provisions are unlikely to be enforceable against a faucet buyer in any court.
Here are some examples of non-compliance:
- Exclusive right: The warranty claims that Italia has the "exclusive right to determine if customer has voided the warranty by not following proper care or if damage results from" other than" defects in material or manufacturing workmanship."
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However, under Magnuson-Moss the seller never has the exclusive right to make those determinations.
"… [The seller] shall not indicate in any written warranty … either directly or indirectly that the decision of the warrantor is final or binding in any dispute concerning the warranty … Nor shall a warrantor state that it alone shall determine what is a defect under the agreement." (16 CFR § 700.8)
- Missing required statement: It does not include the statement required by 16 C.F.R. § 701.3(a)(9) that
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"This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from State to State."
- There is no room for fudging this requirement. Either the required statement is in the warranty or it's not. In Italia's warranty, it's not.
Magnuson-Moss is serious about fairness and controlling deception in consumer product warranties and mandates that every word of its minimum required content must be included in a product warranty.
A violation of any of the requirements or prohibitions of the Magnuson-Moss Act is considered an unfair and deceptive practice that violates the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1), whether or not the company actually intended to be unfair or deceptive.
Other Warranty Issues
Improper Exclusion: The Italia warranty excludes parts and/or connected materials not manufactured by Italia Faucets, Inc." from warranty coverage. The problem is that Italia is not a manufacturer and does not make any of the parts from which its faucets are constructed. This provision, therefore, effectively voids the entire warranty since no failed part would have been manufactured by Italia.
Inadequate Remedy: For faucets that are discontinued or "no longer replaceable", the warranty limits its remedy to "a pro-rated credit towards a purchase of another similar Italia Faucets, Inc. branded faucet."
That's not much of a remedy. Having had a poor experience with one Italia faucet, most customers would prefer another brand.
Void: The word "void" in any warranty usually has unexpected results, and should be avoided. The Italia warranty is a good example of its careless use.
The warranty states that "improper care and maintenance voids [the] warranty." Here is the problem with that provision:
Buyer improperly cleans his faucet. The improper cleaning caused no damage to his faucet. None the less his Italia warranty is void. Improper cleaning "care and Maintenance" voids the warranty whether or not it did any damage to the faucet.
"Void" means canceled, invalidated, done with, over, finished, kaput — as of the moment of improper cleaning, the warranty ceased to exist.
If the faucet starts to leak a few months later, that leak is not covered by the warranty because the warranty is gone. It was voided.
Most probably not the result Italia expected or even wants, but that's the way it wrote its warranty.
Replacement Parts
The company states that replacement parts "may not be available for purchase and, if available, may take up to 4-6 weeks for delivery." In our experience, a 4 to 6-week delivery time may be wildly optimistic.
Typically Italia would stock only a very few, if any, replacement parts, relying on its suppliers for a more in-depth parts inventory.
However, if a North American-based distributor does not stock a needed part, then it has to come from the Chinese factory that made the faucet — if the factory still has the part and if the factory agrees to sell the part. Most Chinese manufacturers are not set up to sell and do not sell individual parts.
A provision of the Italia warranty states that if replacement parts are ordered in the first 12 months of ownership, shipping is free. After twelve months, the customer pays for shipping. It is not clear if this provision applies to all replacement parts or just those parts provided under warranty.
Testing & Certification
Italia started in business selling uncertified faucets. Our first review of the company pointed that out which led the company to certify its faucets. Those early certifications have expired and the company has largely changed suppliers. Its current crop of faucets ia, once again, uncertified.
The California Energy Commission sued Italia Faucets, Inc. for illegally selling unapproved faucets in California from July 2015 to May 2020. The company paid a penalty of $$30,000.00 to settle the suit in 2021.
Comparable Faucets
Chinese-made faucets comparable to Italia include:
Conclusions
There is absolutely no reason to buy Italia faucets. They are much too risky for use in a home kitchen or bath. If you are in the market for an inexpensive Asian-made faucet, one of the suppliers listed above, all selling certified faucets, would be a better choice.
1. Price is not enough. The prices on Italia faucets make them attractive, but, as the list above demonstrates, a great many other companies sell good quality Chinese-made faucets for about the same price that are fully certified, legal to use in a drinking water system, and backed by a much stronger warranty. Many are guaranteed for the lifetime of the buyer.
2. They have not been certified so the presence of toxic substances like lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury in the faucet has not been excluded. Because these are Chinese-made products, lead is a substantial risk due to the lack of lead regulation in China.
4. Italia's ten-years warranty on faucets is below the North American standard lifetime warranty, suggesting that Italia does not have enough confidence in their durability to provide a truly long-term warranty.
4. The faucets cannot be legally installed in a drinking water system anywhere in the U.S. or canada. A plumber probably will not install one for you, and if you do it yourself you risk, at the very least, having to replace the faucet with a legal product and the possibility in some jurisdictions of a fine and a little jail time.
We are continuing to research the company. If you have experience with Italia faucets, good, bad, or indifferent, we would like to hear about it, so please contact us or post a comment below.