Faucet Reviews and Ratings, Part 2 |Consumer Guide | StarCraft Custom builders: Design/Build Kitchens, Baths, Additions and Home Remodeling

This is the Part 2 of a two part article. If you missed Part 1, you can go back here.

Faucet Reviews and Ratings: Part 2
"The society which scorns excellence in Plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good Plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water."

John William Gardner

How Much Should a Good Faucet Cost?
A manufacturer's list price is a good indicator of the esteem in which a company holds its own products, but not necessarily of their market value.

Readers Write
Excellent article. After going to big box stores and getting dizzy with selection and b.s. answers from employees we decided to come home and research. Consumer Reports was no help — they should buy your research — with a buying guide that was absolutely shallow. [Your faucet] features list was excellent and now I have a checklist of what I want in a faucet as well as knowing how well it'll fit our sink, [something] no one else has mentioned. ... [Your information about] the store "model game" and [your] company evaluations and summaries really help…

Thanks for a great job.

John B.
Denver, CO

An awesome piece of work - like an MBA case study of the industry - and free reading for the curious, interested in knowing beyond the knee-jerk opinions that are repeated until they become fact. Thanks for your effort!

Anon
Columbus, OH

Your reviews paid HUGE dividends for the renovation I did in an apartment here in Philly. I ended up getting a KWC kitchen faucet from Ebay for $55.00 because it had a scratch, (big whoop) and a second Chicago kitchen faucet for $45.00 from Ebay. That one is going in the 2nd apartment I'm renovating for my client. Both pieces were VERY weighty castings and THAT I like. Everything I looked at from the Harry Homeowner stores was nothing more than cheap plastic. BLECH! Ever shake hands with a guy who gives you the old dead fish handshake? That's what it's like picking up the fixtures at Lowe's and HD. Picking up a KWC or Chicago is like shaking hands with a good friend, solid. So, I'm back looking again at your site for recommendations for GOOD quality shower heads. I don't want any chrome plated plastic garbage nor do I want plated brass from China… I have a great solid brass and ceramic rough-in valve but now I'm looking for shower heads and various single handles. I'm thinking stainless steel but what do you suggest? Thanks again for being such an unbiased wealth of knowledge.

Vince S.
Philadelphia

Try Symmons — The company invented the pressure-balanced shower head. — Ed.

Informative, and I laughed my butt off, at some of the comments. Good info on where the manufacturing and assembly occurs, and on the possibility or impossibility of obtaining replacement parts. Very helpful!

Anon.
Rochester, WI
Prices of many high-end faucets are discounted steeply by retailers and suppliers. The prices listed here are the actual "street" prices at which the faucet line can be purchased.

Street prices for faucets are all over the place. It is possible to pay more than $20,000 for a faucet, and also possible to buy a good, well-made, faucet for less than $200.00.

As a general rule faucets priced below $100.00 are somewhat suspect. They probably contain critical parts made of plastic. But, it is possible to get good, all brass, faucets for less than $100.00. You just have to know what you are looking for. We generally take the faucet apart to see what it's made of. If its all brass or stainless, we burn a little incense to the fickled gods of good bargains. Your Comments
A tip of the hard had

Thanks and a big tip of the hard-hat to the many readers who suggested improvements to this page. Most of the suggested changes have now been incorporated.

Our gratitude also to all who wrote in to suggest faucet lines that we ought to review. We regret that we cannot, however, review every faucet made. We limit our reviews to faucet lines with which we have some experience. There are literally hundreds of boutique faucet suppliers, and some major manufacturers that we don't know anything about simply because we have never bought one of their faucets. We do not mean to imply that by leaving a faucet out of these ratings the faucet is a bad product. It means only that we just don't know enough about the faucet to rate it. We appreciate the feedback, however, so keep it coming.

If you are a faucet manufacturer and feel we made factual mistakes about your company or products or have not treated your company or products fairly, let us know your specific objections and we will reexamine our review. Anything you write, however, is subject to being reprinted by us on this web site for public view.

Contact us at reviews@starcraftcustombuilders.com.

Most faucets priced between $100.00 and $300.00 are going to give good service for many years. The key is good materials — brass and stainless steel — and a known brand name. The faucets at the lower end of this range tend to be the traditional, established styles, while those at the upper end are often somewhat more au courant. Generally, the innards are about the same, so quality at this level is rarely an issue. Getting parts might be. If the faucet fails, you will want to know that the company that made it will probably still be in business and any necessary repair parts are still available.

Above $300.00 you are paying a premium for style, status, brand name and/or small production runs. The quality will probably not be much better than a faucet you can buy for less than $300.00. And, even at this level, prices run the gamut. Just for fun, we priced a KWC Domo kitchen faucet that we know to be of excellent quality. The price ranged from $300.00 to $805.00 from reputable on-line retailers. Graff uses the same mechanism for just about all of its faucets, yet its prices range from $300 to well over $1,500. Virtually all of this difference is the style, not the quality of the faucet. High-style faucets produced in limited runs tend to cost more.

All prices stated in our ratings are for chrome, or, where chrome is not available, the manufacturer's standard finish. More exotic finishes: nickel, oil rubbed bronze, stainless and so on, are usually higher.

Made in America?
There is no U. S. law that requires faucets sold in the U.S. to disclose the amount of domestic content. Many companies do so, however, for marketing purposes, and if a company voluntarily discloses its products' content, then it must comply with the "Made in USA" policy of the Federal Trade Commission. Here are the rules:

When is a Faucet "Made in USA"?
To qualify for a "Made in USA" sticker on the box, a faucet must…

• Be “all or virtually all” made in the U.S. This means, at minimum, that its final assembly must be in the U.S. and the final assembly must result in a "substantial transformation" of the product. For example, it is not sufficient if all the company does is attach handles to a foreign-made faucet, because the resulting transformation is not "substantial". The faucet was already a faucet before the handles were attached. It was not transformed into a faucet by the final assembly.

^NOTMADE IN U.S.A. ANY LONGER
Not Made in USA

While the statements in this circular that accompanied an American Standard "Made in USA" press release are technically true — this particular model of toilet is, in fact, made in Nevada, MO. — the overall impression the manufacturer is trying to convey is that it maintains a substantial manufacturing presence in the U.S.A., which is emphatically not true.

In fact, this is one of only SIX plumbing products American Standard still manufacturers in the U.S., out of the thousands it sells here. Over 99.99% of its manufacturing is overseas — mostly in China. American Standard and its associated companies have exported nearly 150,000 American manufacturing jobs since 1980. • Contain "all or virtually all" U. S. made components. While some incidental parts may be made elsewhere, the critical parts, must be made here. The FTC's enforcement policy allows only "de minimis or negligible, amount of foreign content." For example, a faucet may have "hot" and "cold" label buttons made elsewhere and probably still be "Made in USA". But, if its handles, valves or body were manufactured outside the country, it is not made in U.S.A. because these are critical parts of a faucet, and certainly not de minimis.

At the time a company makes its Made in USA claim, it must possess substantial evidence that the claim is true. If the Made in USA claim cannot be proven, then the FTC can and does impose substantial penalties, order the claim removed from advertising and packaging and even order the product removed from the market. The Made in USA claim may be made directly using the actual words "Made in USA" or by implication. For example the words "Created in USA" or "Designed in USA"; the use of the U.S. Flag, outlines of U.S. maps, or references to U.S. locations of headquarter or factories may convey a claim of U.S. origin either by themselves, or in conjunction with other phrases.

When is a Faucet "Assembled in USA"?
A product that includes substantial foreign content may be called "Assembled in USA" "where a product has undergone its principal assembly in the United States, that assembly is substantial, and the product was last substantially transformed in the United States…". Again, the assembly must result in a "substantial transformation" of the product. Merely adding a few parts to the finished faucet, or bolting a few major components together — so-called "screwdriver assembly" does not qualify.

Manufacturers may also use "Made in USA of Imported Materials" or a similar qualifying language to describe products a faucet assembled in the U.S. As a consumer you must remember that anything other than an unqualified "Made in USA" claim actually means "Assembled in USA" no matter how clever the qualifiying language — "90% Made in USA" just means "Assembled in U.S.A.", nothing more.

Still Made in the U.S.A.
Quite a few faucets are still manufactured, or at least assembled, in the United States. Many traditional faucet suppliers have reduced their domestic manufacturing, but most still retain at least some U.S. factories. Here are the faucet manufacturers still making their faucets in America.

Made in USA
Brizo	Chicago Faucets	Delta Faucets	Kohler Plumbing
Moen	Peerless Faucets	Symmons Industries
Assembled in USA
Elkay¹	Graff Waterworks	Price-Pfister	Strom Plumbing
¹Elkay is moving its manufacturing out of the U.S. as fast as possible

"Buy American" Laws
The federal Buy American Act (BAA), first enacted in 1933 in response to the first Great Depression and last amended in 2009 in response to the second Great Depression, requires products and materials purchased by the Federal Government or used in federally funded public works projects have "substantial" American content. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act applies similar (although not exactly the same) rules to economic recovery projects funded under the Act.

Manufacturers wishing to provide products or materials to the U.S. government or for public works projects have to identify those that comply with ARRA/BAA requirements. These lists are available, usually by merely asking for them. While the requirements for domestic content under ARRA/BAA are not exactly the same as the Made in USA requirements of the FTC, they are close, and any item on an ARRA/BAA list is likely to be at minimum "assembled" in the U.S.

Of course, some companies cheat. Home Depot is now being sued for passing off some China-made products as ARRA/BAA compliant, and Fastenal has paid a multi-million dollar fine for the same offense. But, generally the ARRA/BAA lists are reliable, and as we get them, we will provide a link to each company's ARRA/BAA products. Keep in mind that these are usually not very descriptive. Often they are just lists of model numbers. But, if you have a faucet in mind and want to check it for Made in America, the lists are useful.

Our "Made in USA" Ratings
The critical components of faucets are valves, bodies and handles. Everything else is incidental or cosmetic. If the valves, handles and bodies were made in the U.S. and the faucet was assembled here. Then we rate the faucet "Made in USA". If the faucet was assembled in the U.S. from imported components, we rate it "Assembled in USA". Otherwise, it is "Imported", and we do our best to ferret out from which foreign country the company imports most of its faucets.

Most faucet manufacturers, especially the large manufacturers, sell a complex line of faucets composed variously of faucets made in the U.S., imported faucets, and faucets assembled from imported components. Large companies, like Delta, even manufacture the same model faucet in two or more differently countries. We try to judge the overall composition of the manufacturer's products when assigning a rating. We may be wrong, and if we are we would like to hear about it. Be fairly warned, however, that if you claim your product is Made in U.S.A. we will want proof based on FTC enforcement guidelines, including the precise locations(s) where the faucet and all its components are manufactured.

Our researches have led to a few surprises. American Standard, a very old and well-established American company that sells literally thousands of different bath and kitchen products, manufactures barely a half dozen of them in the U.S. By contrast, Toto, the giant Japanese bath wares company, makes well over a thousand different sanitary-ware and accessory products that qualify for the "Made in USA" label in its U.S. manufacturing plants in Georgia. Unfortunately, none of these products are faucets. All Toto faucets are imported.

It's almost impossible to tell who makes what and where they make it without a scorecard. Companies that make most of their products overseas are often reluctant to disclose the fact, and most are very secretive about which foreign factories actually manufacture their products. It's a "trade secret", don't you know. So, if you are interested in buying American, always check the origin of the particular faucet you are looking to purchase by calling the company's customer service. They have to tell you where it's made. Even the most steadfast "Made in America" companies sell some foreign faucets — so check every time. We do.

Business Models
Tell Us About Your Experiences
Have you had a good or bad experience with any of the faucets rated here?

Do you believe any of the information presented here is incomplete or incorrect or unfairly presents a brand?

Tell us about it.

Our e-mail is reviews@starcraftcustombuilders.com, or we are always reachable through our contact page. It is no secret that most North American faucet manufacturers have shifted much, if not all, of their manufacturing to other countries, primarily China. It is less well known that many Western European manufacturers have done much the same thing; shifting manufacturing to former Soviet Bloc countries in Eastern Europe where there is an abundance of lower-cost skilled labor and existing manufacturing facilities. Many traditional American faucet makers have become little more than marketing companies, lending their brand names to Chinese products. This is one reason that the various faucets offered by various brands seem to look so similar. They are often made by the same large Chinese manufacturer, with only slight stylistic changes.

Distinguishing between companies that actually manufacture faucets and those that order from third-party factories has become increasingly difficult. When asked directly, most companies will disclose whether a faucet is made by a another manufacturer, but rare is the company that actually advertises the fact.

Because of the nascent "buy-American" attitude developing in the United States, we though it would be interesting to find out just who manufactures a company's faucets. The results suggest that faucet companies can be divided into five broad categories with much overlap.
The Five Basic Business Models
Faucet companies can be divided into five broad categories of business, with much overlap. Small and mid-size companies are fairly easy to pin down. But the mega companies such as American Standard and Kohler are a little more difficult since they incorporate parts of several models. Generally, however, we can identify an overall model.

Manufacturers:
Companies that manufacture their own faucets in factories they own are the manufacturers. These are usually very "vertically integrated" controlling production, in some cases, from mining the ore to final quality control.

	Business Models

	Manufacturer	Assembler	Specifier	Marketeer	Rebrander
Design & Engineering	X	X	X
Manufacturing	X
Production QC	X
Assembly	X	X
Final QC	X	X	X
Marketing & Brand Awareness	X	X	X	X
Sales	X	X	X	X	X

The key processes involved in faucet manufacturing are casting and machining. Companies that own their own foundries and machine shops are manufacturers. They control manufacturing from initial design through final quality control and are able to insert quality assurance measures throughout the process. There seems to be a direct correlation between having control of the whole process and a low number of defects and, thus, consumer complaints.

Faucet companies that fall into this category are, for example, Kohler, Symmons Industries and Chicago Faucets, all U.S. companies, but also Globe Union, a Taiwan-based company, Toto, a Japanese company, THG, a French company and Hamat from Israel, which may be the most vertically integrated of the vertically integrated companies.

Assemblers
The faucet makers who assemble faucets from parts cast, forged and machined by others are Assemblers. Assemblers control some of the faucet making process, but rely on basic faucet components made by outside companies. All faucet manufacturers use outside parts to a certain extent. For example, few faucet makers have the capacity to manufacture the ceramic disks needed for some faucet valves — a very specialized process. But, if all forging and casting is surrendered to others, the manufacturer loses much of its ability to assure the quality of key processes needed to manufacture faucets.

Most Assemblers are also Specifiers. Strom Plumbing is an example. It designs its own faucets, but subcontracts the manufacturing of component parts to overseas suppliers. It then imports the components, assembles and quality controls the faucets in the U.S. Strom makes excellent products, so it looks like the process works pretty well.

Specifiers:
While Assemblers are also likely to be Specifiers, the reverse is not true. Specifiers are not usually assemblers. Specifiers design and engineer their faucets, and do their own in-house quality assurance, but farm out all of the actual manufacturing — usually including final assembly. Most of these have been doing this for years and make no bones about the fact they consider themselves the creative end of the industry, leaving the gritty business of actually manufacturing faucets to the less imaginative.

Some very good faucets are built using this model. Companies in this category include Mico and Lacava, both of which produce very high end products, with prices to match. Because they do their own designing and testing and have strong internal quality control, they also have a reputation for very few defects.

Marketeers
These are marketing companies. They don't design, manufacturer or assemble their own faucets. They buy faucets from a menu of faucets offered by various, mostly Chinese, factories, and package them for sale under their own product brands. They usually have no internal quality control facilities, but rely exclusively on whatever quality assurance is available from the actual manufacturers.

Over time, however, Marketeers tend to morph into Specifiers. The factories that make faucets to order are usually not strong on design, so in order to stay design-competitive, Marketeers are almost forced to start coming up with their own faucet designs. Kraus is an example. It is probably the most successful Marketeer in the U.S. It identifies itself as a "manufacturer" although it does not appear to have ever owned a factory or to have actually manufactured, or even assembled, a single faucet. It readily admits, when asked, that it buys its faucets and other fixtures from mainland Chinese factories. But it has recently hired a well-known European designer to begin creating its own faucet designs. Some of these original creations are starting to hit the market, and they are impressive.

Retail Rebranders
Large retailers have been rebranding for decades. Big box and lumber stores, and hardware cooperatives buy faucets directly from manufacturers then rebrand and sell them under a store brand. These are, unfortunately, the faucets that seem to be the hardest to get parts for. Pegasus and Glacier Bay faucets from The Home depot are a case in point — but certainly not the only case. Home Depot faucets are made by factories in (mostly) China. There is no central parts source, so if you need a part, you had better hope you kept the brochure that came with the faucet so you will know how to contact the actual manufacturer. Home Depot can't help you. They don't keep those kinds of records — or at least no one seems to know where they are.

The problem is hardly insurmountable. Some Rebranders have conquered their after-sale servicing issues: notably Sears, whose nationally famous Craftsman tool and Kenmore appliance brands are all made by others. But, unlike other retailers, Sears stocks all the parts and provides warranty and repair service out of its local stores — proving that the after-sale issues inherent in retail rebranding can be overcome. But, it takes an institutional commitment of resources to do so, and none of the major hardware or lumber store brands that we know of has made the commitment.

Is There a "Best" Business Model?
We are not prepared to categorically state that one business model is necessarily better than another. All seem able to produce good, and not so good, faucets. Having said that, it is clear that the Rebranders all seem to have the same after-sale support issues. It is usually not possible to tell who actually made the store brand faucet, and therefore where to get replacement parts. And store brands are frequently not the manufacturer's regular line of faucet, so replacement parts may not be in inventory anyway. Otherwise, service and support may be good or poor, but it seems to have little relationship to the company's business model, and much more to do with how seriously it takes customer service.

Few companies fit cleanly into one business-model category. There is a lot of overlap, especially in a large company with several divisions and diverse product lines. Kohler, for example, is mostly a U.S.-based manufacturer, but some of its faucets are assembled from parts made by others, and some are simply manufactured by others to Kohler's specifications. American Standard Brands is quickly abandoning direct manufacturing to become a Specifier as it shifts most of its actual production overseas to third-party-controlled factories. Kraus, now a fast-growing and well-established Marketeer, has hired a well-respected industrial designer and has started designing its own faucets to be built to its specifications by contract factories — indicating a coming shift in its basic business model from Marketeer to Specifier.

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

Getting Parts
A name brand faucet not only has a history and a reputation that can usually be relied on, but also a massive investment in parts and an organization to keep track of and distribute the parts. Even if all a company does is buy faucets from overseas factories, it generally also buys the parts required to keep those faucets operating. Most faucet companies try to use the same part in many faucets, especially parts like cartridges and hoses that get a lot of wear and could be broken, to keep down the cost of stocking a large number of different parts. Still, few parts operations are self-supporting, so some part of the cost of purchasing, cataloging, stocking and distributing those parts is going to be added to the price of your faucet. What you get for the few extra dollars you pay for a name faucet is peace of mind: if the faucet breaks, the parts to fix it are available.

A reliable supply of parts is an important part of any faucet-buying decision. Kraus, for example, does not guaranteed parts for its faucets after ten years. Vigo stocks parts for just five years. These are discount-sellers, and they naturally look for ways to reduce costs. But the consequence is that after a few years, when the faucet is most likely to break, there may be no parts to be had in the U.S. for the Chinese faucets these companies sell. By contrast, we just bought a new valve seat for a bathroom faucet manufactured by Kohler in 1918. The fact that the seat lasted almost 100 years gives you a good indication of the quality of Kohler products made in 1918. The fact that we can still get parts for it tells you a lot about the depth of Kohler's parts inventory.

Many of the world's best faucets don't have an after-sale support organization in the U.S., so getting parts for these faucets is a problem. Piani, for example, a well-established Italian faucet maker with an illustrious reputation (which makes a number of Home Depot's better quality faucets sold under the Pegasus brand) had no parts operation in the U.S. for years, other than limited support for its Home Depot products. As much as we like Piani faucets, we refused to rate the company without a reliable parts source. Within the last few years it has started selling its faucets here under the LaToscana brand, and has established a customer support and parts center on the East Coast. We are waiting to see how that shakes out.

Home Depot, Menards, Lowes and other large home centers and hardware stores sell numerous faucets their own in-store brand names. In most cases, unless you know who made the faucet, it's almost impossible to find out where to get parts — even if parts are available. This seems to be a systemic weakness of Retail Rebranders, and is discussed above under Business Models, and in our rating of Home Depot faucets below.

Faucet Ratings
The ratings on this page range from 1 to 10, with 1 being completely worthless to 10 being nearly perfect. Four to six are average. We know of no manufacturer who rates a 10 — although a couple are very close — and will not list any company whose products do not reach at least a 4. Most companies make a range of faucets. They have an economy line, middle line, and top line. This is why we usually post ratings as a range, from 3-7, for example. Three is below standard, seven is above average. So while our ratings give you an idea of the overall quality of the company's faucets, it's always necessary to investigate the particular faucets you are planning to buy. There are good and not-so-good faucets in just about every product line.

Our ratings are based on our own hands-on experience with these products and the experiences of building professionals we know and trust. Building professionals we don't know and manufacturers themselves may disagree with our ratings. If so, we'd like to hear from them. We do not rate any faucet line with that is too new to have a track record, or where information is too sparse for us to rate them. Eventually we will (if they are still around in a few years), but not yet. If we can't tell who made the faucet, as is often the case with Retail Rebranders, then we usually will not rate the faucet line.

	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category • Retail Source	Warranty

Imported China Rating: 4-7	American Standard American Standard Brands One Centennial Avenue P.O. Box 6820 Piscataway, NJ 08854 (800) 442-1902	4-7 $150-600 China, Viet Nam, USA	Manufacturer/Assembler The Home Depot, Lincoln Winnelson, and many on-line faucet stores	Lifetime to the original owner.

	Founded as the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company in 1875, American Standard is probably the oldest American bath ware manufacturer still in business. It shares with Kohler the credit for pioneering the technique of attaching porcelain to cast iron just after the Civil War, a process that made sanitary bath ware possible. For more than a century American Standard was an American manufacturer of sanitary ware selling its products worldwide. Today, what's left of American Standard in the U.S. is merely the marketing and distribution arm of its giant overseas, mostly Chinese, factories. In 2007 American Standard sold its domestic kitchen and bath division, along with the name Ameican Standard, to Bain Capital Partners, an investment fund — taking it from a public to a private corporation. In 2008 Bain added Crane Plumbing, another well-known maker of excellent, mostly commercial, bath fixtures, and Eljer to form American Standard Brands. Bain then recouped its original investment by selling a majority share in the consolidated company to Sun Capital Partners, Inc., keeping a minority share that essentially it got for free — cleverly done. The new owners are all about the bottom line. Nearly as quickly as Bain Capital obtained control of American Standard, it started moving all manufacturing off shore. Today, of all the thousands of different plumbing products American Standard sells throughout the world, exactly six of them are made in its sole remaining U.S. factory in Nevada, Missouri. (To download a list of the six products American Standard still manufactures in the U.S, click here.) In the 1980s the combined American Standard companies employed over 150,000 American workers, mostly in manufacturing. Today it employs approximately 8,000 Americans, barely a few hundred in manufacturing. Although regrettable, moving all manufacturing offshore has not had any obvious effect on American Standard quality. The company has never been especially well known for faucets, but makes a good one. Not particularly stylish, but well engineered, although we have had some bad experiences with lower-end American Standard faucets including part failure and corrosion. For high-style faucets from American Standard, you have to move to the company's upscale Porcher or Jado Faucet lines. It is no longer possible to buy an American-made faucet from American Standard or Eljer. For a U.S. made faucet from an American company, look at Kohler, Moen, Symmons, Chicago, or, to a lesser extent, Delta Faucets.

	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category • Retail Source	Warranty
Imported Germany Rating: 6-8	Blanco Faucets Blanco America, Inc. 110 Mount Holly By-Pass Lumberton, NJ 08048	6-8 $230-1,000 Germany, Eastern Europe	Manufacturer Gotcha Covered, (402) 420-5566; e-faucets; The Plumbing Store	"[A]s long as the original consumer owns the home in which the faucet(s) are installed."

	Blanco America, Inc. is the American division of Blanco GmbH + Co KG, Oberderdingen, Germany. Its line is limited to kitchen faucets. The faucets are intended to complement its main business: kitchen sinks. Blanco emphasizes style, and it fact refers to itself frequently as a "design" company although it does manufacture most of its own products. This is an excellent, stylish faucet line comparable to Grohe or Graff and similarly priced.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category • Retail Source	Warranty
Made in USA Rating: 5-8	Brizo® 55 E. 111th Street P.O. Box 40980 Indianapolis, IN 46280 (317) 848-1812	5-8 $250-800 China/USA Imported	Specifier Ferguson Enterprises, Lincoln, 402-328-8589; Look up your local showroom on the Brizo web site.	"...warranted to the original consumer purchaser ... for as long as the original consumer purchaser owns their (sic) home."

	Brizo® is a Masco Corporation company and really just the name given to Delta's high-end designer faucets. Not that this is anything to be ashamed of. Delta sells a very good faucet — which makes one wonder why company management though a different name was necessary for the high-end line. In many instances a similar style is available in the Delta line at a lower price but not a much lower quality. Also look at Ginger faucets and , also Masco faucets. Equivalent to a high-end Kohler faucet. Stylish and generally a good value for the dollar. For more information of Masco Companies, see Delta Faucets.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Made in USA Rating: 7-9 With a few exceptions, the entire Chicago faucet line is BAA compliant.	Chicago Faucets A Geberit Company 2100 S. Clearwater Dr. Des Plaines, IL 60018 (847)803-5000	7-9 $150-350 USA/China	Manufacturer Chicago faucets.com; on the internet from a variety of faucet sources.	Lifetime limited warranty to the original buyer, 5-years on the finish.

	We have never heard of, nor do we know anyone who has ever heard of, a defective Chicago faucet. Chicago might be the best faucet line made. We certainly know of no better. Chicago has made one of the world's best faucets for over 100 years. Featuring heavy solid brass bodies and solid metal parts, every piece of a Chicago Faucet is replaceable, and Chicago guarantees it will have the parts. These are truly 100+ year faucets — and very reasonably priced for the quality. The faucet line is built around a unique compression cartridge called the Quaturn Cartridge, which as been unchanged for over 100 years. It was revolutionary at the time it was created, and is still pretty amazing. It has been updated over the years to incorporate new technology and materials, but is still interchangeable with any Quaturn Cartridge manufactured since 1913. Chicago faucets started life in commercial kitchens, schools, hospitals and hotels, and its faucets show that good heavy-duty industrial breeding. The product line is targeted primarily at the commercial market where quality and longevity are king, and has never been known for high style. But, things may be starting to change since the company has been bought by style-conscious Geberit Group, the upscale Swiss manufacturer of contemporary sanitary enamelware. Geberit focused in on Chicago not because it was a good fit style-wise, but because it was a good fit quality-wise. It's much easier to add style than it is to upgrade quality. Expect more stylish offerings to be slowly integrated into the Chicago lineup. For right now, however, the design-glitterati might want to look elsewhere. But, those who just want a guaranteed lifetime faucet that probably will outlast both you and your house can do a whole lot worse than a Chicago Faucet. Design, manufacturing, research and development and customer support located in the U. S. of A. However, a few faucets are made elsewhere, so check the box, or the web site if ordering directly from Chicago Faucets. American-made faucets are clearly identified as complying with the Buy American Act (BAA).


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported China Rating: 4-8	Danze Globe Union Group 2 Territorial Ct. Suite A Bolingbrook, IL 60440 (888) 328-2383	4-8 $60-500 China	Manufacturer Handy Man Home Remodeling Center, Lincoln (402) 474-0550; on the internet from a variety of faucet sources.	"[W]arranted to the original consumer purchaser to be free from defects in material and workmanship for as long as the consumer purchaser owns it."
Imported China Rating: 4-8
Introduced to the U.S. in 2000, Danze is a name under which Globe Union Group is growing a brand identity in the U.S. It is the most actively promoted of the many faucet, fixture and accessory brands owned by the gigantic Asian company controlled by the Ou-yang Ming family of Taichung, Taiwan. Globe Union is the dominant faucet manufacturer in Asia under its GOBO brand. Its faucets are made primarily in mainland Chinese factories by its subsidiary Shenzhen Globe Union Industrial Corp. of Shenzhen, China (with a small bow to Canada for some automatic faucets). It supplies dozens of in-house lines for large retailers such as the Pegasus, Western Pride and Glacier Bay faucets for Home Depot, Do-It-Best brand for Do-It-Best affiliated hardware and lumber stores, Water Ridge for Costco, and the Ace brand for Ace Hardware, among others. Over 90% of its products are exported to the United States. The company's bath and kitchen lines appear under many names including: Fusion (Fusion Hardware Group, Inc.), Gerber ( Gerber Plumbing Fixtures, L.L.C), Ameristream, Corrego, Eurostream, Florin, Ideas in Motion, Opulence, Plumbers Collection, Ruscello, Sempre, Thames, Water Ridge, Woodridge, and Western Pride. Many of the same faucets appear under multiple brands as well as under private store labels, and many seem to have been discontinued. For example, we can no longer find Ameristream faucets anywhere. Brands such as Water Ridge and Corrego are now available only from discounters, which suggests they are being phased out. Or, maybe not, now that Water Ridge is being carried by Costco. Some brands have been merged with the Danze line. Antioch, Anu, Brandywood, Bannocburn, Como, Estrella, Fairmont, Melrose, Orrington, Plymouth, Parma, Sirius, Sonora and Tiburon faucets, for example, are now collections under the Danze brand. Globe Union has had somewhat of a checkered history. It has been accused several times of counterfeiting faucets from other companies, and had to settle with Delta Faucet for pirating Delta's patented valve technology or face a U.S. International Trade Commission order excluding its products from U.S. markets. But, it has matured as an international trading partner in the past twenty years. We earlier reported that there was just not enough information to rate Danze, but that has changed. The brand has had a terrific market penetration over the past five years, with retail sources springing up everywhere. As a whole, the Globe Union lines are stylish and seem to be well made. In the past we saw the occasional defect that suggests spotty quality control at the Chinese factories, but we have not seen many lately. The quality is largely outstanding for the price. Many of the faucets are very stylish, and while Globe Union in the past mostly copied existing European and American designs, the company has recently begun introducing its own designs - and they are very good, even excellent. Parts and installation help are available from on-line sources, including Globe Union's customer service department. For Globe Union brands marked above with a "", and most private label brands, the best place to start for customer service and parts is Globe Union North American Technical Support at 1-888-328-2383. We have had reservations about the quality of Globe Union products in the past, but they are now largely gone. Our recent experience with the line has been favorable. The product line contains a full range or faucets from economy to luxury, so it falls generally in the middle range of quality. Line for line, it compares favorably to Delta and Price-Pfister, and may be, overall, just a touch better.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Made in USA Rating: 3-7	Delta Faucet Company A Division of Masco Corporation 55 E. 111th Street P.O. Box 40980 Indianapolis, IN 46280 (317) 848-1812	3-6 $75-250 USA/Canada/China	Manufacturer/Assembler Menards, The Home Depot, Lincoln Winnelson. Outside of Nebraska, visit the company web site's dealer locator, or try any of the web sites that sell faucets.	"[W]arranted to the original consumer purchaser to be free from defects in material and workmanship for as long as the original consumer purchaser owns their (sic) home."

	If there is an 800 lb. gorilla in the world of kitchens and baths, it is Masco Corporation — owner of Brizo®, Delta, Peerless®, Ginger®, Hansgrohe and Newport Brass faucet brands. The company is also a huge player in cabinets (Kraftmaid, Merillat, Mills Pride, Quality Cabinets) paints (Behr, Kilz), bathtubs and showers (Aqua Glass), water, gas and steam fittings and connectors (Brasstech and BrassCraft), replacement windows (Milgard) and even staplers (Arrow). Masco is one of the few American faucet manufacturers that has resisted exporting all of its manufacturing, although Delta does have at least one plant in Panyu, China. Delta's North American manufacturing is located in Greensburg, Indiana; Jackson, Tennessee; Morgantown, Kentucky; with two more plants in Ontario: one in London and another in Cambridge, that mostly serve the Canadian market. Peerless, Delta and Brizo are really the low, middle and high ends of the same Masco faucet line, and they overlap quite a lot. Newport Brass and Ginger are brand names of another Masco Company, Brasstech, and there is overlap between these two similarly priced brands. Hansgrohe, recently acquired by Masco, is the last player in Masco's faucet division, and is the very high end of the Masco faucet lineup. Delta is a good, solid, stylish faucet. But, you get what you pay for. Look for all metal and ceramic construction. Stay away from p-l-a-s-t-i-c parts. Delta does not usually disclose on the box that critical parts are plastic, so be wary of any Delta priced below $100.00. At the other end of the quality scale, Delta's better faucets are as solid and reliable as any brand on the market. Delta was one of the early faucet innovators, pioneering the Delta ball cartridge that has been widely copied. There's a reason Delta has been the most popular faucet in America for over 80 years. It's (mostly) a very good faucet, and reasonably priced. Home centers often carry "private label" Delta models made just for them so they can guarantee to have the "lowest price" (since no one else in the world has exactly the same model). It is probably no surprise that to make this happen identical Delta faucets are sold under different names and model numbers. (See The Model Game.) It's the American way, folks. Go to a plumbing supply house for a regular, no-nonsense, Delta faucet, or better yet, see your local plumber.



	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported Germany Rating: 7-9	Dornbracht Faucets Dornbracht Americas, Inc. 1700 Executive Drive South, Suite 600 Duluth, GA 30096 866-818-3199	7-9 $500+ Germany	Manufacturer Briggs of Omaha, 14549 Grover Street, Omaha, NE 68144, Phone: (402) 330-3400; Ferguson Enterprises, 15005 Grover Street Omaha, NE 68144, Phone: (402) 330-1203; FaucetSupply.com and many other internet sources.	"Dornbracht grants a warranty of two years for the surfaces of fittings and accessories. A claim under guarantee can be rejected in the event of failure to comply with directions as to care and maintenance as well as inappropriate handling or because of external influences."

	Dornbracht Americas is the U.S. division of Aloys F. Dornbracht GmbH, a designer and manufacturer of an extensive line of luxury kitchen and bath faucets distributed worldwide from its Iserlohn, Germany headquarters. Sold primarily through high-end design showrooms and authorized dealers, the faucets are unblushingly luxurious in a variety of finishes — with prices to match.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported China Rating: 5-8	Eljer Faucets 14801 Quorum Drive Dallas, TX 75254 800-423-5537	5-8 $100-450 China/USA	Manufacturer/Assembler In Lincoln, Kiner Supply (402), 477-6936; Lincoln Winnelson, (402) 423-1610. Elsewhere look for a distributor on the company web site.	Lifetime on mechanical to the original owner. Lifetime on some finishes, but mostly 10 years.

	The vitreous china toilet tank (or more politely "water closet cistern") that replaced the wall-hung wooden or copper-lined wooden cistern was invented by Eljer in 1903 and has become the industry standard. Eljer is well-known for its heavy duty, exceptional quality toilets, sinks and bathtubs. But, for some reason the companies sterling reputation for quality has not translated to Eljer faucets. Eljer is the Rodney Dangerfield of the faucet world. It gets no respect. Not particularly stylish, but very well made and reasonably priced — well worth serious consideration if a high quality trumps high style in your decision making. The faucets were originally designed for commercial use in restrooms, hotels, and factories, and the commercial quality has crossed over to Eljer's residential offerings. In 2008, Eljer merged with American Standard and Crane Plumbing to form the new privately owned American Standard Brands. One consequence of this merger is that Eljer products are already being cross-branded as American Standard and Crane products, and vice versa. For example, the Eljer Titan (a very well-known, in plumbing circles) toilet is showing up in stores as the American Standard Titan Pro and the Crane Titan Pro. The American Standard's Cadet 3 toilet (exclusive to Home Depot) is also exclusive to Menards stores as the Eljer Diplomat. (See The Model Game for more information on exclusive store-specific branding.) American Standard Brands has moved all Eljer manufacturing to foreign factories.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Assembled in USA ¹ Rating: 5-8 Residential Faucets Commercial Faucets Report broken links.	Elkay Manufacturing Co. 2222 Camden Ct. Oak Brook, IL (630) 574-8484	5-8 $100-450 USA/China	Manufacturer/Assembler In Lincoln, Winnelson or Briggs, Inc. In Omaha, Lund Ross Company. Elsewhere in the country, go to "Category,Where to Buy" on the company web site.	"Elkay warrants to the original consumer purchaser that the Elkay faucet purchased will be free from defects in material and workmanship for as long as the original consumer purchaser owns the faucet."
	¹ Elkay is in the process of moving its manufacturing to China.
	Elkay, headquartered on Chicago's Near North Side for over 80 years, is a global player in the kitchen and bath world. In addition to its Elkay brands of residential and commercial sinks, it also owns MasterCraft, Medallion and Yorktowne cabinetry — all major brands — and the Revere line of plumbing fixtures. It has recently acquired the Phylrich International line of luxury, high-style bathroom faucets to round out its offerings (See Phylrich, below). Elkay manufacturing is being rapidly moved to China, accelerated by its 2005 purchase of Zhuhai Daya S.E.Z., a manufacturer based in Zhuhai, China. At this point, while most of Elkay's sanitary-ware products (toilet, sinks, etc.) are manufactured domestically, most of its faucets are merely assembled in the U.S. from imported components. A few of its faucets, however, are made here. See the Buy American Act list at left. The extensive Elkay line of faucets combines good reliability and a wide selection that includes mundane as well as high style fixtures. It is comparable to and competes toe-to-toe with Kohler in most markets. Elkay is always worth a second and even a third look.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported China Rating: 5-8	Fusion Hardware Group, Inc. Globe Union Group Fusion Hardware Group, Inc. 3145 Northwoods Parkway, Building 100 Norcross, GA 30071-4797 (877) 215-4683	5-8 $200-500 China	Manufacturer (Globe Union) "We sell our products through select authorized dealer showrooms, some of which have internet divisions. To ensure full warranty and after-sale assistance make sure your purchase is made through an authorized Fusion dealer." The Hardware Hut Luxury Home Products KitchenBath.com	"[W]arranted to the original consumer purchaser to be free from defects in material and workmanship for as long as the consumer purchaser owns it."

A brand name of the huge Globe Union Group, the dominant faucet manufacturer in Asia under its GOBO brand that is trying very hard to create a brand identity in the U.S. with its Danze (See Danze, above.) and Fusion lines. Its faucets are made primarily in Chinese factories by its subsidiary Shenzhen Globe Union Industrial Corp. of Shenzhen, China. Fusion is marketed as a coordinated "theme" of faucets; window, door and cabinet hardware; lighting, and bath accessories (towel racks, etc.). The choice of this brand name in the U.S. is almost certain to cause confusion between the Globe Union product line and the Fusion brand owned by Bristan Group Ltd., the UK's largest faucet manufacturer — and maybe that's the idea. For more information on Globe Union and its many brands, see the review of Danze Faucets, above.

	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported China Rating: 5-7	Ginger® Faucets 460-N Greenway Industrial Drive Fort Mill, SC 29708-8117 (949) 417-5207	5-7 $350-1,300 China/Spain	Specifier In Southeast Nebraska see Briggs, Inc.; available from many internet sources.	As long as the original purchaser owns the home on ceramic valves, PVD and chrome finishes, otherwise, 10 years.

	Ginger is a brand name of Brasstech, Inc. a Masco company (see Delta Faucets, above for more information) that also owns the Newport Brass brand. Although Brasstech started out as a manufacturer, today it is a specifier, sub contracting virtually all manufacturing to foreign, mostly Chinese, factories. Some faucets are assembled in the U.S., but most are simply imported as finished units. Ginger started out with and has always been well known for its fine quality commercial and residential bathroom accessories — towel bars, toilet paper holders, etc. After being bought out by Masco and merged with Newport Brass to form Brasstech, it extended its line of products to bathroom faucets. The faucets are stunningly styled and made from solid "German" brass (although we're not sure what the difference is between German brass and any other brass, if there is any at all). Brasstech has been grouped by Masco with the recently acquired Hansgrohe faucet line, so expect some of the high-styling of the Hansgrohe/Axor lines to transition to Newport Brass and Ginger faucets. Ginger and Newport Brass have for all practical purposes been merged into one operation, sharing engineering, warehousing and customer support.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Unknown Not Rated	Glacier Bay Faucets The Home Depot 2455 Paces Ferry Rd. NW Atlanta, GA 30339-4024 (770) 433-8211	Not Rated $50-250 China/Italy	Retail Rebrander The Home Depot	"[G]uaranteed for parts and finish for as long as you own your home."

	Please see the review of Home Depot faucets, below.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Assembled in USA Rating: 7-9	Graff Faucets 3701 W. Burnham St. Milwaukee, WI 53215 (800) 354-4723	7-9 $200-500 USA/Europe	Manufacturer Graff dealers (see web site) and numerous internet outlets. Not all products are available on the internet.	"[A]ll Graff faucets are covered by a Lifetime Warranty on mechanical parts."

	Graff Waterworks is a owned by Milwaukee-based Meridian International Group, Inc. Meridian is a family of related companies most involved in some manner in the casting, machining and finishing of metal products. Graff faucets are gathered into two collections: Traditional which is stylish but conservative, and Contemporary from designers Angeletti Ruzz Design and Davide Oppizzi, which will make any kitchen and bath designer do the "ooh and aah" thing. All are high-quality all-brass fixtures with ceramic disc valves, assembled and quality controlled in the U.S from components manufactured in Meridian factories in the U.S. and Europe. No more expensive than a KWC, Grohe or high-end Kohler, Graff may be a slightly better faucet by no more than a whisker. All things being equal, we will generally buy a Graff over any other similar quality faucet from another manufacturer.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported Germany Rating: 6-9	Grohe America. 241 Covington Drive Bloomingdale, IL 60108 (630) 582-7711	6-9 $175-800+ Germany Canada Portugal Thailand	Manufacturer Grohe used to make a big effort to discourage discounting by restricting sales to authorized dealers only. No longer. Since being acquired and privatized by investment groups in 2004, Grohe has expanded its availability to the internet and to mass retailers such as the Home Depot.	"A Limited Lifetime Warranty is provided on all mechanical parts to be free from manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for as long as the original purchaser owns their (sic) home." 5-year limited warranty on most finishes.
Imported Germany Rating: 6-9
The American arm of Grohe AG, a German company headquartered in Dusseldorf, Grohe America distributes the parent company's excellent, high-style, designer faucets. Most Grohe faucets have style characteristics that make them instantly recognizable. Dealer prices range from merely astounding to truly outrageous. Handles sold separately. Grohe makes a good faucet, but so do others for less money. In the past, owning a Grohe faucet was a status thing. The faucet is expensive, and recognizably expensive, and came with major bragging rights. But, Grohe's new owners have radically changed its business model. Grohe faucets are showing up in very un-exclusive places, including mass retailers such as Home Depot. So, we don't think the caché of the Grohe name will hold up much longer. Expect the price of Grohe faucets to come down nut also expect considerable quality erosion as the new owners attach the Grohe name to cheaper, mass market faucets. We hope we're wrong, but this is how we read the tea leaves at the moment.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported Israel Rating: 5-9	Hamat Faucets c/o Subcon Products 100 Bomont Pl. Totowa, NJ 07521 (973) 785-1150	5-8 $250-600 Israel	Manufacturer Home Annex, The Inside Store, Faucet Direct The company web site's dealer locator does not seem to work. We checked for dealers in Lincoln, Omaha, Los Angeles and New York and in all cases got "No Records Found" whatever that means.	Manufacturing defects, five years; finishes three years - "to the original owner."

Israel's premier faucet manufacturer, wholly owned by the Merhav Group, located in Ashdod, Israel, is represented in the U.S. by Subcon Products. A heavy duty faucet, Hamat makes contemporary stylish and traditional lines. Construction is solid brass with a ceramic valve. Hamat does not really stand out for either design or quality. Both are good, but not particularly distinctive and not better than similar high-quality lines. The company, however is distinctive in that it is one of the most vertically integrated of faucet manufacturers, controlling every step from processing raw materials to in-house casting, machining, polishing, finishing, assembly and final quality control.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported Germany 5-8	Hansgrohe AG Hansgrohe, Inc. 1490 Bluegrass Lakes Parkway Alpharetta, GA 30004 (800) 488-8119	5-8 $250-1,000 Germany/USA	Manufacturer In Southeast Nebraska see Briggs, Inc. or on the web Hansgrohe In Stock, Home Annex, Specifier House Jewelry	"Lifetime limited warranty to the original owner."
Imported Germany 5-8
Better known worldwide for its innovative hand showers (it is the oldest and largest and probably the best hand shower company in the world), it also makes an excellent, high quality and stylish line of faucets. On par with Grohe (no relation), Graff, KWC and Jado, Hansgrohe is definitely worth consideration. The huge Masco conglomerate acquired a majority share in Hansgrohe in 2002. The Masco faucet lines include Brizo, Delta, and Peerless faucets, as well as Hansgrohe. (see Delta faucets above for more information on Masco). We have yet to see much integration of the Hansgrohe line into the other faucet brands owned by Masco, but undoubtedly it will come. The brand was recently grouped with Brasstech, which makes the Newport Brass and Ginger brand faucets for Masco. Masco will probably sprinkle a little Hansgrohe styling onto the Ginger and Newport Brass lines, while shifting much of Hansgrohe manufacturing out of the craft shops of central Europe to its less expensive large manufacturing contractors in China. At present Hansgrohe is pretty much what it has always been, an excellent German faucet maker — now under American ownership. Over the years, Hansgrohe AG has built a reputation as one of the innovation leaders in the technology and design of kitchen and bath faucets, receiving over 300 international design awards. It panel of designers include Philippe Starck, Antonio Citterio, Jean-Marie Massaud, Patricia Urquiola and the Bouroullecs. If you buy a Hansgrohe faucet, you are paying for high design and very high quality. But if even a Hansgrohe faucet is not enough luxury for you, the company also has what it calls its luxury line (what the rest of us would probably call a luxury-luxury line) called Axor® We have never heard of a properly installed Hansgrohe faucet giving any trouble. If you have, please let us know.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Unknown Not Rated	Home Depot Faucets 2455 Paces Ferry Rd. NW Atlanta, GA 30339-4024 (770) 433-8211	Not Rated $80-350 China	Retail Rebrander The Home Depot, Home Depot on line. Some Pegasus products are available from internet suppliers outside of the Home Depot umbrella. We take this limited availability as an effort by Home Depot to show that Pegasus is an independent brand. It isn't. Home Depot owns the trade name according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.	"[G]uaranteed for parts and finish for as long as you own your home."
Unknown Not Rated
One Customer's Experience We get lots of mail about bad experiences with faucets — mostly the complaint is poor customer service rather than problems with the faucet itself. It certainly seems that a disproportionate number of the bad experiences people have with their faucets are with store brands — maybe that's because the big box stores sell so many faucets. Anyway, the following story is sadly typical. I have an experience with Glacier Bay that I would like to share. I purchased a faucet at Home Depot under the brand name of Glacier Bay. It is leaking and I couldn't find the original instructions, so I went to Home Depot to try to get the seals to fix it. I incorrectly assumed that they would know what seals I needed or could give me a phone number or Countertops address, where I could get another copy of the instructions, which had a blow-up of the faucet with part numbers. They couldn't. I tried looking up the customer service number on the site for Glacier Bay and had the experience you noted. I called Home Depot Customer Service. They gave me another number. After waiting [about] 10 minutes, I was told that it was the wrong manufacturer and given another number. I called that number and waited for 1 [hour], 45 minutes, only to be told that it was not the right manufacturer either. I was given the number for Paini [Spa Rubinetterie] but at this point, they were closed! I could not find a Countertops for them, so I am now waiting until Monday and will try to find the part I need to fix the faucet. I like the faucet, but would not recommend buying one because of the deplorable customer service. Ms. D. R. New Haven, Connecticut Glacier Bay and Pegasus are Home Depot's two main in-house store faucet brands. Glacier Bay is Home Depot's name for its mid-range and Pegasus the name for higher end faucet and fixture line that includes sinks, toilets, and bath hardware as well as faucets. There is a lot of overlap between the brands. The Home Depot, of course, manufactures none of these items. They are made by many manufacturers and merely packaged by Home Depot under its Glacier Bay and Pegasus brands. Today the faucets are manufactured largely by the huge Chinese conglomerate, Globe Union Group and by the almost as massive Xiamen Lota International Co., Ltd. which is part of (probably the main part of) Lota International of Taiwan. Lota International consented to sanctions by the U.S. International Trade Commission in 2000 for counterfeiting Moen Faucets, and thus avoided a general exclusion order that would bar its products from U.S. markets. It does not sell in the U.S. under its own name. Globe Union Group sells under the Danze and other brand names. It entered into a consent order in 1984 for counterfeiting Delta faucet valves. It is reviewed above in these ratings. In the past many Home Depot faucets were manufactured by Price-Pfister, but this relationship appears to have ended with Price-Pfister's acquisition by Stanley Black & Decker Hardware Group. Some high end Pegasus faucets, such as the Pegasus Arko Pulldown Faucet, are manufactured by Paini Spa Rubinetterie, a very well known and respected Italian manufacturer. But, it's not easy to tell who makes what Home Depot faucet. Home Depot, which is pushing the brand identity, is not exactly forthcoming about actual manufacturing sources. Look for "Made in Italy" on the box to identify faucets probably made by Paini or go to the Paini web site to identify Paini faucets then look for the same faucet in a Pegasus box. Customer service is a huge and continuing problem with these products (See sidebar). We get a lot of mail detailing bad customer service experiences at The Home Depot and with its various faucet suppliers. Home Depot will, of course, replace any defective house brand faucet at any of its stores if, and it's a big if, the product is still stocked. But, getting parts and even installation help is a Herculean process requiring much patience and perseverance, and even then is not guaranteed to be successful. The Glacier Bay web site provided by Home Depot has a "contact us" page that immediately asks for the store SKU number of your faucet — not the model number, which you are more likely to have if you saved the box. And having the SKU number is no guarantee of success. We entered a SKU number of a faucet that is shown right on the web site, only to be told "Sorry, there is o product that matches your entry". All of the products appearing on the Glacier Bay site are Globe Union items, and the only parts telephone number displayed (after a lot of searching) is the Globe Union customer service number (888) 328-2383. If you have another manufacturer's Glacier Bay faucet, then good luck! The Pegasus web site is even less helpful. The Pegasus web site has a "contact us" page that says "We value your feedback and are here to support you. If you have questions about your Pegasus products, need assistance with installation, or have comments or requests, please click here to contact us. Much of what we do is the result of feedback from our valued customers. It is our pleasure to serve you." Home Depot's Response Keenly aware that it has a problem with after-sale support of its in-house brands, Home Depot attempted to establish a single toll-free number for a "proprietary brands clearing house" in 2008. The idea was that you would call this number and be directed to the manufacturer of your particular defective item for parts and assistance. Home Depot apparently was unable to make it work. The number is no longer active so we won't publish it here. But, even while it was active, we know of no one at Home Depot who had ever heard of it, or actually knew the number. How to Get Home Depot Assistance At present, the best we can suggest is to call the Store Support Customer Service Number in Atlanta, 1-877-467-3409. You must have your model or store SKU number. If you have neither, you are out of luck. If your faucet has been installed for a few years and you have thrown away the box and instructions, you are unlikely to have either number. Our advice: when you install the faucet, cut out the model and SKU number from the box and place them in a baggie along with your receipt. Tape this to the bottom of your faucet. Even if you forget where you put it, the plumber will find it. Do You Have More Information? If you have found a way to get effective after-sale support from Home Depot for its store-brand faucet parts, please let us know. But, in fact, clicking on "contact us" takes you to the general Home Depot "contact us" page that has absolutely no information about Pegasus faucets — does not, in fact, even contain the word "Pegasus". Searching the site for "pegasus faucet parts" produced page after page of drains, shower arms, risers and other plumbing fittings, but not a single faucet part of any kind. In the FAQ section of the Pegasus web site, the process of obtaining parts is described as follows: "Your local The Home Depot store stocks most commonly needed replacement parts. You may also order any part at no charge by calling the toll-free customer support number for your product." First of all we doubt the "no charge" bit. In our experience faucet parts are not free (unless under warranty) and Pegasus parts are no exception. Secondly we know of no Home Depot store that even pretends to stock any but the most basic faucet parts — generic washers, for example — something any well-stocked general hardware store would have on hand — certainly no specifically Pegasus replacement parts. Lastly, no one has any idea what the toll free number for Pegasus parts might be because there is no single number. Each supplier has its own number. The problem is, it is almost impossible to find out which manufacturer supplied a particular faucet. The one solution we have found is to look in the paperwork in the box the faucet came in for a toll-free number. This is how we found out that Home Depot had started buying from Xiamen Lota International Co., Ltd. (Lota) — we called a number that turned out to be Lota customer service. We asked Home Depot by letter if it wanted to comment on this sad state of affairs. No surprise, it didn't. Rarely do Home Depot store employees have any idea where any particular faucet is made. They try to be helpful, but the fact is they just don't know and have never been told how to find out. It is very hard to rate these faucets since we never know where they come from, and the brands themselves are far from being established enough to have a stable reputation as of yet. Home Depot is strong in the initial sale, but proving very weak in customer service follow-up. Until it establishes a working central clearinghouse for parts, Home Depot may never conquer its post-sale customer service problems. We are going to reserve opinion at this time. If you have had experience with Glacier Bay or Pegasus faucets that you would like to share, contact us. Check back next year.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported Germany Rating: 6-9	Jado Faucets Jado Corporation 6615 West Boston Chandler, AZ (800) 227-2734	6-9 $150-500 Germany	Manufacturer Guld Edge, 4702 Prescott Ave., Lincoln, NE 68506, (402) 488-8011; Grabow Hardware Company, 10535 Birch Street, Omaha, NE 68134, (402) 445-2596; Faucet.com	Residential limited warranty for the life of the house.

	The American arm of Jado, GmbH, a German company that is in turn owned by Ideal Standard International which sells Jado products outside of the U.S. In the U.S. Jado is sold by American Standard Brands which owns a controlling share in Ideal Standard International. If you think this is confusing, you're not wrong, it is confusing. But, the upshot is that Jado is controlled, if not directly owned, by American Standard Brands, of which the majority is owned by Sun Capital Partners with a minority ownership by Bain Capital Partners, which is the majority owner of Ideal Standard Brands. Glad we were able to clear that up for you. Jado expressly targets the luxury market. Its product line is primarily bath faucets, although it is expanding into the kitchen and bar market. Each bath faucet style belongs to larger coordinated collection that includes matching bathroom accessories. Striking designs, beautiful finishes and excellent quality, Jado has a case for its proposition that its faucet line is instantly recognizable for its quality and style (although its distinctive look is being copied widely by the Chinese. See Danze Faucets, above). Some of the designs are distinctly Teutonic and may not appeal to an American homeowner. Most, however, will knock your socks off.


	Source	Rating, Price, Origin	Category, Where to Buy	Warranty
Made in USA Rating: 4-9	Kohler Faucets 444 Highland Drive Kohler, WI 53044 (800)-4-KOHLER	4-7 $75-950 USA/China	Manufacturer/Assembler For Southeast Nebraska see Briggs, Inc. and The Home Depot.	"Kohler Co. warrants its faucets manufactured after January 1, 1997, to be leak and drip free during normal residential use for as long as the original consumer purchaser owns his or her home."

	Wisconsin-based U.S. manufacturer since the 1870s of an enormous line of good to excellent kitchen and bath fixtures ranging in style from ho-hum but very reliable to very, very stylish (and still very reliable). Kohler shares with American Standard the credit for inventing the process that attaches porcelain to cast iron, thereby making the modern sanitary bathtub possible. But, Kohler gets the sole credit for inventing the one-piece recessed bathtub with an integral apron. Before this invention in 1911, built-in baths were cast in two pieces — the tub and separate apron, which were then welded together The new one-piece tub was much more sanitary and more attractive to consumers. Today it is the most common style of bathtub in use in North America. Kohler is still a large U.S. manufacturer with twelve North American factories. Most Kohler faucets sold in the U.S. are made, or at least assembled in the U.S. About half of Kohler's 30,000 world-wide employees work in the U.S. Kohler, unlike American Standard Brands, is still very much an American company tha manufactures and distributes worldwide. Kohler, wisely, has avoided the very low end of the faucet business that requires a lot of plastic parts. It is actively pursuing the high end bath ware market, and cleverly too, by providing architects and designers with CAD images that make it easy to specify Kohler products. Be aware, however, that the Kohler products sold in some home centers such as Menards, Lowes and The Home Depot may not be Kohler's regular product line. They are private models made, often overseas, just for the home centers and may not be of the best Kohler quality. (See The Model Game.) A plumbing supply house is your best option for main-line Kohler products. There is a strong consensus among the plumbers we know that it is usually not necessary to look beyond the Kohler line for a good quality faucet at a reasonable price. There is very little in the way of faucets made by any manufacturer that does not have a rough equivalent somewhere in the extensive Kohler lineup.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported China Not Rated	Kraus USA, Inc. 12 Harbor Park Drive Port Washington, NY 11050 ((800)775-0703	Not Rated $100-450.00 China	Marketeer/Specifier Faucet.com, 877-742-4703; Faucet Direct, (800) 864-2555; Walmart.	Limited lifetime warranty covers manufacturer defects in faucet function and finishes to the original purchaser for home use only. Faucet replacement or repair only. Kraus "guarantees" replacement parts for its faucet for five years — but fails to mention when the five-year period starts..

	Started in 2007 by Russell Levi and Michael Rukhlin, two New York entrepreneurs, Kraus refers to itself as a "manufacturer" of plumbing fixtures and accessories, but there is no evidence that it owns or ever has owned a factory. All of its products are made in Chinese factories, branded and sold under the Kraus name. We have identified from shipping records at least five very large Chinese manufacturers selling to Kraus, including the massive Guangdong Dongyuan company, and there are probably more. How this makes Kraus a manufacturer, we're not sure. But, it is probably no different from other U.S. faucet companies who used to own factories, but now just farm out all or most of their manufacturing overseas. Kraus is actually a step ahead of the U.S. manufacturing business model. Instead of having once owned factories, it just skipped that part and went directly to having its products made in China. Kraus products are not usually cutting edge, but at 30% to 50% below similar faucets from other companies, Kraus certainly knows how to market faucets. It's prices and quality put it in direct competition with Vigo Industries which has adopted a similar business model. Its low prices are the primary reason it has spread so widely across the internet in such a short time. Some Kraus faucets are unique, for example the Millennium Single Lever Deck-mounted vessel faucet pictured here seems to be exclusive to Kraus. It has also very recently begun hiring designers to create its own designs which are then manufactured in China. Kraus has had problems with its ceramic disks leaking, and with its finishes failing. How widespread the problems are, we cannot find out, but we have experienced both problems ourselves. Contacting Kraus customer support for warranty replacement put us in touch with a gentleman who evidently honed his customer service skills as a Marine Corps drill instructor. We were not impressed with Kraus's customer service, although they did eventually replace the problem faucets after a few missteps. Kraus is too new to have established any sort of reputation for quality or long-term reliability, and, in fact, is still experiencing some obvious growing pains. So we refrain from rating it this year. Check back next year. If you have experience with Kraus faucets, good or bad, we would like to hear about it, so please contact us.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported Switzerland Rating: 6-9	KWC Faucets 770 Corporate Drive Suite 580 Norcross, GA 30093 (678) 334-2121	6-9 $350-1,500 Switzerland	Manufacturer Roth Distributing, 7930 Marshall Drive, Lenexa, KS 66214. 888-688-3297; The Inside Store; or Faucet Direct	"[A]ll products installed in a private residence will carry a limited lifetime warranty on all mechanical parts to be free of manufacturing defects in material and workmanship under normal usage."

	A Swiss company, KWC is a manufacturer of high-end and high priced faucets known for their reliability. A lot of its style offerings can be had from other companies at less cost — but some are truly unique. One lights the water in a color of your choice — a feature that has been widely copied. Another will carbonate water on demand - for those who need seltzer in extremely large quantities. It is an excellent faucet, all brass with ceramic cartridges. If you value quality and great styling and are willing to pay the price, this may be the faucet that fits you.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported Italy Rating: 8-9	Lacava Design Lacava LLC 2243 S. Throop St Chicago, Illinois 60608 312- 666 - 4873	7-9 $300-$1000 Italy	Specifier Lacava	" Lacava does not make any warranties, expressed or implied, except for warranty that our product be free from manufacturing defects in material and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase."

	It's hard to classify Lacava. It is an "everything for the bathroom company" that distributes faucets along with other very contemporary bath fixtures, furnishings and accessories in cutting-edge-design collections. It is small as fixture companies go, with only $5 million in gross sales, and tries to be very exclusive. Based in the Windy City, it identifies itself as the American heir to the Italian design tradition, and its inspired designs seem to confirm the claim. Its designs easily rival the very best of the Italian design studios — and that's saying something. Aimed squarely at the luxury market, it is one of the most expensive faucets; also one of the best-designed and best-made. If you are searching for that one sinfully lavish, luxury feature to highlight your new contemporary bath, a Lacava faucet may be just what you are looking for. We have never seen a Lacava faucet we did not like, nor installed one that gave us any trouble. Sold primarily through the company web-site, by bath design showrooms and select remodeling contractors (such as, ahem, us), it has very limited availability (although some Lacava faucets are now showing up on a few web retail sites). The faucets are almost never discounted. The lavish Lacava catalog, updated yearly, is itself almost a work of art, and clearly indicates that it takes the words "luxury" in the luxury market for contemporary fixtures very seriously. One of the toughest companies to do business with. It has a very limited warranty and an essentially "no-return" policy. It indicates on its web-site that it will not support on-line retailers, like e-Bay, who are not licensed to sell Lacava products. On the other hand, it is so unlikely that anything will go wrong with a genuine Lacava faucet that these shortcomings may make little difference. Look out for fakes and rebuilds if not buying from an approved Lacava seller. These products are very commonly counterfeited.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported Italy Rating: 8-9	MGS Progetti MGS Progetti SRL C.so Milano, 189 28883 Gravellona Toce (VB) - Italy 39 0323 865218	7-9 $500+ Italy	Manufacturer MGS Progetti. Order direct from the factory catalog.	"Covered by a warranty of 5 years from purchasing date. During this period, parts with construction defects will be replaced free of charge. This warranty will not respond in the case of faults caused by unsuitable or improper use, wrong installation, natural wear, improper or careless treatment, wrong usage of cleaning or maintenance products."
Imported Italy Rating: 8-9
An established Italian design and manufacturing firm only recently introduced to U.S. buyers, MGS Progetti prides itself on making stainless steel kitchen and bath faucets to the highest standards. Each faucet is individually cast using a lost wax method then carefully machined and brushed to produce a unique finish. The designs are very minimalist modern. MGS may be the only faucet company not to use any brass parts. The faucets are so exclusive that each one is individually numbered. You pay for this exclusivity, of course, but what you get in return, besides major-league bragging rights, is a faucet that will last nearly forever.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported Germany Rating: 6-8	Mico Designs Mico Designs Ltd. 1423 W. 21st Street Chicago, IL 60608 (888) 301-8787	6-8 $300+ (Often the stated price does not include handles, sold separately.) Germany, Italy, Eastern Europe	Specifier Faucet Direct; Shower Buddy	Lifetime to the original owner. Valves finishes and crystal handles carry a "lifetime guarantee of quality", whatever that means. An unusual number of complaints about Mico's warranty have surfaced in the past two years. We feel this is more an indication of a failure of customer service rather than a problem with the products themselves. See more, below.

	Mico is a design studio and distributor. It is not a manufacturer and has never claimed to be one. Its faucets are made in various European factories using Mico molds to "strict requirements" specified by Mico. Most of its ceramic disk valves are made by the German company, Fluhs GmbH, known for its flawless products, and its shower heads by Hansgrohe — probably the best in the world. The company's stock in trade is "customization". You can pick a basic faucet body then add the spout, finish and handle of your choice, including Strass Crystal handles by Swarovski. In the past 18 months we have received four complaints about Mico customer service, mostly failure to honor its warranty. This does not sound like many, but it is four more than we received in the previous five years. The Better Business Bureau also reports two consumer complaints against the company in the past twelve months. It is very rare to see a complaint about a faucet manufacturer filed with the Better Business Bureau. This recent turns of events leads us to conclude that Mico's customer service in the U.S. is starting to slip. We have made several requests of Michael Isaacs, the owner and president of Mico Designs, Ltd., for comment on this situation, but our requests have been ignored so far. We are still trying to get information. So, if you have had a customer service experience with Mico, either good or bad, tell us how it went.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Made in USA Rating: 3-8	Moen 25300 Al Moen Drive North Olmsted, OH 44070 (440) 962-2000	3-8 $150-1,000.00 USA/China/India	Manufacturer/Assembler Menards, Bed Bath and Beyond, your local plumbing supplier and hundred of outlets on the internet.	"If this product fails due to a defect in materials or workmanship at any time during the life of the product, Creative Specialties International, a division of Moen Incorporated (CSI) will replace it free of charge..."
Made in USA Rating: 3-8
If a plumber in these parts chooses a faucet for you, you will most likely get a Moen. Plumbers, like all of us in the building and remodeling trades, hate call-backs. So, any faucet they select has to be stubbornly reliable and give years of trouble-free service. And, that pretty well describes Moen faucets. A pretty good reputation for a company that aims most of its advertising at consumers rather than at the pros. Not that all Moen faucets are resolutely reliable. Moen makes a wide range of faucets and you get what you pay for. But, overall, Moen's reputation for reliability is as solid as they come. Moen has an interesting history. Al Moen invented the washerless mixing valve in 1937. This was the invention that made modern single-handle faucets possible. He spent years refining the invention and looking for a backer to manufacture it. He found one just as the World War started and brass became a rationed material. It wasn't until 1947 that Ravenna Metal Products Corp. finally began manufacturing Moen's product. Ravenna was eventually acquired by Standard Screw, and Moen was a division of Standard Screw for three decades. The brand continued to grow, spurred on by nearly continuous innovation spearheaded by Al Moen as chief engineer, including the replaceable valve cartridge, swivel spray and push-button diverter — all standard items in a plumber's parts bin today. By 1980 Moen was the second largest faucet manufacturer in the U.S. behind the Masco brands: Delta and Peerless. In 1990 Moen was acquired by MasterBrand Industries, a subsidiary of American Brands (now called Fortune Brands), which invested $50 million in improving the company's U. S. plants. As a result, Moen is probably the most automated of all the world's faucet manufacturers. It still makes most of its faucet components in the U.S. Al Moen's single handle faucet cartridge is considered to be among the 100 best designed manufactured products of the 20th century, and with 75 patents to his name, Al Moen has been nominated by the U.S. Patent office to the Inventors Hall of Fame. Moen has a strong plumber fan club. So many plumbers complained that we were underrating Moen, that we revisited the ratings and bumped Moen up a notch. It's hard to believe in this day and age, but Moen's mid-range and upper end products are actually getting better. Most can easily go head to head with upscale faucets from other manufacturers costing much more. Of course, Moen's prices are also rising. A good Moen used to cost under $300.00, now it's $400.00 and more. At the other end of the quality spectrum, however, Moen makes some absolute clunkers — especially it's plastic faucets. Whoever thought these things were a good idea should be shot. Read the specifications on the box. Avoid plastic, especially plastic cartridges. Moen replaced its old standby 1200 brass cartridge in 1987 with the 1225 plastic cartridge. It had so much trouble with it, that the 1225 has been scrapped in favor of the 1255 "Duralast™" ceramic cartridge. This is the cartridge now used in Moen's better quality faucets. Look for it. Although some plumbers claim the plastic cartridge is as reliable as the higher end brass and ceramic units — we're pretty sure these plumbers have been bribed by Moen.

	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported China Rating: 5-7	Newport Brass® Faucets 2001 Carnegie Avenue Santa Ana, CA 92705-5531 (949) 417-5207	5-7 $350-1,300 China	Specifier Available from many internet sources.	As long as the original purchaser owns the home on ceramic valves, PVD and chrome finishes, otherwise, 10 years.

	Newport Brass is a brand name of Brasstech, Inc. a Masco company (see Delta Faucets, above for more information) that also owns the Ginger faucet brand. Although Brasstech started out as a manufacturer, today it is a specifier, sub-contracting virtually all manufacturing to foreign, mostly Chinese, factories. Some faucets are assembled in the U.S., but most are simply imported as finished units. Brasstech was started in 1989 by a father/son team to manufacture brass plumbing fittings and components. It added Newport Brass faucets to its line in 1998 and was one of the first manufacturers to use PVD (physical vapor deposition) to finish faucets. After being bought out by Masco the Ginger line of brass faucets, already owned by Masco, was added to the Brasstech line. The faucets are well styled and made from solid brass with ceramic valves. The faucets are offered in 36 collections (with matching accessories) in three style categories: contemporary for the high style crowd; traditional and transitional for the rest of us. Brasstech has been grouped by Masco with the recently acquired Hansgrohe faucet line, so expect some of the high-styling of the Hansgrohe/Axor lines to transition to Newport Brass and Ginger faucets. Newport Brass and Ginger Faucets have for all practical purposes been merged into one operation, sharing engineering, warehousing and customer support.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Made in USA Rating: 4-7	Peerless® Faucets 55 E. 111th St. Indianapolis, IN 46280 (317) 848-1812	3-6 $50-300 USA/China	Assembler/Manufacturer Lowes, Menards, any Ace Hardware and just about any full service home center.	"[T]o the original consumer purchaser ... for as long as the original consumer purchaser owns their (sic) home."

	Peerless® is a Delta Faucet brand owned by Masco Corporation, and really just the name given to Delta's lower-end faucets. Peerless is focused squarely on the do-it-yourselfer and the economy buyer. You have to look hard to find even a modestly stylish Peerless faucet. Many look like visitors from the 1980s. The company literature calls these designs "proven". We think of them as just "old". But, if you are trying to match a pre-1990 design theme, these may be what you are looking for style-wise. The Peerless web site is filled with tips for the handy homeowner, but its warranty page, oddly enough, "recommends using a professional plumber for all installation and repair." The quality is good, but not exceptional — lots and lots of plastic. The current focus of the company on improving style, not quality. Increasingly made in China.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Unknown Not Rated	Pegasus Faucets The Home Depot 2455 Paces Ferry Rd. NW Atlanta, GA 30339-4024 (770) 433-8211	Not Rated $150-500 China/Italy	Retail Rebrander Home Depot Online, Home Depot, faucet.com.	"[G]uaranteed for parts and finish for as long as you own your home."

	Please see the review of Home Depot Faucets, above.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported China Rating: 6-8	Phylrich International 2937 N Ontario Street Burbank, California (323) 467-3143	6-8 $300-1,300 China	Manufacturer Homeclick Faucet Line	"Phylrich warrants that its products and their finish are free from manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship for the life of the fixture."

	Formed in 1959 as an importer of elaborately decorated bathroom faucets, the company was purchased by Elkay in 2004 and is now part of the Elkay line of very good faucets. Phylrich is positioned at the up-scale, premium end of the Elkay line. Most of Phylrich's manufacturing was always overseas, and this trend is expected to accelerate under Elkay which just bought an entire Chinese factory. Phyrich faucets are intended to be little pieces of art with hand-chased and engraved finishes in everything up to and including gold and semi-precious stones. This is the faucet for the quintessential Hollywood boudoir look. Whether or not you like the look, you cannot possibly do anything but admire the fine craftsmanship that goes into these things. It is truly superb.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported France Rating: 7-9	Porcher Faucets 6615 West Boston Street Chandler, AZ 85226 (800) 359-3261	6-9 $250-500 France/Eastern Europe/China	Manufacturer Homeclick	Lifetime to the original owner.

	Porcher, a 100 year old French manufacturer, has been American Standard's designer line of bathroom fixtures, furniture and faucets since being acquired in 1992. It manufactures in Dole, Revin and Angouleme, France, Eastern Europe and China. The faucet line does not include kitchen or bar faucets, but does, oddly enough, include kitchen sinks. For American Standard's up-scale kitchen and bar faucets, see Jado Faucets. All of the fixtures and faucets of each style are coordinated, or you can mix and match individual pieces. If you absolutely must have your towel racks match your shower diverter, this is the faucet line for you. The quality is excellent.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Assembled in USA Rating: 4-7	Price-Pfister 19701 Da Vinci Lake Forest, California 92610 (800) 732-8238	4-7 $100-350 China/USA	Assembler/Specifier The Home Depot, Menards, Lowes, most plumbing suppliers.	"[A]s long as the original purchaser owns the home in which the ... product ... is ... installed."

	A pioneering faucet company born in Southern California, it is now a division of Stanley Black & Decker Hardware & Home Improvement Group, and renamed just "Pfister". Not a nice thing to do to a proud and famous faucet name. The faucet line includes a broad array of mid-range, mid-price faucets. Most of its line is high quality brass with ceramic valves, but it does cut a corner here and there in its low-priced products — so read the product specifications before buying. The company is trumpeting its recent partnership with Kwikset, the lock company, (also a Black & Decker company - who woudda guessed) to design suites of room hardware — evidently for those who want their door knobs to match their shower heads. Something we always longed for. Really. Manufacturing is increasing being shifted to China along with just about all the rest of Stanley Black & Decker manufacturing.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported Japan Rating 6-9	San-Ei Faucet Mfg. Co. Ltd c/o Sanicor International Corp 2116 South Grand Santa Ana CA 92705 714-540-1188	6-9 $200-800 Japan/Korea	Manufacturer Faucetline.com	Lifetime to the original owner.

	Best known in this country for its TOH line of asian-inspired faucets and accessories, San-Ei is a large Japanese manufacturer of faucets and bathroom fixtures based in Osaka with global distributing. Represented in the U.S. by Sanicor, the line is not widely available. Normally the price to quality relation is very good. Most remodelers who handle the line will discount it. But, if you buy through a design studio, expect to pay full retail. The faucets are widely discounted on the internet, but not all models are available from discount sources. There is probably no better faucet for the price. But, the price can be pretty stout.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Assembled in USA Rating: 6-8	Strom Plumbing Sign of the Crab, L.L.C. 3756 Omec Circle Rancho Cordova, CA 95742 (916) 638-2722	6-8 $300-1000 China/USA	Specifier In Lincoln, Conners Architectural Antiques (402) 435-3338, Lowes, Many Web Retailers	"[F]ree of manufacturing and mechanical defects for a period of 5 years from date of purchase, when properly installed by a ... plumber."
Assembled in USA Rating: 6-8
A designer and specifier of very good to excellent faucets, Strom is strong in reproduction faucets for period, particularly Victorian, bathrooms. If you are looking for fittings for a clawfoot tub or vintage lavatory, Strom is probably the first place you should look. If it fits a Victorian bathroom, Strom probably makes it. Strom's faucet finishes are a big part of its reputation among the retro-reproduction folks. Its chrome finishes are legendary. Its "Supercoat" protective finish for brass fixtures has taken the "polish" out of brass, and is warranted for the life of the product. We have never seen one fail¹. For more than 30 years, the focus at Strom was solidly on engineering and manufacturing. But, the company recently changed hands. Francis E. Strom has been replaced by Larry Harris Jacobs as president. Mr. Jacobs, formerly the sales manager at Strom, is squarely focused on marketing. His marketing consulting company, Ashley Harris Marketing, Inc. is the "exclusive marketing agent" for Strom Plumbing. One casualty of this change has been Strom's U.S. manufacturing. Faced with stiff price competition in the first decade of this century, some American manufacturers, like Symmons Industries, met the challenge by making their domestic manufacturing more efficient and meeting the foreign competition head on. Strom responded by closing its American factory and contracting all of its manufacturing to Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers. Techu Manufacture Inc. of Taipei, Taiwan is now the primary manufacturer of Strom faucet components. While Strom faucets are still assembled in the U.S. and rigorously tested for quality, they are no longer actually made here². The new focus has also affected Strom's marketing. Strom was at one time strictly a wholesaler, selling only to plumbers and retailers with an existing account. It is now moving into the mass markets, and sells at least some of its products through Lowes, and increasingly through internet plumbing suppliers. You can even buy some Strom products through Amazon. Quite shocking to us old-timers. However, you are unlikely to find Strom products at a deep discount, even on line. Strom enforces a strict price protection policy. No authorized dealer is permitted to advertise or offer a discount of more than 30% from Strom's list price. After all is said and done, however, all of these changes do not seem to have affected Strom's quality very much. It is still an excellent product with superior U.S.-based product support. If we need a vintage faucet to fit a heritage bathtub or sink, Strom is where we look first. It has some competition in its niche market, but there is nothing else out there quite as good as a genuine Strom. ¹ If a finish does fail, Strom will refinish the faucet, not replace it. This means that is has to be uninstalled and shipped back to Strom. It also means you will be without a faucet until it is returned and reinstalled. How long can you go without a working faucet? On the other hand, we have never seen a problem with a Strom finish, so we don't consider a warranty claim to be very likely. ² Sincere thanks, and a tip of the ol' hard-hat to our readers who alerted us that Strom had begun quietly moving its component manufacturing to China,; and to Larry Jacobs, the owner of Strom who corrected and clarified some of our information. We appreciate the help. If you see anything in these ratings that you believe is incorrect, please let us know.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Made in USA Rating: 7-9 With a few exceptions, the entire Symmons Industries faucet line is BAA/ARRA compliant.	Symmons Industries 31 Brooks Drive Braintree, MA 02184-3804 1-800-SYMMONS	6-9 $100-500 Made in USA	Manufacturer In Depth Marketing 13416 “C” Street Omaha, NE 68144 Tel: (402) 330-4369 Fax: (402) 330-4578	"[T]o the original consumer purchaser ... during normal domestic use for the life of your home."

	A family owned and managed business founded in 1939, Symmons Industries is headquartered and manufactures its products in Massachusetts, USA Symmons is one of the best American faucet companies you have never heard of. As far as we can tell, it never advertises to the general public. So, if the brand is unfamiliar to you, don't feel left out. It's not familiar to very many people. But, within the building trades it is very well known as the inventor of the pressure-balanced shower control (that prevents scalding when the cold water suddenly fails - now required in many localities on all showers — and highly recommended even if it is not required by law). The invention is considered by Plumbing and Mechanical Magazine the well-respected plumbing industry trade journal, as one of the most important milestones in plumbing history, on par with the flush toilet. Symmons makes nearly every component of every faucet it sells in the U. S. The company is a model of how efficient and competitive U.S.-based manufacturing can be. Since 2007 the scrappy mid-sized fixture company has introduced efficiencies in its manufacturing and distribution processes that now make it one of the most cost-effective faucet manufacturing firms in the world. It specialty is its ability to manufacture in small lots in short production runs. This ability makes it economical to introduce new designs that can be sold at reasonable prices. Symmons makes solid, reliable and very reasonably priced kitchen and bath faucets. There is a designer line for the style-minded, but the company's traditional stock in trade is its stalwart, if somewhat stodgy, bar and hotel fixtures. As befits their heavy-duty commercial lineage, Symmons faucets will stand up to brutal treatment for a long, long time. We have never seen a defective Symmons faucet, and never had one fail. (If you have, please contact us and tell us about it.) Since entering the residential faucet business in 2007, Symmons has expanded its collection of kitchen and bath faucets systematically. Its latest wrinkle is the company's "polished granite" faucet finish. Like nothing we have seen before. (The picture above does not do the finish justice.) If the company's standard faucets are not enough for you, then Symmons Design Studio, a custom design service, enables designers, architects, owners, and developers to create customized products. If your goal is a reasonably priced faucet, almost certain never to break, it would be hard to improve on a Symmons faucet.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported France Rating: 7-9	THG USA 6601 Lyons Road Coconut Creek, FL 33073 (954)-425-8225	7-9 $1,400+ France, Eastern Europe	Manufacturer "THG products are sold though our network of exclusive bath and kitchen dealers." "Exclusive" isn't the word. THG does not identify its dealers outright. You can e-mail THG and a salesman will call on you. Some authorized dealers are now showing on the internet, which is quite an innovation for THG.	Lifetime to the original purchaser.
Imported France Rating: 7-9
THG USA is American importer of luxury and high-end bath products from the House of Tetard, Haudiquez and Grisoni (THG), the largest bath, bar and kitchen fixture manufacturer in France, THG's collections are comprised of thousands of designs most of which are custom made to order. THG is one of few faucet manufacturers left in the world to integrate the entire production process in one company — from design and engineering, to tooling and plating. Its faucets range from classical to contemporary-chic, with many variations in between, and are intended to coordinate with its sinks, toilets and accessories. Seeming to fuse the best of Swiss and Italian design, THG's lines are well made and reliable, but very, very expensive. Prices range from merely extortionate to outright highway robbery. You can buy a new car for the price of some THG faucets — no, we are not* kidding*. But, in France, it is almost impossible to sell a home that does not have THG faucets. Go figure. The company keeps virtually no stock. All faucets are manufactured to order, so expect long, long lead times. By "long, long" we mean, tell your children it's coming because you may be just a memory by the time it gets here. Is it worth the wait? Well, everything considered, on balance, absolutely!


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported Japan 5-8	Toto Faucets 1155 Southern Road Morrow, GA 30260 (888) 295-8134	5-8 $200-700 and up Japan/China	Manufacturer Division 15 Sales, (402) 597-6353. Homeclick	One Year Limited Warranty to the original purchaser only.
Imported Japan 5-8
The USA branch of the premier Japanese bathroom fixture manufacturer, famous for its automatic toilets (See "The Japanese Toilet" at Selecting Bathroom Fixtures: Toilets). The faucets are very high quality, and very stylish. But, just for bathrooms — no kitchen or bar faucets. The company's warranty is one of the stingiest in the industry. Toto has a substantial manufacturing presence in the U.S., notably in Georgia, so much so that about 1,000 of its sanitary-ware and accessory products qualify as "Made in U.S.A." under the Buy American and American Recovery and Reinvestment Acts. Unfortunately, all of Toto's faucets are made elsewhere. We feel very weird slapping a "Made in U.S.A." sticker on a Japanese toilet, but there it is. Toto makes more products in the U.S. than do "American" companies like Graff and American Standard. It's a strange new global economy, folks. The company specialty is product suites: matched sets of toilets, basins, tubs, showers, faucets and accessories. Toto along with Hansgrohe, KWC and Graff would be the first choice of those who really don't mind paying for beautiful things. Toto may be at the head of this group on pricing, but, if so, not by much.


	Source	Rating • Price • Origin	Category,Where to Buy	Warranty
Imported China Not Rated	Vigo Industries, L.L.C. 320 Mill Road Edison NJ, 08817 ((866)591-7792	Not Rated $100-450.00 China	Marketeer/Specifier Faucet.com, 877-742-4703; Faucet Direct, (800) 864-2555; Walmart.	5-year limited warranty to the original purchaser for home use only. One year on pull-out sprays. Not transferable.

	Started in 2009 by Leonid Valdberg, the company is an importer of Chinese-made bathroom and kitchen products that are branded and sold under the Vigo name. We have identified from shipping records at least 22 Chinese manufacturers selling to Vigo, and there are probably more. Vigo products are not usually cutting edge, although they are very contemporary, but at 30% to 50% below similar faucets from other companies, Vigo knows how to market. It's prices and quality put it in direct competition with Kraus USA which has adopted a similar business model. Its low prices are the primary reason it has spread so widely across the internet in such a short time. It quickly outgrew its original warehousing and shipping facilities and has recently moved to larger facilities in Edison, N.J. Some Vigo faucets are designed and engineered by Vigo engineers, but most are simply regular Chinese factory products, designed and engineered in China. That's not necessarily bad. Chinese engineering is a lot better than it was just five years ago. We have been pretty impressed by the engineering of the Vigo products we have used. Vigo has had problems with honoring its warranty, resulting is an unusually high number of complaints to the Better Business Bureau over the past three years. The company is, however, accredited by the BBB, and rates A-. We have never had a problem with a Vigo product, so we cannot say first-hand how good their warranty process might be. We did find, in researching the company, that it is often difficult to reach anyone by telephone, and it is frequently necessary to leave a message and wait for a call back. The skimpy five-year warranty suggests that Vigo does not intend to stock a large number of parts for discontinued models. We think that five year's of support for what is supposed to be a lifetime product is probably not enough, and is a decision that ought to be reconsidered by management. Vigo is too new to have established any sort of reputation for quality or long-term reliability, and, in fact, is still experiencing some growing pains as its shakes out its product line. So we refrain from rating it this year. But, on the plus side, the company does seem to be very focused on quality and seems to be making the effort to weed out problem products. We think that's a good sign. Check back next year. If you have experience with Vigo faucets, good or bad, we would like to hear about it, so please contact us.

Rev. 3/15/2012