IKEA Faucets Review & Rating Updated: July 29, 2025
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Law Requirements
Warranty Footnotes:
1. Ten year limited warranty to the original purchaser.2. The warranty contains language pprohibited by the U.S. Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (15 U.S.C. §2301).
- Download/Read/Print the the IKEA kitchen faucet warranty.
- Download/Read/Print the the IKEA bathroom faucet warranty.
- Learn more about faucet warranties.
- Learn how to enforce your IKEA warranty.
This Company In Brief
IKEA is an international retailer that, among thousands of other household products, sells good quality sink faucets at economy prices.
The IKEA collection features a wide range of styles. It contains fewer than 50 faucets, but there seems to be at least one style for just about every décor.
As expected from IKEA, the prices are very reasonable for brass or stainless steel faucets with ceramic disk cartridges. As also expected from IKEA, however, customer service is some of the worst in the Western world, so if you buy an IKEA faucet, pray it does not break.
The warranty itself is for a term of ten years, considerably short of the standard North American lifetime warranty.
The Company
IKEA is A multinational conglomerate founded in Sweden by the then 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad in 1943. It is the world's largest home furnishings retailer, known for its modernist furniture, a simple, Bauhaus-like approach to interior design, and an immersive shopping concept, centered around decorated room settings within big-box stores.
IKEA is owned by three non-profit foundations chartered in the Netherlands and Liechtenstein. These foundations control a collection of Holding companies, including IKEA Holdings B.V., most of which are also chartered in the Netherlands pr Switzerland. These holding companies, in turn, own the operating companies that actually manage the business.
The companies that produce IKEA products are chartered in Sweden. These include:
- IKEA of Sweden AB, which is responsible for designing, developing, and manufacturing home furnishings,
- IKEA Industry AB, which produces much of the company's iconic wood furniture in Sweden, and
- IKEA Food Service AB, which operates the food courts located inside IKEA stores.
The complicated structure of the enterprise reduces its tax burden (Sweden is one of the most heavily taxed countries in the world) and makes a hostile takeover nearly impossible.
The ultimate owner, Stichting Ingka Foundation, one of the largest charitable foundastions in the world supporting "innovation in the field of architectural and interior design" and the well-being of children in the developing world.
In 2024 5he foundation gave nearly $40 million to Doctors Without Borders and millions more to support initiatives to improve waste managment, sustainable energy development, entrepreneurship, and aid to displaced persons in developing countries.
IKEA does not own or operate its retail stores. It provides the concept, the brand, and most of the merchandise, but the stores are franchised. A subsidiary, Inter IKEA Systems, handles franchising for the group.
IKEA Supply AG, a Swiss corporation, handles worldwide logistics, supplying IKEA stores with products from centrally located distribution centers.
Stores in the U.S. are owned and operated by Ingka Group, doing business as IKEA North American Services, L.L.C.. Ingka Group owns shopping centers in 13 countries and franchises 90% of IKEA stores worldwide. It is responsible for the retail operations, including in-store and online sales, fulfillment, and customer services.
Only a tiny fraction of the goods sold by IKEA are sink faucets, but it sells a goodly number of them. Unlike other mass-market sellers like Amazon, Wayfair, and Walmart, IKEA is meticulous about complying with the laws and regulations that govern the sale and installation of faucets in North America. So they are guaranteed to be safe. We judge them to have a very good price-value relationship, well worth consideration.
The Manufacturers
There are a number of excellent faucet manufacturers in Scandinavia, including Ostnor of Sweden, which manufactures the Mora Armatur, FM Mattsson, and Damixa faucet brands, along with Oras of Finland, which sells its stylish faucets throughout Europe (but not in North America).
IKEA, however, for whatever reason, has chosen to ignore its homegrown faucets when casting about for faucet manufacturers. None of IKEA's faucets are, so far as we can tell, manufactured in Sweden or even in Scandinavia.
Its known faucet manufacturers are:
- NSK Armatür AS is a Turkish manufacturer that sells its own brand of highly successful NSK faucets in its stores in Turkey, and exports to Europe, Australia, North Africa, and the Middle East. It supplies the majority of IKEA's faucets.
- Roddex Bath Hardware Co., Ltd. of Shanghai, China, is supplying an increasing number of IKEA faucets but has not yet caught up to NSK. We are starting to see several faucet models that are made by both companies, which could indicate a gradual shift away from manufacturing in Turkey and toward more manufacturing in China.
- Paini S.p.A., an Italian firm, is expanding in the U.S. and Canada with its own La Toscana and Fortis lines of Italian faucets.
These are almost certainly not IKEA's only faucet manufacturers, just the ones we can positively identify as having made IKEA faucets over the past 48 months. IKEA changes suppliers from time to time, so a faucet made one year by one company may be made by a different manufacturer in a completely different country a year or two later.
Many of the faucets now manufactured by Roddex, for example, were formerly made by the giant Chinese manufacturer, IKEA began to shift manufacturing around 2013. Today, Globe Union supplies none of Ikea's faucets.
IKEA Designs
The IKEA collection numbers about 35 faucet models in a variety of finishes. Most are contemporary styles with a sprinkling of traditional and transitional designs. There seems to be at least one style for just about every décor.
As expected from IKEA, the prices are very reasonable for brass or stainless steel faucets with ceramic disk cartridges.
According to IKEA, its faucets are designed in house by IKEA of Sweden. The company employs a great many industrial designers, and their Northern European approach to faucet styling is evident in most of IKEA's faucets. For some faucets, IKEA identifies the designers, "Brickstad/Palleschitz/Petersén" or "H Preutz/N Karlsson", for example. For others, the designer is identified only as "IKEA of Sweden."
We did not find any indication that IKEA uses outside designers.
The designs are neither cutting-edge nor high style. While unique to IKEA, the styles do not venture too far from the design mainstream. Innovative, on-the-edge styling may garner praise from the design glitterati and draw good press coverage in industry journals, but most do not sell all that well, and mass selling is IKEA's business.
Some styles are very European. Anericans generally like European faucet designs, but not if they are too European.
IKEA Faucet Material
IKEA faucets are made from brass, stainless steel, and zinc.
Brass is the usual material from which faucets are made. It is strong, easy to form and machine, and antimicrobial. It kills microbes on contact. Since dangerous microorganisms can grow inside a faucet, this kill-on-contact feature is a solid plus.
Because ordinary brass contains lead, a special unleaded brass must be used to conform to lead-free laws. Lead-free brass is expensive, as are the faucets made from it.
To get around the lead problem, IKEA makes some of its faucets using stainless steel and zinc as substitute materials.
Stainless steel is common in faucets in place of brass. It is stronger than brass, but harder to form and machine, and not the least bit antimicrobial. It is most often found in kitchen faucets.
Zinc is another common alternative, often used in components not under water pressure that don't need to be particularly strong, such as handles, base plates, and .
It is easy to cast and machine, and takes finishes very well. Zinc or, more likely, a zinc-aluminum (ZA) alloy can replace brass in pressurized parts of a faucet, but it requires thicker-walled, heavier castings that can make the faucet appear chunky unless great care is taken in design.
The most common zinc alloy used to make faucets is called ZAMAC (for its metal content: Zinc, Aluminum, Magnesium, and Copper) developed by the New Jersey Zinc Company in 1929.
The IKEA websites identify faucets made of zinc. These include the sensor faucet in the Brogrund collection and the Glypen lavatory faucet. Thee faucets are sold only in the U.S. Other faucets may include zinc compoents, but zinc is not the primary matrial.
IKEA Valve Cartridges
Most of the faucets include a Hungarian cartridge made by Kerox, Kft., generally considered to be one of the better European cartridges made.
Faucets made in China include a Chinese cartridge, which we believe is made by Sedal Group, a technical ceramics manufacturer headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, but manufacturing in its three plants in China.
We cannot be certain about the Sedal cartridge. There are dozens of cartridge manufacturers in China. The cartridges rarely show a maker's mark, and they are sllsimilar in appearance.
Be aware that IKEA kitchen faucets are usually set to the European water flow maximum of 1.5 gallons per minute (gpm). In the U.S., the maximum water flow rate in most localities for sink faucets is 2.2 gpm. You may notice the difference and conclude there is something amiss with the faucet. The faucet is fine.
The slower water flow is an intentional water-saving feature of the faucet line, and one recommended by the EPA's WaterSense® program (IKEA lavatory faucets are all WaterSense® listed — See more below).
The lower flow is required in many localities by law. California and a growing list of other jurisdictions, now including all of Canada, require an even lower flow for bathroom faucets of 1.2 gpm. IKEA's bathroom faucets are pre-set to this lower flow.
IKEA will not customize the flow to a higher flow rate.
IKEA Finishes
Chrome is the standard finish on bathroom faucets, and Stainless Steel on kitchen faucets. Additional finishes include Brass, Brushed Nickel, and Black. No faucet is available in all five finishes; some are offered in four, some in three, and some in just the standard finish.
The finishes available on a faucet are clearly shown on the company's websites.
Electroplating
Chrome is .
Electroplating is the oldest form of metal coating, using a process discovered in 1790 by Luigi Brugnatelli, an Italian chemist, but it did not come into widespread industrial use until the 1840s.
It involves immersing faucet components and the metal to be used as plating in an acid bath, then applying an electrical charge to both objects so metallic ions are drawn from the plating metal to the components.
Usually, multiple coats are applied, one or more undercoats, and then two or more coats of the finish metal. The undercoats are required because many plating metals do not bond well with brass. An undercoat of copper or nickel is usually applied as a primer. They bond well to brass, and chrome bonds well to copper and nickel.
Physical Vapor Deposition
All other finishes are (PVD) finishes.
PVD is one of the latest space-age faucet finishing technologies, rapidly replacing electroplating as the finish of choice.
Although the technology was discovered in the 19th century, it was not used in industry until the 1950s, and then only rarely due to its great expense. Today, PVD technology is everywhere, and the machinery required is getting smaller, faster, and cheaper all the time.
To create a PVD coating, a faucet is first electroplated, typically with a nickel compound, then polished and thoroughly cleaned.
The PVD coating is applied in a sealed chamber that is loaded with unfinished faucet components. All the air is removed and replaced by a carefully calculated mix of nitrogen or argon and reactive gases.
A rod of the metal to be used for the finish is heated to a temperature so high that the metal dissolves into individual atoms. Typical plating metals are nitrides of zirconium and titanium, both non-reactive metals that do not tarnish, corrode, rust, or change color.
The atoms mix with the various reactive gases to get the desired color and finish effects and are then deposited in a very thin but very durable film – 2 to 5 – on the faucets.
Different finish colors and effects are possible by using different metals and varying the mix of reactive gases.
IKEA's Brass, for example, is probably created using a titanium alloy as the coating metal with nitrogen gas. Titanium is a dull gray metal, but combining it with nitrogen in a PVD chamber creates a convincing brass-look finish. Unlike real brass, PVD brass does not tarnish. It will stay the same gleaming brass color for its lifetime.
To watch a PVD sputter machine in action, click here, and prepare for loud noises.
Finish Durability
An electroplated finish will stand up to most abuse, but its durability depends on the metal used as the plating material.
Chrome is considered durable, nickel less so because it is inherently a softer metal – the reason chrome replaced nickel as the faucet finish of choice in the early 20th century. Nickel finishes today are likely to be PVD coatings rather than electroplated for improved mar- and scratch-resistance.
Despite being just microns thick, a PVD coating is extremely dense and bonded with the metal of the faucet at a molecular level. As a result, it is very hard and extremely durable. In standard abrasion tests, PVD finishes were 10-20 times more mar- and scratch-resistant than electroplated chrome.
In our admittedly less formal tests, a Scotch Brite® pad mildly scratched a PVD chrome finish, but it took work. A Brillo® pad had no effect at all. (Don't try this at home! Keep all scouring pads far, far, far away from your faucets.)
IKEA Faucet Warranties
IKEA offers two faucet warranties, one for kitchen faucets and a separate warranty covering bathroom faucets. They are substantially the same. The reason for the separate bathroom faucet warranty is that it is combined with the company's sink and bathroom vanity warranties. These three items are offered by IKEA as a set at a substantial discount over buying the components separately.
The standard faucet warranty in North America is a lifetime warranty on all parts of the faucet, a warranty pioneered by and copied very quickly by every major American faucet company. IKEA's ten-year warranty period is far below the standard.
Unlike most faucet warranties, it is fairly well written and complies with most of the requirements of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (15 U.S.C. §2301), the federal law that governs the form and content of consumer product warranties in the U.S.
The warrantyies' one major problem under Magnuson-Moss is its claim of "sole discretion" over the validity of a warranty claim and what it will do to fix a deffective faicet. Here is the language:
"…IKEA will examine the product and decide, at its sole discretion if it is covered under this warranty. If considered covered, IKEA through its own service operations, will then, at its sole discretion replace it with the same or a comparable product. If the item is no longer sold by IKEA, IKEA will provide an appropriate replacement. It is IKEA that determines, at its sole discretion, what constitutes an appropriate replacement.." (Emphasis supplied)
Under U.S. federal law, howver, a written warranty may not indicate, "directly or by implication," that "the decision of the [company] … is final or binding in any dispute concerning the warranty … [or] that the [company] alone shall determine what is a defect under the agreement." (16 CFR § 700.8)
In a lawsuit involving the warranty, the notion that IKEA has "sole discretion" will simply be ignored.
Unfortunately, however, the language has a second problem.
Since a claim of having sole discretion is illegal under federal law, the language could easily be considered deceptive, and one of the three cardinal rules of Magnuson-Moss is that language in a consumer warranty must not be deceptive. Deception in a consumer warranty can result in substantial punitive damages.
This langrage would almost certainly lead a reasonable person to reasonably believe that the company and only the company decides if a warranty claim is valid and what it will do to rememdy a defect under warranty. That is the very definition of deception under the law.
We don't think for a minute that IKEA is being deliberately deceptive.
No doubt, whoever wrote the warranty found the language from some other warranty and, unaware that it is prohibited, copied it, thinking that it sounded lawyerly and like a good idea.
Under Magnuson-Moss, however, deliberate deception is not required to incur liability.
It is sufficient that the company has not taken reasonable care "to make the warranty not misleading." (15 U.S. Code § 2310(c)(2))
The very presence of the provision in the IKEA warranties, however, is compelling evidence of a lack of the required reasonable care.
IKEA Replacement Parts
IKEA promises to stock parts for faucets in its current inventory, and two years after discontinuing a model. It does, but the process of getting parts or making a warranty claim is, at best, time-consuming and a major annoyance.
The company should have learned from the early teething problems of and figured out a reliable replacement parts system before it began selling faucets. It didn't. A defective faucet will be cheerfully replaced by IKEA stores — if there is a store near you, and if the faucet is still being made, and if it is in stock, and if you bought it from a store and not over the internet.
IKEA Customer Service
Otherwise, you will have to go the warranty claims route. Unfortunately, this route takes you to IKEA's customer service, a trip you do not want to take if you don't have to.
IKEA promotes itself as the "Life Improvement Store," but we can guarantee you that encounters with IKEA customer service are not likely to improve your life one bit. If anything, the reverse is true.
IKEA, by reputation, has some of the absolute worst customer service in the world. (Only has a warranty claims process nearly as bad.) Our experience confirms it — long, long waits to talk to a representative, up to three weeks to respond to an e-mail request. We rate IKEA customer service as "unsatisfactory".
Customer service agents are very polite, although obviously stressed, and do their best to help, but they have had no training on faucets and don't have the slightest idea what to do with a technical faucet problem, except to pass it off.
You will probably be transferred at least once before getting a part, with a long initial wait to talk to a customer service agent, and an equally long wait at every transfer — up to 65 minutes — and many times the transfer fails. Your call is lost in IKEA's electronic wilderness and never heard from again. Meanwhile, you will be regaled with unending recorded messages touting IKEA's latest product and service offerings, without respite, over and over and over. It's like Chinese water torture.
The problem is clearly systemic; too few agents to handle far too many calls, and blame should be placed with IKEA management, where it belongs, not with the agents, where it doesn't. Either management did not anticipate the problem or failed to react to the situation quickly and effectively.
One hint: If you need help with faucet parts, immediately ask for a supervisor. Evidently, only supervisors have any notion of how to order parts. Second hint: Allow a full morning or afternoon for the process, and then you may have to try again tomorrow.
Once you get to the right person, however, the process is quick and efficient. We received the part for our test faucet in just one week — all the way from Almhult, Sweden — even though the package was incorrectly addressed. (Kudo's to the U.S. Postal Service.)
The Better Business Bureau does not agree with our assessment, awarding IKEA an A+ for its handling of customer complaints received by the Bureau. On reviewing the complaints, however, we found that nearly every one had something to do with IKEA's customer service, both online and in stores.
The company is not BBB acredited.
To better understand the difference between first-class and worst-class customer service, check out customer support and compare it to the service offered by IKEA. Like night and day.
To learn how to pursue a warranty claim successfully nearly every time, read The Warranty Game: Enforcing Your Product Warranty.
Testing, Certifications, and Registration
Comparable Faucets
Faucets at about the same quality as IKEA faucets, but typically much more costly, often featuring longer warranties and almost certainly better after-sales customer support, include
Conclusions
IKEA is a company that seems to go the extra steps to ensure almost everything it does is the right thing. This posture is evident in its faucets.
All are tested, certified, registered, marked, and stamped as required by law. Its warranty is not for the preferred lifetime warranty, but is long enough to catch 99% of all faucet failures. Its customer support could use major improvement, but, in spite of this deficiency, our rating panel judged the faucets to be a very good value for an economy faucet priced at or under $250.00 USD ($210.00 CAD).
A majority of the panel's members would buy an IKEA faucet "without reservation." The rest have "some concern" over the company's relatively short-term warranty and deficient after-sale customer service.
Its warranty could easily be extended to a lifetime warranty with little risk to the company. Most material or workmanship defects show up in the first few years of faucet use (most show up in the first year). After that, most problems are due to ordinary wear and tear or improper maintenance, neither of which is under warranty.
The company's customer support is its only serious downcheck.
Th brand is worth serious consideration for those looking for an inexpensive but good quality faucet. Just pray you never need customer service.
Continuing Research
We are continuing to research the company and its faucets. If you have experience with IKEA faucets, good, bad, or indifferent, we would like to hear about it, so please email us at starcraftreviews@yahoo.com or post a comment below.