Newport Brass Faucets Review & Rating Updated: January 15, 2025
Law Requirements
Warranty Footnotes
1. "[A]s long as the original consumer purchaser owns their [sic] home."2. Living finishes are intends to fade, change color, and show marks and belmishes accumulated with use and exposer to the environment. Most faucet companies do not offer a warranty on these types of finishes.2. Chrome is also guaranteed for a lifetime even though it is an electroplated ratherthan a PVD finish. For more about PVD finishes, see the main text.
- Download/Read/Print the the Newport Brass faucet warranty.
- Learn more about faucet warranties.
This Company In Brief
Newport Brass is the brand name under which Brasstech, Inc., a division of Masco Corporation, sells faucets and other decorative plumbing fittings, along with coordinating accessories.
Masco is a home improvement conglomerate that also sells
Newport Brass faucets, available in over 30 finishes, are at the medium-high end of the price scale. Assembled in the U.S. from parts and components imported primarily from China, the faucets are of very good quality.
The Company
Brasstech was founded in 1987 by father and son team, Ross and Geoff Escalette, to manufacture high-quality faucets and other plumbing fixtures. In the 1990s Brasstech was one of the first faucet companies to experiment with physical vapor disposition (PVD) finishes on faucets, and today the company offers thirty-three different finishes, most of them using advanced PVD processes.
Masco's Faucets
Masco sells eight brands of faucets from economy to luxury through its various subsidiaries in addition to Newport Brass.
all products of the Delta Faucet Company, are really the low, middle, and high ends of the same Delta faucet line.
owned by Masco Canada, manufactures budget-friendly economy faucets for the Canadian market.
Masco's most recent acquisition, is the only Masco company that does not assemble faucets in North America. It imports Chinese faucets.
the upscale faucet manufacturer in Germany, is the last player in Masco's rollcall of famous faucets, also at the high end of the Masco lineup.
Masco also owns Bristan Group, Ltd. in the UK, but none of these faucets are sold in North America.
Brasstech introduced the Newport Brass faucet brand of all-brass faucets in 1989 and quickly established it as a minor national brand with a reputation for manufacturing quality faucets.
It was purchased by Masco in 2002 for an undisclosed sum.
The Escalettes abandoned the faucet business for a while to concentrate on building up RSS Manufacturing, a specialty metal fabricator in motorsports and military applications.
However, in 2012 Geoff Escalette reentered the faucet market with his purchase of Phylrich faucets are now manufactured in the U.S. by RSS Manufacturing.
The enlarged Brasstech, Inc. is in the same Masco "Group" as the German faucet maker also controlled by Masco.
The Suppliers
Brasstech under the ownership of its founding father and son team, Ross and Geoff Escalette, established a solid reputation as a U.S. manufacturer of high-quality faucets.
Under Masco, Brasstech is no longer a U.S. manufacturer. In fact, it is no longer a manufacturer at all, as we define the term but an of parts and components manufactured by others. It does not cast, forge or machine the essential parts of its faucets. These basic faucet components are made in Chinese factories, four of which seem to be Brasstech's ongoing component suppliers:
- Kaiping Weixiang Metals Products International, Ltd. is a well-established faucet manufacturer in Kaiping City, China. It designs and wholesales its line of contemporary faucets and accessories in 19 collections and manufactures faucets for other faucet companies to sell under the other company's brand.
- Guangdong Weixiang Sanitaryware Co. Ltd. also makes a line of faucets, sold in Asia under the Classic brand.
- Lota International Co. Ltd. seems to be a component supplier to half of the faucet companies in the world.
- Shenzhen Jinliyi Hardware Ltd. makes a few faucet components of Brasstech but is also a major source of Brasstech's bath and kitchen accessories.
Valve Cartridges
Brasstech's ceramic valves are also made outside of the U.S.
This is so common, however, as to be unremarkable. Most of the best ceramic cartridges are made overseas, so those companies that want to use the best cartridges buy them from European and Asian suppliers.
Flühs Drehtechnik, a German company, supplies the 1-001 and 1-002 cartridges used in most Newport Brass two-handle faucets. Flühs cartridges are generally regarded as some of the best in the world.
Hydroplast S.r.l., an Italian company, supplies the mixer cartridges used in single-handle faucets.
At one time, the company bought mixer cartridges from Studio Tecnico Sviluppo e Ricerche (STSR) S.r.l., an Italian manufacturer of custom ceramic cartridges, diverters, and flow arresters but that relationship appears to have ended.
Faucet Construction
All these parts are then shipped to Santa Ana, California where most Brasstech faucets are assembled and finished.
The company designs and engineers most of its faucets and provides full post-sale customer support, including a customer service staff and replacement parts operation.
The faucets are made, according to company sources, from solid "German brass" — a common name for tombak or tombac, a red brass alloy with a high copper content (72% to 88% ) typically used to make imitation gold jewelry and artillery shell casings.
The Faucet Cartridge:
Tombac is just one of many brass alloys used to manufacture faucets.
Its chief advantage today is that it usually contains no lead, which after January 4, 2014, is virtually banned in drinking water faucets by the Safe Drinking Water Act. Its chief disadvantage is that it is softer than most other brass alloys.
Newport Brass Warranty
The company has lost rating points in the past for its substandard faucet warranty. The warranty is still below the standard lifetime warranty for faucets sold in North America.
Only polished Chrome and (physical vapor deposition) finishes and ceramic cartridges are warranted for the lifetime of the original buyer. All other parts of the faucet and all other finishes (except are guaranteed for just 10 years. Living finishes, as is normal practice in the industry, are not guaranteed at all.
The warranty is not well well-written. It is cumbersome and difficult to interpret.
Partly the problem arises from an inartful attempt to include every product sold by Newport Brass in one warranty. It can be done but is rarely done well.
The Newport Brass warranty is an example of "rarely done well."
The warranty's definition of "lifetime" is a problem.
It is defined as "for as long as the Original Purchaser owns their [sic] home."
There is no requirement that the original purchaser continue to own the faucet for the warranty to remain in force - an odd omission to say the least, and one that can lead to results not intended by Newport Brass.
For example, the original purchaser (OP) installed the faucet in "their Home." Later OP sells the home to subsequent owner (SO) and buys a new home.
OP still has the warranty because he still owns a home that easily qualifies as "their home" as specified in the warranty. The warranty has no language that requires OP to continue to own the home in which the faucet was originally installed. Any home OP owns is "their home." The warranty stays in force until OP no longer owns a home.
Can OP claim under his warranty if the faucet fails while owned by SO?
OP can in most states. A party to a contract (a warranty is a contract) can claim a right under the contract for the benefit of a third party who is not a party to the contract.
Probably not what Brasstech intended, but that's the way it wrote its warranty. The company should take a look at the Delta warranty which defines lifetime as "as long as the original consumer purchaser owns the home in which the faucet was first installed" – (emphasis added) a definition eliminates the problem.
Customer Service
Our experience with Brasstech customer service has been favorable overall and the company performed well in our customer service tests.
Such has not always been the case, however. Prior to 2013, customer and warranty service was spotty at best.
The Better Business Bureau rated Brasstech customer service "F" until 2013, the lowest rating possible, based on Brasstech's "failure to respond satisfactorily" to customer complaints.
The BBB does not require that complaints be resolved to the satisfaction of a complaining customer but does require that the company respond and make a good-faith effort to resolve the matter. In the opinion of the Bureau, Brasstech had not met this standard.
The company has now worked its way up to an A+ rating, the BBB's highest rating based on no customer complaints in three years, and has maintained this rating for the past five years.
Faucet Styling
Newport Brass tends to be traditional and transitional in styling but it is slowly adding more angular, geometric, and contemporary styles.
The faucets are part of a collection of matching fixtures, lighting, towel bars, shower rods, grab bars, and so on, to create a coordinated look for your kitchen or bath. The faucets also coordinate well with various accessory collections sold by Brasstech under the Ginger brand.
Faucet Finishes
The company offers at least 33 finishes and is adding more all the time.
Chrome, an finish, is the standard. Any other finish will result in an additional charge over the base price of the faucet.
Several more finishes are created using (PVD). Most, however, a or a combination of powder coats and liquid paints.
"Uncoated" finishes are not applied finishes. They are the actual material of the faucet buffed and polished to a nice shine. These are always living finishes. They can be expected to tarnish and will require constant polishing to keep their brilliant shine.
The company does not use the most recent finishing process, Thin Film Ceramic. This coating is bolstered with microscopic ceramic particles that give the finish incredible durability. Originally used to finish firearms and military field equipment, it has only recently migrated to faucets.
Electroplating
Electroplating is the old standard. It is a process that has been used to give faucets a durable finish for over 100 years.
Plating involves immersing the faucet and the metal to be used as plating in an acid bath, then applying an electrical charge to both objects so metallic ions are drawn from the plating metal to the faucet. Some metals cannot be plated directly to brass. The metals do not bond well and can peel. An intermediate metal (usually nickel or zinc/nickel alloy) undercoat may be necessary.
Physical Vapor Deposition
PVD finishes are extremely durable. By some estimates, PVD is up to 20 times harder and more scratch-resistant than the old standard, chrome.
The process was first applied in 1852 by Sir William Robert Grove, but the technology remained a little-known scientific curiosity until the beginning of the Atomic Era in the 1950s when the need arose for virtually indestructible metal finishes that could withstand the hellish environment inside nuclear reactors.
PVD finishes are applied in a very thin (2 to 5 microns) but very dense layer in a vacuum chamber that is loaded with unfinished faucet components. All the air is replaced with a carefully calculated mix of inert and reactive gases. A metal rod to be used for the coating is heated to a temperature so high that it dissolves into individual atoms creating an ionic plasma that bombards the components.
Different finish colors and effects are created by varying the mix of reactive gases in the chamber. For example, a gold finish is often created using a titanium alloy, which in its natural state is a dull silver-ish color, but when combined with nitrogen gas, produces a convincing gold-tone finish on the faucet components. Adding a little methane to the nitrogen reddens the color resulting in rose gold. A touch of acetylene darkens the finish to a bronze with an antique effect.
PVD has its limitations, however. It can produce only a limited number of finishes. While the number is growing by leaps and bounds as PVD artisans learn how to create new effects, truly exotic finishes can still only be created using powder coats and paint. This is the reason Newport Brass's most striking finishes are these types of finishes.
Powder and Paint
Powder-coated and painted coatings are much less robust than metal finishes, usually described as "semi-durable", requiring more care to maintain their appearance.
Ginger Faucets
The powder coating process was invented during World War II when the need for speed in manufacturing was paramount and a faster method of coating war materials kept production moving. Powder coats, unlike liquid paints, need no drying time, so the assembly line could move right along, producing the tanks, artillery, aircraft, and Jeeps needed for the war effort.
The powder is applied using a special low-velocity spray gun that disperses the powder while giving it a positive electrical charge. The powder particles are drawn to the faucet which has been given a negative charge.
The faucet is then baked in an oven at about 400°F (204°C) which melts the powder and changes the structure of the coating into long, cross-linked molecular chains. These chains are what give the coating its durability.
The powder coats may be overlaid with one or more coats of paint or lacquer to create a distinctive appearance.
The process has some drawbacks. It has about the same scratch resistance as the finish on your car and mars easily compared to the metal finishes.
A second problem is bonding. Powder coats do not bond to the underlying metal of the faucet as securely as electroplated or PVD finishes. PVD coatings are especially durable because they bond at a molecular level, becoming one with the metal of the faucet.
The lack of secure bonding combined with its relative brittleness means that powder coats can chip, especially around exposed edges.
Living Finishes
Some powder doats are , intended to react to the environment by fading, changing color, and showing stains, fingerprints, and other signs of use. The objective is to create a look of wear and age – the look that living finish aficionados admire. Of course, if you don't want your finish to fade, change color, and show stains and fingerprints, then you should stay away from living finishes.
The problem with Newport Brass living finishes is that the company does not tell you which of its finishes are living finishes – but we do – see the Newport Brass Finish Chart, above.
Finish Warranty
The type of finish used on a Newport Brass faucet affects the finish warranty.
Only polished chrome and PVD finishes are covered by a lifetime warranty. Living finishes have no warranty. All other powder-coated finishes are protected by a 10-year warranty.
The Newport Brass website does not disclose the type of finish, so before you decide on a finish other than chrome, call customer support to find out if it is a PVD finish.
Where to Buy
Newport Brass faucets are sold through plumbing showrooms. The faucets are available online primarily from building product suppliers such as Build.com, Quality Bath, and Vintage Tub & Bath.
They may also be found at general merchandise websites that host third-party sellers such as Amazon and Wayfair. The faucets, however, are usually not available in the company's full range of finishes from web-based sellers.
No matter where you buy a Newport Brass faucet, however, do not expect a deep discount. Brasstech maintains and enforces a Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) policy that forbids retailers from listing a price below the company's minimum price. A retailer can sell below the MAP price but it cannot advertise the price. As a matter of practice, few retailers sell below the MAP price.
Restoration Hardware
In addition to designing and assembling its line of Newport Brass faucets, Brasstech also designs and assembles faucets for
Although Restoration Hardware advertises its faucets as made in Germany, they are, in fact, assembled by Brasstech in California from mostly Chinese-made components, and, as far as we can tell, their only connection to Germany is their ceramic cartridge, which may be made in Germany by Flühs Drehtechnik.
Brasstech also provides technical and parts support for Restoration Hardware. Dialing Restoration Hardware's technical support telephone number puts you in touch with technical experts at Brasstech.
Testing and Certification
Comparble Faucets
Faucets of quality comparable to Newport Brass include
Continuing Research
We are continuing to research the company. If you have experience with Newport Brass 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.