Sigma Faucets Review & Rating Updated: January 9, 2025

From Domestic and Imported Parts and Components

and

Imported

Italy

China

American Faucet and Coatings Corp.

Trading as

Sigma Faucet
3280 Corporate View
Vista, CA 92081

(800) 960-2284

customerservice@sigmafaucet.com

Rating

Business Type

Product Range

Kitchen, Bath, Prep and Bar Faucets

Certifications

Brands

Sigma

Sigma Reserve

Street Price

$270 - $1,525

(In Chrome)

Other finishes may result in significant additions to the price.

Warranty Score

1/4 Turn Stem Cartridges

Lifetime¹

Mixing Cartridges

5-years

Chrome and PVD Finishes

Lifetime

Omega powder-coated Finishes

5 years

Mechanical Parts

5 years

Proof of Purchase

Required

Transferable

Yes

Meets U.S. Warranty
Law Requirements

Yes

Warranty Footnotes:

1. The term "lifetime" is undefined.

• Download/Read/Print the the Sigma faucet warranty.
• Learn more about faucet warranties.

This Company In Brief

American Faucet & Coatings is a quiet company that almost never advertises but lets its high-quality luxury fau­cets speak for themselves. The fact that they speak well for themselves is evident from their sterling reputation in the interior design and architectural communities.

The brand, however, is not well known among homeowners looking for a reasonably priced, American-designed, and -assembled luxury Fau­cet, and that's something that should change. Sig­ma is one line of fau­cets that deserves a lot more attention.

Until 2023 the fau­cets were fully certified by ICC-ES, a testing service owned by the same organization that publishes the International Plumbing Code.

The certifications have not been renewed and we have found no certification issued by any of the other entities accredited to test and certify fau­cets in North America.

The Company

Founded in 1986 by Susan and Charles Butler, American Faucet and Coatings Corporation is, among other things, an assembler of decorative sanitary ware and plumbing fixtures with a 60,000-square-foot facility in Vista, California.

It sells several lines of faucets under the Sig­ma brand.

The basic Sig­ma Collection is supplemented by the company's more upscale Sig­ma Re­serve Col­lec­tion.

It also sells the Butler Collection of very upscale "one-of-a-kind fau­cet­ry, door hardware and metal products" designed by Alex Miller Studio for "your home, yacht, or airplane."

The Sigma and Sig­ma Re­serve collections are reviewed here with emphasis on the Sigma collection. Butler products are not included in the review.

Residential faucets are just one part of the company's extensive business which is the design, prototyping, and manufacturing of anything on earth smaller than a refrigerator that can be made of brass, bronze, copper, or stainless steel.

It makes sports equipment, lighting, and door hardware as well as custom fittings and components for companies like

It also manufactures several brands of thermostatic valves^[1] for shower systems.

Sigma Faucet Manufacturing

Sigma designs, engineers, and prototypes the faucets in California.

But, many of the components that go into the fau­cets are made by someone else – outside companies, mostly in China but also in Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, and Hungary.

Outside suppliers also manufacture some Sig­ma fau­cets, delivering them fully finished and ready to sell.

Assembled in U.S.A.

Because the components and parts are imported and constitute more than a "de minimus" portion of the fau­cets, Sig­ma fau­cets are not recognized as "Made in U.S.A." products according to the rules established by the Federal Trade Commission.

They are, however, "Assembled in U.S.A." from domestic and imported parts and components^[2]

Sigma sources Fau­cet components internationally from a variety of manufacturers and suppliers. A partial list of its sources over the past 24 months includes:

A company like American Faucet changes suppliers from time to time depending on what needs to be made this month, so by the time you read this, the company's suppliers may have changed considerably.

Watch Sigma fau­cets being assembled and finished in this short video.

Imported Faucets

Not all Sigma fau­cets are assembled in California. Some are imported. Known overseas suppliers of Sig­ma fau­cets over the past 24 months include:

Generally imported faucets are finished in the overseas factories that produce them and are limited to just a handful of finishes. A good rule of thumb for identifying imported faucets is the number of finishes available.

If less than the thirty standard finishes on tap from Sig­ma, usually four to six, it is a good bet that the faucet is not made by Sig­ma in Cal­i­forn­ia.

Environmental Awareness

American Faucet has won recognition for its careful management of waste and environmental pollutants, including at least one accolade from the State of California.

The company's finishing and coating facility qualifies as a "zero discharge" system. It returns only a tiny fraction of the water used in production back into the environment. The rest is cleaned up and reused.

Other production waste (cardboard, wood, metal) is collected and recycled.

Sigma Faucet Design

Sigma styles range from traditional to ultra-con­tem­po­ra­ry.

The company's in-house Sig­ma Design Lab is responsible for the majority of the designs with help from outside designers.

These include

Generally, finished faucets sourced from other companies are not Sig­ma designs.

Series and Collections

What other companies call a collection, Sig­ma calls a series.

Bathroom sink faucets are all part of a series.

All of the various series are then grouped into two large collections: Sig­ma and Sig­ma Re­serve. (The former Sig­ma Encore collection seems to have fallen by the wayside since our last update in 2022)

Bathroom Series

A series is a product group composed of fixtures and accessories in the same overall design in the same range of finishes.

The grouping of products in a series makes it easy to find items related by style to get a nicely coordinated look for your bathroom.

A typical bathroom series may include sink fau­cets along with one or more tub fillers, bidet fau­cets, shower systems, and bathroom accessories (towel bars and rings, robe hooks, toilet paper holders, etc.).

Ordinarily, a series includes just one lavatory Fau­cet, but some have several. The Victorian-styled 350 Series, for example, includes five lavatory fau­cets, two of which are wall-mounted.

The company has about 30 series in total in the two Sig­ma collections, so there is a lot of choice and almost certainly a Sig­ma Fau­cet for every taste from elaborate Victorian to minimalist urban chic contemporary.

We easily found faucets with Art Deco and Art Nouveau styling for a Craftsman or Mission bath, and even a few fau­cets that would look comfortably at home in a Mid-century modern bathroom.

Most faucets and showers are available with more than one handle choice which changes the look and greatly extends the variety of fau­cets offered. By our count, Sig­ma has over 60 handle styles available. Almost every Fau­cet allows two handle choices, and some as many as five.

Kitchen Series

Kitchen, bar, and prep fau­cets are not gathered into series along with matching accessories because there are no matching accessories.

Kitchen accessories are fairly limited: soap and lotion dispensers, Fau­cet hole covers, baseplates, and various drains.

These are all generic and not keyed to the design of a particular Fau­cet. They are general enough, however, to coordinate fairly well with any of Sig­ma's kit­chen, prep, or bar fau­cets.

Faucet Components

The most important component in a fau­cet is its valve.

The valve is the device that actually controls water. If it is not functioning properly, then neither is the Fau­cet.

All Sigma faucets include ceramic valve cartridges, the newest valve technology developed by in the 1970s.

The other critical component is the aerator. This device shapes, softens, and modifies the stream of water flowing out of the Fau­cet so water does not splash out of the sink.

The Valve Cartridge

Like most fau­cet companies, American Faucet buys cartridges from technical ceramics manufacturers that specialize in these precision devices.

Most fau­cet companies that provide top-quality ceramic cartridges for their fau­cets are eager to advertise the fact on their websites. American Faucet, however, does not take advantage of the marketing potential of its first-rate cartridges.

All but a very few Sig­ma faucets have two handles.

The company outfits these fau­cets with single-function quarter-turn ceramic stem cartridges, one for the hot-side handle, and another for the cold side.

The cartridges in the fau­cets were examined were made by Flühs Drehtechnik, GmbH of Lüdenscheid, Germany. Flühs (often spelled Fluehs for English speakers), world-famous for its precision machining, makes what is considered by most in the Fau­cet business to be one of the best, if not the best, stem cartridges made for two-handle fau­cets.

These are the cartridges warranted by Sig­ma for a lifetime.

Single-handle faucets use a dual-function ceramic mixing cartridge. Like a single-function stem cartridge, it controls water volume, but unlike a single-function stem cartridge, it also controls the temperature of the water.

Sigma has very few single-handle fau­cets. The ones we examined included cartridges made by Kerox Kft of Hungary, a technical ceramics manufacturer that makes only mixing cartridges. It is generally considered the top European brand of ceramic cartridges for single-handle fau­cets.

Two of Sigma's single-handle fau­cets, however, appear to use mixing cartridges supplied by an Italian manufacturer that makes some fau­cets for Sig­ma. Most of Paini's fau­cets include a ceramic cartridge made by Hydroplast, S.r.l.s an Italian manufacturer that also supplies cartridges to

To find out more information about Fau­cet cartridges and the companies that make cartridges known to be reliable, see Faucet Basics, Part 2: Faucet Valves & Cartridges.

Aerators

Neoperl^® supplies most of the used in Sig­ma fau­cets. Kitchen fau­cets with pullout sprays appear to be equipped with aerators from Amfag S.r.l., a company manufacturing in Casaloldo, Italy. Amfag is Neoperl's competition in Europe. Both products are at about the same level of quality and endurance.

Fau­cet aerators used to be simple devices, often no more than a few layers of window screen, that merely infused a little air to soften the water stream so it would not splash out of the sink.

Today, however, they are precision products used to limit water volume to the lower flows required by federal and state water conservation laws, and in fau­cets with pull-out sprays, to prevent back-flow that could contaminate household drinking water.

It is important to long-term fau­cet functionality that these be the best available, and with Neoperl and Amfag, Sig­ma has two of the best.

Sigma's Faucet Finishes

American Faucet was a pioneer in developing and perfecting modern metal finishing going back to the very beginning of the company.

It advertises that it can provide 105 finishes. It uses only 30 of these as the standard finishes on its fau­cets. The other 75 finishes are available by special order.

The company employs all of the usual Fau­cet finish technologies: (TFC).

Electroplating

involves immersing the fau­cet and the metal to be used as plating in an acid bath, then applying an electrical charge to both objects so metallic ions are drawn from the plating metal to the fau­cet.

Usually, multiple coats are applied, one or more undercoats and then two or more coats of the finish metal.

The top coat may be polished or brushed. Chrome, a relatively hard metal, is usually polished to a high shine. Nickel, a softer metal, is usually brushed to help hide the inevitable minor scratches.

Physical Vapor Deposition

Physical vapor deposition (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. Its first use was inside nuclear reactors.

To create a PVD coating, a sealed chamber is loaded with unfinished fau­cet components. All the air is removed and replaced by a carefully calculated mix of nitrogen or argon and reactive gases.

A rod of the metal to be used for the coating is heated to a temperature so high that the metal dissolves into individual atoms. The atoms mix with the various reactive gases to get the desired color and finish effects and are then deposited in a very thin film – 2 to 5 mi­crons – on the fau­cets.

Despite being just microns thick, a PVD coating is extremely dense and, in consequence, very hard and durable. By some estimates, it is up to 20 times more scratch-resistant than electroplated chrome.

A PVD finish can usually be maintained with just an occasional wipe from a damp cloth to remove water spots.

Powder Coating

is usually described as semi-durable, not as robust as electroplated or PVD finishes, about as durable as the finish on your car, and requiring more care to maintain a like-new appearance.

It is essentially a dry paint applied in powder form using a special low-velocity spray gun that disperses the powder while giving it a positive electrical charge. The particles are drawn to the item to be finished which has been given a negative charge.

Once the powder is applied, the item being coated is baked in an oven which melts and bonds the powder and changes the structure of the coating into long, cross-linked molecular chains.

These chains are what give the coating its durability, reducing the risk of scratches, chipping, abrasions, corrosion, fading, and other wear issues.

Sigma's Omega powder coatings are modestly famous in the faucet industry for their exceptional durability.

We have tried to wheedle American Faucet employees and former employees into revealing how the coatings are produced, to no avail. However, the company has disclosed, almost as an aside from time to time, that the secret is a clear overcoat that protects the color finish. However it is done, the finish is remarkably tough for a powder coating.

Living Finishes

Five of its standard finishes are , intended by design to show evidence of age and use including color changes and wear over time.

Two of these finishes are simply native brass. Uncoated Polished Brass is the material of the Fau­cet buffed and polished. Aged Brass is the same raw brass buffed, polished, then dipped in a mild acid to give it a bit of tarnish.

Polished brass will not stay polished for long. Brass rather quickly tarnishes. Unless polished regularly, it will turn the warm brown of untended brass.

Aged Brass which arrives from Sig­ma with an artificially induced mild tarnish, will continue to tarnish. The process is inevitable and irreversible.

Unlike polished brass which can be brought back to its original shine with brass cleaner and a little elbow grease, Aged brass cannot be returned to its original look. Any polishing eliminates all tarnish turning it into polished brass.

Native nickel will also tarnish, but very slowly. The first hint of tarnish is a dulling of the finish. If left undisturbed it will slowly turn darker as the coating of nickel oxide thickens. Reaching a heavily tarnished state may take years.

The oxide coating is not robust. It usually can be removed with a damp cloth, or in extreme cases a dab of metal polish.

Precious Metal Finishes

Two of the finishes are gold, not some metal that looks like gold, but actual gold^[4] Sig­ma calls these its Precious Metal finishes.

Precious metal finishes are not mentioned in the Sigma warranty and presumably have no guarantee.

Finish Warranties

Chrome and PVD finishes have a lifetime warranty, and Omega powder coatings a five-year guarantee. The term "lifetime" is not defined in the warranty, so we don't know how long "lifetime" is or what lifetime is being used as the measure – lifetime of the owner, the faucet, or the finish. (See more "Sigma Faucet Warranties" below.)

Living finishes are warranted for "workmanship only," meaning that they are protected against defects in the manufacturing process, but not guaranteed against natural aging, including staining and color changes that are normal and expected of living finishes.

This is more warranty than is provided by most faucet companies. Very few offer any warranty at all on living finishes.

Actually, a living finish that does not wear, fade, and age is defective – not doing what a living finish is designed to do. (So if you don't want a finish that visibly ages over time, stay away from living finishes.)

Finish Pricing

Any finish other than chrome adds to the price of the fau­cet.

Most do not do any serious damage to the pocketbook, but a few will levitate the final price of a Fau­cet to somewhere above the stratosphere.

Refinishing

The company will refinish a damaged fau­cet in or out of warranty, although out-of-warranty refinishing will result in an "appropriate charge" for the service.

For detailed information on fau­cet finishes, including how they are applied and the advantages and disadvantages of each type of finish, see Faucet Basics, Part 5: Faucet Finishes.

Where to Buy Sigma

Sigma sells faucets to the public through authorized showrooms and a few internet retailers. Many authorized showrooms also maintain an internet presence.

One of the more reputable is Quality Bath.

To find a showroom, Sig­ma maintains a dealer locator on its website. So far as we can tell, it has never worked. Our notes from 2022 indicate that it did not work then, and it does not work now.

No matter whether you enter your city/state or zip code, the site returns the following message: "This page can't load Google Maps correctly," and displays every dealer in North America alphabetically.

We tried it on all of the major browsers: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera; and both on our local network and on stand-alone computers with both Microsoft and Apple operating systems. Absolutely nothing worked.

Dealers are concentrated on the West Coast and in the Northeast. There are retail sources in the Midwest, but they are few and far between.

The nearest to our hometown, Lincoln Nebraska, is a four-hour drive.

If you intend to buy a fau­cet in a standard finish, an online retailer might be a good choice, particularly in the South or Midwest where showroom dealerships are rare.

If you need a spcial finish or are coordinating the faucets, showers, spouts, fillers, and accessories for a bathroom, we strongly suggest a physical showroom with an advisor who can put all the bits and pieces you will need together for you and help you avoid expensive mistakes and omissions.

Sigma Reserve faucets are available only through authorized showrooms. We could find no internet source.

These fau­cets are considerably more expensive than the basic Sig­ma line.

Sigma faucets for the quality, are very reasonably priced. Often the street price for a chrome finish is much lower than comparable European-made fau­cets, and, in several instances, even lower than better-quality Chinese fau­cets, like We think the price-to-value relationship is very good.

No matter where you buy, however, do not expect deep discounts. American Faucet enforces a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policy which limits discounting by authorized dealers. If you buy from an unauthorized source, such as eBay, you may lose warranty coverage.

Sigma Customer Service

We applaud Sig­ma's customer and technical service, staffed by friendly and knowledgeable personnel, and its in-depth parts inventory that can supply replacement parts for every Sig­ma fau­cet made since the company's founding in 1986.

Sigma has set up a separate website for replacement parts called Sig­ma Faucet Parts which pretends to be just an "Authorized Distributor" of Sig­ma parts, not just for fau­cets, but for everything Sig­ma sells. But, it's pretty clear that it is actually a part of American Faucet.

The company scored 4.5 out of 5 on our customer service tests, losing points only for hold times that sometimes exceeded five minutes.

The Better Business Bureau awards the company its highest rating, A+, for its handling of consumer issues.

The company has a singular record with us. In the over fifteen years we have been following the company, we have not had a single complaint about a Sigma fau­cet.

Sigma Faucet Warranty

We are much less delighted with the company's Fau­cet warranty. For a company that does most things very well, it has truly missed the mark with its warranty.

It is sub-par for the North American market. It gives the overall impression of a warranty that was not well-crated in the first instance and has been added to over the years without a comprehensive rewrite to eliminate redundant, duplicative, inconsistent, and ill-advised provisions.

It badly needs a critical re-write by an experienced warranty lawyer to eliminate industry jargon, simplify the language, and comply with the Mag­nu­son-Moss War­ranty Act (15 U.S.C. §2301), the federal law that specifies the content and form of consumer product warranties.

There are several minor and two major technical issues with the warranty.

Duration of the Warranty

The first major problem is the duration of the warranty. How long does it last?

The Mag­nu­son-Moss War­ran­ty Act requires the duration of warranty protection to be stated such that it can be precisely ascertained.^[6] That certainly is not the case with the Sigma warranty.

Products are guaranteed to be "free from manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship for five (5) years from the date of invoice." Omega powder-coated finishes are also guaranteed for "five (5) years." The duration of the warranties on these components is clear and unambiguous.

But then the wheels fall off of the wagon.

Lifetime Warranty:

Certain cartridges and finishes are protected by a "lifetime" warranty. However, Sig­ma never explains what it means by "lifetime." As courts have warned over and over and over again, the term is not self-defining.

Does "lifetime" mean the lifetime of the owner? If so, does it mean just the original owner or all of the successor owners? ^[5]

Or, does it mean the lifetime of the Fau­cet, in which case it could last a hundred years or more? We routinely encounter fau­cets still proudly in service that are well into their second century.

Residential Use:

The warranty applies to fau­cets in "residential use only." But, what is "residential use"? We don't know. It is never explained.

Certainly, a Fau­cet installed in the house that I live in is residential use.

But what if I own a luxury apartment building and install Sig­ma fau­cets in every unit? Is this "residential use"?

The fau­cets are installed in a residence, not my residence but is somebody's residence, so probably it is.

The "lifetime" part of the warranty gets even more complex is the apartment complex is owned by my corporation which is the purchaser of fau­cets and owns the warranty.

If the corporation has a "perpetual" existence (and most corporations do), how long does the "lifetime" warranty last?

If "lifetime" is the lifetime of the owner, very possibly forever.

A "perpetual" corporation never dies. It may be dissolved someday, but that could be after many, many years.

Caswell-Massey, Inc., for example, has been selling "America's finest fragrances and soaps" since its founding in 1752, has existed for years, years longer than the United States itself, and is still very much a going concern.

Who Owns the Warranty?

Another major issue with the warranty is transferability.

Most Fau­cet warranties limit warranty coverage to just the "original consumer purchaser" That is not true of the Sig­ma warranty.

The general rule of law is that warranties are transferable by default.

They are made non-transferable only by clear and unmistakable language to that effect in the warranty.

Sigma's silence on the subject makes its warranty transferable to all subsequent owners of the Fau­cet.^[7]

Improper Provisions

Certain provisions of the warranty violate federal warranty law requirements.

The Mag­nu­son-Moss Warranty Act, ( 15 U.S.C. § 2301 et seq.) defines the terms that may be included in a warranty and those that may not. The Sig­ma waaranty includes a lot of content that may not.

Prohibited Disclaimer:

Here is one that is legal if and only if certain qualifying language is also included in the warranty:

"In no event will we be liable for … incidental or consequential damages." (emphasis added)

It is perfectly proper to exclude (the legal term is "disclaim") incidental or consequential damages, but only if the following statement is also included in the warranty:

"Some States do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you."

As the Sig­ma warranty does not contain the required language, its attempted disclaimer of consequential and incidental damages has no effect.

Exclusive Warranty:

The warranty provides that…

"his warranty is extended in lieu of all other expressed or implied warranties, whether oral or written…" (emphasis added)

The warranty may be in lieu of all other expressed (written) warranties that may have been offered by Sig­ma or in the past and any oral promises given by a company agent that could be construed as a warranty. This is, in fact, the usual purpose of such language in a warranty.

However, it can never replace implied warranties provided by state law, however.

It is not legal under Mag­nu­son-Moss for a company offering a written warranty to exclude coverage by implied warranties of Merchantability and Fitness for Purpose.

A company's written warranty is intended to supplement state law warranties, not replace them. Any attempt to deny state-law warranty coverage is simply ignored.(15 U.S.C. § 2308(a))

Deceptive Language:

The second problem with the attempted exclusion is more serious.

The language could be considered deceptive and one of the three cardinal rules of Mag­nu­son-Moss is that warranty language must not be deceptive.

Deception is expressly prohibited by Magnuson-Moss which requires a warranty be written in …

"… words or phrases which would not mislead a reasonable, average consumer as to the nature or scope of the warranty." (15 U.S.C. § 2302 (a) (13))

We don't think for a minute that the company is being deliberately deceptive. No doubt whoever wrote the warranty saw the language in some other warranty and copied it, unaware that it is prohibited. (Many fau­cet warranties include similar language. We are not sure where it first appeared, but it has been widely copied.)

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 this warranty, however, evidences a want of the required reasonable care.

Evidence of a Lack of Confidence

Apart from the technical-legal issues, the business logic behind this warranty is more than a little dubious.

The warranty is overly cautious, evidencing a lack of complete confidence by the company in its faucets.

A couple of examples should suffice to make the point.

Valve Cartridges:

The moving parts of a Fau­cet that gets the most use and abuse and are most vulnerable to failure is the valve cartridge. It does almost all of the work of containing and directing water.

Sigma uses top-quality cartridges and supports its quarter-turn stem cartridges used in two-handle fau­cets with a lifetime warranty that promises a replacement cartridge free of charge.

Its mixing cartridges used in single-handle fau­cets are covered by a weaker 5-year warranty.

This strongly suggests that company management does not consider these components to be as durable as the company's quarter-turn cartridges – otherwise, why such a short-term warranty?

Why this should be is not at all evident.

The mixing cartridges used in Sig­ma single-handle faucet are from Kerox and considered by most to be some of the world's best. Almost all of the companies that use them guarantee them for life. Why American Faucet does not is a mystery.

Non-Moving Parts:

The same short-term 5-year warranty applies to the non-moving parts of the faucet – the body, spout, handles, baseplate, , and so on.

These rarely fail. How could they? They do not move so there is no friction, no wear, and no real possibility of failure.

While it's true that Fau­cet bodies do sometimes rupture under pressure and handles do occasionally break off, failures like these are truly exceptional and almost always linked to a manufacturing problem.

In faucets cast from thick-walled brass with sturdy handles like those in Sig­ma fau­cets, such failures are almost unheard of.

Why, then, are these components guaranteed for a mere five years? What does the company believe can possibly happen to them?

Finishes:

The same suspect logic infects Sig­ma's finish warranties.

Sigma guarantees chrome and PVD finishes for a lifetime – a safe bet since electroplated chrome is very robust and PVD finishes nearly indestructible.

Omega powder coatings, however, are guaranteed for just five years.

While powder coatings are considered only semi-durable, they are usually plenty durable enough and Omega coatings have shown themselves to be especially hard-wearing.

The risk of damage is negligible. Most of the time, the finish is done in by over-aggressive cleaning, something that is not covered by anyone's warranty.

The risk to Sig­ma of providing a lifetime warranty for these finishes is minuscule. So, why the five-year warranty? Are Omega powder coats really that fragile?

We did not find them so. In our testing , they did very well.

The Warranty as Marketing Tool

A faucet line this good deserves more confidence from the company and much weightier warranty support.

American Faucet is approaching its warranty from a bean counter's perspective – "How much will it cost us?". What it should be asking is, "How much can it earn us?".

A warranty is a potentially powerful marketing tool as Fau­cet companies like figured out many decades ago.

Moen offers lifetime warranties on every part of its fau­cets (except electronics) and treats every warranty claim as a golden marketing opportunity – another chance to solidify customer loyalty to the brand and ensure future sales.

Moen's warranty and exceptional customer service are two of the factors that moved the company from a niche player in the 1960s to a seat at the big table as one of the two Fau­cet companies splitting the largest share of the North American market. ( is the other company.)

Moen's customer loyalty is almost fanaticism. We know very few plumbers whose preferred fau­cet is not Moen, and a former Moen customer who is willing to switch brands is a rare find.

In short, Moen's approach works.

Make a very good fau­cet and support it vigorously after the sale.

American Faucets makes a very good Fau­cet. But, the second part of the equation needs some work.

Sigma Website

American Faucet and Coatings hosts several websites:

• American Faucet and Coatings Corporation, the corporate site, provides general information about the company's business and its many products and services.

• Sigma Faucetry displays beautifully staged images of Sig­ma products, including its fau­cets, but provides no written information about the products.

• Hospitality Faucets promotes AFCC's products and services for hotels and other lodging accommodations in the travel and tourism sector.

• Reserve Collection Faucets provides information about Sig­ma's Re­serve Collection.

• Sigma Faucet Parts is the only AFCC website that sells online. It is the source for Sig­ma replacement parts and components.

• Sigma is the main Sig­ma products website.

Sigma does not sell fau­cets directly to the public in competition with its authorized dealers. Its Sig­ma website is published for information purposes only.

It is well-designed and very easy to navigate – a huge improvement over the former Sig­ma site.

Sigma aimed its old website at its dealers rather than consumers.

A user had to be very familiar with Sig­ma's collections and model numbers as well as industry jargon to get any use out of it at all. The new site is much more consumer-friendly, but the information it provides is still incomplete – better by far, but insufficient for a fully informed buying decision.

The website helps users find fau­cets by feature using filters. For example, if looking for a lavatory Fau­cet, a user can select a basic configuration: widespread, centerset, vessel, single hole, or pillar.

Of course, it helps if you know what these Fau­cet industry terms mean. It would be nice if Sig­ma provided a definition of each term, possibly similar to what we use in these reports.

For industry terms like that may be unfamiliar to the reader, running the mouse cursor over the term pops up a brief explanation.

Faucets are not hard to find using menu prompts to drill down to the Fau­cet type and style you may have in mind.

Specifications

Once you find a Fau­cet, however, the information provided varies widely but is usually sparse.

Most faucet listings include only a very basic description of the Fau­cet and not much else.

Other than the image, there is no description and not even basic information about the Fau­cet. "Not all handles" fit this Fau­cet, but the handles that do fit are not identified. It is available in "all Sig­ma finishes", and "available in stores." That's all the information we have so far.

Each faucet listing has a link to a specification sheet, however, and these sheets usually contain more detailed information.

From the specification sheet, we learn about the Fau­cet's cartridges, and certifications, both good to know. The sheet includes a measured drawing from which we can derive some essential dimensions.

The drawing also tells us that the water supply connection requires ½" IPS hoses or ¾" bull-nose risers, good information for the plumber to know. The number of mounting holes required is also evident from the drawing.

And that's it for most fau­cets. There is no additional information available.

Let's see what's missing.

Missing Information

We have identified 30 or so fau­cet specifications that are important to a fully-informed buying decision. Everything from how the fau­cet is presented in images to the number of mounting holes needed.

The number varies slightly from company to company and from fau­cet to fau­cet. Not every fau­cet listing requires every specification.

For example, Water­Sense^® listings apply only to lavatory fau­cets. So, a kitchen fau­cet listing does not need Water­Sense^® information. Similarly, the material used in a spray head and spray hose applies only to pulldown or pullout sprays usually found only on kitchen fau­cets.

Some specifications, however, apply to all fau­cets. Secondary materials, country of origin, certifications, and finish process are examples.

Some information is required by law. A link to the full text of the warranty that applies to a fau­cet may be required by the pre-sale availability rule of the Mag­nu­son-Moss War­ran­ty Act. (16 CFR &§702)

Online installation instructions are useful to help your plumber determine whether there might be any installation issues in the location you have selected for the fau­cet or if any special tools or materials may be required. Sig­ma's installation instructions also usually contain the Fau­cet warranty.

Unfortunately, fau­cet listings are far below average for the information they provide and far less than the information needed for an informed buying decision.

Some listings provide more information, some less. Some do not have links to Installation Instructions or Specifications. Some have no links at all.

Some listings have a link to an exploded parts diagram, but this is uncommon. Only a few fau­cet listings have it.

Nice-To-Have Information

In addition to the necessary minimum specifications, Sigmas has an opportunity to provide additional information that most prospective buyers will find helpful.

Handle Choices:

Although most Sig­ma fau­cets are available with several different handle choices, the options are not displayed with the Fau­cet listings.

At one time they were, but those useful pop-up lists have disappeared.

In their place is a downloadable .pdf file showing all of the company's fau­cet handles. It is organized by series but is not nearly as convenient to use as the former pop-up handle images.

Faucet Images:

Faucet images on the website used to be in black and white. Now they are in color but provide only a single 3/4 view, almost always in chrome.

Sigma offers 30 standard finishes, so more images in something other than chrome would be useful for visualization. There are a few here and there on the site, but they are a rara avis.

Multiple images showing several views of the fau­cets, including some images of the fau­cets installed in a bathroom or kitchen, would help a user visualize the fau­cets. Better yet, would be a 360^° viewing feature such as is used by on their websites. The feature allows the mouse to rotate the Fau­cet to any viewing angle.

Website: Overall

Overall, the information provided on the website is insufficient for an informed buying decision. Many of the needed specifications are missing. The website overall scored 29 out of a possible 100 for specifications provided and was rated F (Fail).

Glitz and glamour are fine. They command the users' attention. But they do not substitute for comprehensive specifications.

A website can be a powerful marketing tool, but the Sig­ma site captures just a fraction of its marketing potential. Reading through the Fau­cet listings, a user should come away convinced that a Sig­ma Fau­cet should be his or her first choice in a luxury Fau­cet. The existing site is not all that convincing.

American Faucet already has all of the necessary information. It just needs to be willing to share.

Testing & Certification

Comparable Faucets

Faucets that compare to Sig­ma in quality but not necessarily in design or price include:

Conclusions

The Pros:

Sigma and Sigma Reserve faucets are well-made and of excellent quality. They are impeccably finished and available in dozens of striking finishes.

Their styling leans toward traditional two-handle faucets, but the collection contains enough contemporary single-handle styles to fit any décor preference.

The prices compare favorably to European- and North American-made high-end fau­cets of the same quality.

Key components like cartridges are supplied by top-rated manufacturers and should give many years of trouble-free service in even the busiest main bath or family kit­chen.

Customer service, headed by Jocelyn Burkhart, is excellent.

The Cons:

The faucets are not certified and not registered with the Department of Energy as required by federal law. They are not legal to sell in the U.S. and not legal to install in a drinking water system in the U.S. or Canada.

The warranty is sub-par for the North American market and contains multiple issues.

Bathroom sink faucets are not Watersense^® listed.

The company website does not provide sufficiently detailed information about the fau­cets for an informed buying decision, which means a long conversation with customer service before a Fau­cet is purchased to find out basic specifications about the Fau­cet you may be considering for purchase.

Rating Panel Conclusions:

Although the rating panel concluded that the faucets are of excellent quality and priced favorably, no member of the panel would buy a Sigma or Sigma Reserve faucet until the faucets are re-certified.

Continuing Research

We are continuing to research the company. If you have experience with Sig­ma fau­cets – good, not so good, or indifferent – we would like to hear about it, so please contact us or post a comment below.

1. Brands under which American Faucet sells thermostatic valves are Butler Mill and Brassworks Ltd.®, E-Mini, Eurotherm, Simply Safe®, and SigmaTherm®. Thermostatic shower valves mix hot and cold water to an even, consistent temperature. The valves react instantly to changes in water temperature and immediately adjust the water mix to restore the pre-set temperature. So, if someone flushes the toilet, the water does not get hotter. The valve senses the change and adds more cold water to keep the temperature constant. If the change is so dramatic that the valve cannot adjust (the hot water failing entirely, for example), the valve shuts the water off for safety.
2. For the FTC rules governing claims of "Made in U.S.A.", see Complying with the Made in USA Standard. While most Sig­ma fau­cets are assembled by American Faucet in California from parts and components sourced both domestically and from foreign suppliers, we found a few fau­cets that have been manufactured entirely in Italy by and delivered to Sig­ma finished and ready-to-sell. These are 1.37900023 and 1.3795023 single lever kit­chen fau­cets. The articulating wall-mounted fau­cet in the Sig­ma 2600 Series is also made in Italy by Rubinetteria Rossi Fiorenzo. These fau­cets are delivered already finished and ready to sell.
3. RSS Manufacturing also manufactures and sells the line of very good to excellent fau­cets.
4. At one time Precious Metal Finishes included three gold and two silver finishes, only two of the gold finishes are still available.
5. According to an e-mail communication we received from a Sig­ma spokesperson, the company believes that the lifetime warranty means the lifetime of the original purchaser and ends when the original buyer no longer owns the Fau­cet. There is, however, nothing in the warranty that supports this interpretation.
6. Per Mag­nu­son-Moss, any ambiguous term contained in a warranty must be construed against the company giving the warranty and in favor of the consumer. The legal principle involved is Contra proferentem (Latin: "against [the] offeror"). The stated purpose of the mandate is to discourage companies from using ambiguity to confuse and deceive consumers. This requirement gives courts little choice about how to resolve any ambiguity in a consumer warranty. In this instance, the "lifetime of the company" is probably not a reasonable interpretation, and "lifetime of the owner" not as beneficial to the consumer as "lifetime of the Fau­cet" which is the interpretation courts would probably give the term as used in the Sig­ma warranty.
7. According to section 104(b)(4) of Mag­nu­son-Moss, ( 15 U.S.C. 2304(b)(4)), the duty of American Faucet and Coatings to honor its warranty extends to each person who is a consumer with respect to the Fau­cet. Section 101(3), (15 U.S.C. 2301(3)), defines a consumer as
   1. the original buyer and
   2. any person to whom a fau­cet is transferred during the duration of the Sig­ma warranty.
   If lifetime is interpreted to mean the lifetime of the fau­cet, as is likely in any court challenge, then American Faucet has a duty, enforceable at law, to honor a warranty claim for a failed quarter-turn cartridge, chrome finish, or PVD finish for as long as the Fau­cet is in use.