Signature Hardware Faucets Review & Rating Updated: August 3, 2026
trading as
Signature Hardware
2700 Crescent Springs Pike
Erlanger, KY 41017
(866) 855-2284
Ferguson Enterprises, Inc.
PO Box 2778
12500 Jefferson Avenue
Newport News, VA 23602
(800) 221-3379
Signature Hardware
Law Requirements
Read the the Signature Faucet warranty..
☆ Learn more about faucet warranties.☆ See how we determine warranty scores.☆ Understanding the federal Mag&sny;nu&sny;son Moss War&sny;ran&sny;ty Act.☆ Find out how to enforce your product warranty at The Warranty Game: Enforcing Your Product Warranty..Download/Read/Print the Model Limited Lifetime Warranty.
This Company In Brief
Clawfoot Supply, LLC, trading as Signature Hardware, is a part of the Ferguson Enterprises empire—the giant plumbing supply company headquartered in the U.K.
It sells imported faucets, sinks, tubs, and other fixtures as well as accessories, furnishings, lighting, and home decor items from its office/warehouse complex just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.
The company's faucets are private label products, purchased wholesale from a variety of suppliers in China and Taiwan, and re-branded for retail sale under the Signature Hardware name.
The warranty, which has in the past been for as long as 25 years, is now for a very short five years (two years on electronics and finishes) and contains several legal defects.
The Company
Signature Hardware is a trading name under which Clawfoot Supply imports and sells faucets, sinks, bathroom and kitchen fixtures, decorative hardware, lighting, furnishings, and home accessories imported from Asia: primarily China, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Founded in 2001 by Kentucky natives Mike and Matt Butler, Clawfoot Supply was one of the successful specialty web retailers at the dawn of the age of internet retailing, selling upscale antique reproduction tubs, faucets, and other bath fixtures modeled on those available in the late Victorian Era.
Clawfoot Supply has drastically changed its business model over its years in business.
By 2005 the company had expanded its offerings far beyond clawfoot rubs and accessories. It rebranded as "Signature Hardware" to better reflect its enlarged scope, far beyond clawfoot tubs.
The company ceased all business under the name Clawfoot Supply. The original Clawfoot Supply website was redirected to the Signature Hardware site in 2006.
It sold mostly upscale faucets manufactured in Europe and the U.S.
These included from England, and a few Italian faucet lines that seemed to vary from year to year.
For a time, it sold faucets made in Argentina, but that relationship was short-lived.
All of these brands are still sold in North America, just not by Signature Hardware. FV America Corporation.
Starting in 2009 or perhaps a little earlier, the company began quietly discarding much of its luxury merchandise in favor of inexpensive imports from China and Taiwan.
The change dramatically boosted the company's sales.
In 2013 the Sitnature Hardware was recognized by Internet Retailer (now Digital Commerce 360) as one of the 50 fastest-growing online retailers in the United States with annual sales exceeding $150 million.
But it lost much of its cachet as a prestige merchandiser.
In our 2014 review of the company, we reported that:
"[t]here is no longer anything unique or original about Signature Hardware's faucet designs.They are relatively inexpensive, generic Taiwanese/Chinese faucets right out of its manufacturers' general catalogs. None of them, as far as we can tell, are designed exclusively for Signature Hardware.Many are also sold by other Marketeers importing Chinese and Taiwanese faucets.In fact, most of the companies that import Asian faucets, including Kraus USA, Kingston Brass, and Huntington Brass sell very similar if not identical faucets in about the same price range."
To maintain its momentum, the company began cutting corners. One of those corners was the faucet testing and certification required by law.
It stopped testing and certifying its faucets, although it vigorously claimed the faucets were fully certified and legal to sell, even going so far as to fabricate certificates of listing to "prove" its certifications.
All of that nonsense stopped in 2016 when the company was purchased by Ferguson Enterprises, Inc.
In the decade since, it is been fully integrated into the Ferguson archipelago.
Signature Hardware products can be purchased at Ferguson stores and through other Ferguson e-tail venues such as Ferguson Home (formerly Build.com) and FaucetsDirect.com.
Ferguson is the largest distributor of residential and commercial plumbing supplies, pipe, valves, and fittings in the U.S. and Canada (as Wolseley Canada Inc.) through some 1,350 retail stores seemingly located in nearly every city, town, village, and hamlet in the U.S. or Canada that has more than one gas station. (See sidebar).
Signature Hardware's faucets and other plumbing fixtures and accessories are private label products, purchased wholesale from a wide variety of suppliers in Asia and re-branded for retail sale under the Signature Hardware name.
Ferguson Enterprises, Inc. is the largest distributor of plumbing supplies, pipe, valves, and fittings in the U.S. through some 1,350 store locations.
Founded in Australia as an engineering company, it has morphed into a multinational distributor of plumbing fixtures, fittings, pipes, and supplies to the professional market. It has 47,000 employees in 22 countries.
Although the U.S. is its largest market, accounting for 85% of its trading profit, the company is based in the U.K.
it was named Wolseley PLC until 2017, when it renamed itself Ferguson PLC "to align the group's name with our most significant brand in our largest market," according to CEO John Martin.
In Canada, it operates as Wolseley Canada Inc, distributing plumbing, HVAC. waterworks and fire protection products through supply stores in nine provinces.
Wolseley sells through retail showrooms in Canada under various trade names, including Kitchen & Bath Classics, Vague et Vogue, TAPS Bath, and Wolseley Studio.
Ferguson has been on an expansion tear over the past few years, acquiring 13 companies in 2017 alone.
It is financing its expansion, at least in part, through the sale in 2017 of its struggling Scandinavia subsidiary, Stark Group, and its earlier sale of the building materials company, Silvan Kaeden A/S.
After over a century of selling primarily to trade professionals in North America, it is aggressively reaching for a larger slice of the DIY and homeowner market to offset the growth of private buying cooperatives such as Ace Hardware, Do-itBest, and the Forté Group.
Buying cooperatives allow trade professionals to bypass distributors like Ferguson and negotiate directly with suppliers for lower prices and better terms.
Ferguson has also very successfully grown its internet retail presence.
In addition to Signature Hardware, Ferguson has added Ferguson Home (formerly Build.com), a web-based seller of home improvement products, and Build.com's specialty sites: eFaucets, Faucets Direct, Lighting Direct, and Lighting Showplace to its growing roster of internet-based retailers.
It has created a selection of private label faucets to supplement the national brands it has sold for decades. Not only are private brands more profitable, they also allow the company to respond more rapidly to changes in consumer preferences. These private brands include to which it has added the Signature Hardware brand.
It sells primarily through its own website, at online retailers that host third-party sellers such as Amazon, Wayfair, and Houzz, and on Ferguson's internet sites that specialize in home improvement products.
These include Ferguson Home (formerly Build.com), FaucetsDirect.com, and eFaucets.com, as well as local Ferguson shopwrooms and supply stores.
Ferguson also sells Asian-made faucets under three in-house brand names, ProFlow, at most of the same retail outlets.
Signature Hardware's chief competitors in the North American market are
- VTB, Inc. trading as Vintage Tub & Bath, which sells many similar products including its private label line of faucets, showers, tubs, and accessories.
- Rejuvenation, the "house parts company," selling upscale private label faucets supplied primarily by
The Manufacturers
Before 2010, when most of its suppliers were still European, the company routinely identified the country of origin of its faucets. That is no longer the practice. No Asian-made faucet is identified by county of origin.
A spokesman for the company told us in 2015 that Signature Hardware "deems the identity of its manufacturers to be proprietary information, not to be shared with the general public."
We, however, are all about sharing. After research through customs and import records for the past five years, we are entirely confident that Signature Hardware's faucets are manufactured in China and Taiwan.
The following companies have supplied sink faucets or faucet components to Signature Hardware over the past 24 months:
- (Shanghai) Aquacubic Sanitary Ware Co., Ltd. (China) is a faucet manufacturer in Shanghai. It supplies
- (Xiamen) Easo Co., Ltd. (China) is a manufacturer in Xiamen. It supplies several showerheads to Signature Hardware and one faucet, the SHXCCY107 Cypress.
- (Taizhou) Fenghua Brassworks Co., Ltd. (China), established in 1990, is a manufacturer of faucets and bathroom accessories. It sells under the trade name Flova, primarily in the U.K., where the brand enjoys considerable popularity. In North America, it supplies
- Horng Lai Industrial Co., Ltd. (Taiwan) sells faucets worldwide under its registered trademark, Home Life, and supplies faucets sold by
- Hsien Chang Metals Co., Ltd. (Taiwan) manufactures faucets and faucet components for . as well as Signature Hardware.
- (Yuhuan) Kingjoy Metal Products Co. Ltd. (China); a company that also manufactures faucets for Home Product America, Inc., a Canadian importer selling through Costco and at online hosting retail outlets such as Wayfair under the
- Long Tai Copper Corp. (Taiwan) is an manufacturer that sells the Lucky Top brand in Asia. It also manufactures for
- (Xiamen) (China) is another of the large manufacturers of plumbing and sanitary products.
- The list of faucet companies that buy Lota faucets and faucet components reads like the whos-who of the U.S. faucet industry, including
- Go to for our complete report on Lota and its faucets sold in North America,
- NCIP, Inc. (Taiwan), a well-established Taiwanese manufacturer of brass faucets that supplies its well-crafted products to a broad swath of North American faucet sellers, including
- Nokite Eco Smart Water Heating Systems Co., Ltd ( China), is a manufacturer of stainless steel faucets. It was formerly owned by Franke Water Systems. It manufactures kitchen faucets sold by
- Rin Shing Metal Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), also the manufacturer of a few
- (Guangzhou) Seagull Kitchen and Bath Products Co., Ltd. is one of China's oldest faucet manufacturers, predating China's opening to the West by several decades. It was established by the Peoples Republic of China as a state-owned enterprise at the beginning of the Great Leap Forward in 1958.
- In addition to those manufactured for Ferguson, Seagull makes faucets or faucet components for dozens of companies selling faucets in North America. These include among a great many others.
- (Zhajiang ) Shengdian Sanitary Ware Co., Ltd. (China) manufactures a number of kitchen and bath faucets for the company as well as shower components, tub fillers, and a few pipe fittings. It also sells in Asia under the Aqua Design brand. Ferguson is its only North American customer.
- (Foshan) Shunde Nokite Plumbing & Sanitary Products Co., Ltd. (China) is a manufacturer of good-quality stainless steel faucets sold under the Nokite label worldwide.
- Nokite was, until 2021, wholly owned by the Swiss sanitary wares company,
- (Kaiping) Water Sanitary Ware Co., Ltd. (China) manufactures several dozen kitchen and bath faucets for Signature Hardware as well as showers, tub fillers, and pipe fittings.
- (Kaiping) Wen Sheng Fu Co (Taiwan) manufactures one Signature Hardware drinking water dispenser faucet for use with filtered systems.
These are almost certainly not Signature Hardware's only faucet suppliers, and the company changes manufacturers from time to time.
By the time you read this report, Signature Hardware's lineup of faucet suppliers may have changed once again.
Signature faucets are largely middle-of-the-road, generic Asian designs.
There are exceptions. Signature Hardware's Edison series of contemporary faucets is one of those.
It emulates the bare-bones, rustic style of Sonoma Forge faucets or the Brooklyn 31 collection designed by Susan Fredman Design Group and Hydrology for
Signature faucets are largely these middle-of-the-road, generic Taiwanese/Chinese designs right out of each manufacturer's The faucets are neither designed by nor created expressly for Signature Hardware.
True design originality is emerging in East Asia, and some regional Asian designs have won international design awards. But these are the exception.
The general rule is that few design adventures take place in China or Taiwan.
Most designs are adopted from Europe and the U.S. faucet styles that have sold well in the marketplace. It does not take long for a successful Western design to be imitated by Asian factories. The lag time is usually 3 to 5 years, by which time, of course, the "new" design is no longer new.
We found no faucets in the current Signature Hardware catalogue made in Europe. La Torre SRL. of Italy, was Signature Hardware's only remaining supplier of European-made faucets in 2922. Its faucets are no longer being sold.
The faucets offered by Signature Hardware have been selected by someone with a deft talent for coordination and a keen eye for style. Faucets are about evenly divided among contemporary, transitional, and traditional faucet styles, so there is almost certainly a Signature Hardware faucet to fit every design preference.
There is, however, with some exception, nothing unique or novel about most of the individual faucets themselves, especially those imported from Asia.
The Asian manufacturers that supply faucets to Signature Hardware also sell faucets to other North American importers, and many of the faucets sold by Signature Hardware are also sold by other U.S. and Canadian retailers. So, finding the same faucet or a very similar faucet for sale under a different brand name should not come as a surprise.
Lota, for example, supplies faucets or faucet components to the who's who of the North American faucet industry, including
The Collections
Signature Hardware gathers some of its products in collections that are coordinated for finish and style.
A collection may include faucets, showers, tub fillers, heat registers, tubs, sinks, and accessories. Most of its collections include sink faucets, but at least two do not.
Construction and Materials
The mechanics of Signature faucets are average to good.
Faucet bodies are typically stainless steel or brass but handles, baseplates, and other ancillary parts may be cast out of less expensive zinc or a zinc/aluminum alloy.
Faucet companies rarely mention the word "zinc" but look for the seemingly innocuous word "metal" which is commonly used as a codeword for zinc in the industry. "Metal handle" is the usual way of saying "zinc handle." If it were a brass or stainless steel handle, it usually would say so outright.
Zinc in ancillary parts is a common feature of most mid-priced faucets (and some premium faucets as well). Zink and zinc alloys do not have the strength of brass but are safe to use where that strength is not needed. Properly used, in baseplates, handles, and trim, they do not affect the durability of a faucet, and their use shaves a few bucks off the cost of manufacturing the faucet.
The material used to make spray heads (the industry term is "wands") on spring-style (pre-rinse), pull-down, and pull-out kitchen faucets is clearly identified—something that is not all that common on faucet websites. Signature wands are made of plastic.
These are usually identified as "ABS," an acronym that stands for acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, a type of plastic often used in water pipes. ABS is strong, but not nearly as strong as metal.
Faucet companies are switching to plastic spray heads because they don't conduct heat like metal and do not get uncomfortably hot in use. They are also a lot cheaper than brass or stainless steel.
But plastic does not have nearly the strength of metal and more readily fails in use over time. Industry statistics show that plastic spays are replaced more often than metal sprays—every 5-7 years vs. 10-20 years.
Given a choice, a metal wand is a safer investment.
Cure for the Too Hot Wand: The sure cure for the too hot wand is to run cooler water through the wand. Rinsing with scalding hot water is rarely necessary.
Faucet Valve Cartridges
Signature Hardware's mixing valve cartridges for single-handle faucets are not proprietary. They are the industry-standardized universal-fit configurations modeled on cartridge designs pioneered in the 1980s by Galatron Plast S.p.a., an Italian technical ceramics company.
Galatron's cartridges were simple, inexpensive to manufacture, and very reliable. They have been so widely copied that they have become the de facto industry standard, particularly for Chinese-made valves.
None of Signature Hardware's cartridges are made by Galatron, however. All of the mixing cartridges for single-handle faucets that we examined were made in China. They are not considered top-drawer brands, but they are good enough to last many years with reasonable care.
Chinese Valve Cartridges
China has dozens of ceramic cartridge manufacturers. Most of what they produce is used in the domestic market for faucets sold in China. For use in faucets to be exported to Europe or North America, cartridges have to meet much higher standards.
We found a number of well-known ceramic cartridges including KGC cartridges made by Kuching International, Ltd., Quore cartridges from Ningbo Wanhai Cartridge Technology Co., Ltd., Yizhan cartridges from Kaiping Yizhan Valve Core Co., Ltd., and cartridges from Sedal S.L.U., a technical ceramics company chartered in Spain that manufactures in China.
All of these brands have passed the exhaustive ASME A112.18.1 500,000 on/off life-cycle test and are approved for faucets destined for export to North American markets.
We also found a some cartridges that did not show the maker's marks necessary to identify the manufacturer.
Since makers of good cartridges generally mark them, we have to assume unmarked cartridges are from lesser-known manufacturers that have not established a track record of reliability.
We did not find any of the better Asian cartridges, such as those made by Geann Industrial Co. in Taiwan or any of the premium European cartridges like the Kerox Kft ceramic cartridges made in Hungary.
But since we have not examined every faucet sold by the company, we cannot swear that some of its faucets are not fitted with these better cartridges.
Compression Valves
The company has drastically reduced the number of commercial-duty faucets that it sells.
The few remaining examples are equipped with old-style compression valves that were invented in England by Guest & Chrimes Brassworks in 1845.
These valves are not identified on the company website as compression valves. Usually the type of valve is simply not mentioned. So, be aware that if a faucet is not described as having a ceramic cartridge, is may be fitted with a compression valve, and may not be suitable for residential use. If in doubt, contact customer support to find out for certain.
Companies that specialize in commercial faucets like commonly fit their faucets with compression cartridges because they are preferred in commercial installations.
Although a washer in the cartridge must be replaced periodically, it is easy to do and does not require proprietary parts that may have to be shipped from the manufacturer. A busy McConald's or Texas Roadhouse cannot have a faucet out of service for even a day awaiting a FedEx overnight delivery.
Any plumber carries everything needed to put a compression faucet back in service in an hour or less.
For use in the home, however, a compression valve may be more of a nuisance than is wanted. There is a reason that they have been largely replaced for home use by ceramic cartridges that do not require much, if anything, in the nature of periodic maintenance.
For more in-depth information about ceramic cartridges, see "Faucet Valves & Cartridges".
Faucet Finishes
Eleven finishes are available on Signature Hardware faucets. Chrome is the most widely available finish, followed by polished and brushed nickel, then oil-rubbed bronze. Dark antique bronze is, as far as we can tell from the website, available on just four faucets but can be found on a dozen or so very interesting items of door hardware.
Oil-Rubbed Bronze
The company charges a premium for its non-default finishes.
The Flair faucet, for example, at a base price of $249.00 for chrome, costs $70.00 more in antique copper and $40.00 more in dark antique bronze. Any added expense for a finish is clearly shown on the website.
A few faucets are available in . The Quill lavatory faucet is shown in several metallic finishes with black trim on the company website (and in brushed gold and black at left). Faucets in the Edison collection are available in black with red handles or oil-rubbed bronze with black handles.
Faucet finishes are, according to the company, all . except for brass and stainless steel (the material of the faucet is also its finish). There are no (PVD) or finishes.
Electroplating
Electroplating is the old standard, having served the industry well for over 100 years.
It 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. Chrome is the most commonly used plated metal, followed distantly by nickel.
The electroplated metal may not be the final finish, however. Metals like brass and copper are . Left unprotected, they will tarnish. To keep them shiny and new-looking, they are protected by a clear top coat. usually an acrylic or urethane coating.
The clear coat then becomes the "wear layer," not the brass or copper metal.
As a wear layer, the clear coat is, at best, only semi-durable, more delicate than metal finishes, with about the same resistance to scratches and dings as the finish on your car.
If the top coat is scratched or chipped, the metal underneath may be exposed to air and will begin to tarnish.
Physical Vapor Deposition
The company's suppliers have evidently not yet discovered (PVD) finishes.
PVD is the new standard faucet finish. It is very hard (Rockwell HRC-80+, Vickers HV-2600+), 10-20 times more scratch-resistant than plated chrome, and so resistant to staining and corrosion that they can easily withstand even very harsh household chemicals and (for you seaside dwellers) salt-laden air.
Washing with a mild detergent periodically to remove surface soiling and watermarks is all the maintenance that is required.
PVD coatings are now the preferred faucet finish for residential use.
Faucet Finishes: For more information on faucet finishes, including the technology used to produce them and their durability, see Faucet Basics, Part 5: Finishes and Coatings.
The Faucet Warranty
Almost as soon as Ferguson took over Signature Hardware in 2016, the faucet warranty was upgraded from five years to the "lifetime of the product."
Signature Faucet Warranty
Legal Issues
The Signature faucet warranty does not comply with certain requirements of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. However, compared to the warranties provided by other faucet companies, the defects are fairly minor.
Exclusive Remedies
The warranty starts out with this provision:
"This is Signature Faucets' exclusive written warranty; the remedies described below are your exclusive remedies." (Emphasis supplied)
This wording is deceptive. It implies that only the remedies stated in the warranty are available.
However, the remedies provided in a consumer product warranty are never "exclussive." In every state and province, other remedies are available under the state's implied wrranty of merchantability. In addition, there is the doctrine of "failure of essential purpose."
The written warranty limits remedies to …
"… the replacement parts necessary to restore the faucet to good working condition. If we determine that repair or replacement is not practical, we may elect to refund the purchase price in exchange for the return of the product."
What if none of that actually solves the problem? For example, the faucet was part of a collection. It exactly matched the style and finish of the shower, tub filler, cabinet hardware, towel bars, and other bathroom accessories that you purchased from Signature along with the faucet.
What you need to do to return to your pre-faucet-failure condition is replace every piece of hardware in the bathroom so everything once again matches.
Is the company responsible for this expense? Almost certainly. It actively and vigorously promotes buying collections of matching products, so it had notice when you bought everyting to match. One of the "essential purposes" of the purchase of the faucet was to match everything else.
If all Signature Hardware does is refund the cost of the faucet, its warranty has failed of this "essential purpose," which would justify replacing everything even though replacing everything is not a remedy available according to the warranty.
Single Document Rule
The MMWA requires any company offering a written warranty on a consumer product to "… clearly and conspicuously disclose in a single document in simple and readily understood language" the terms and conditions of the warranty. (16 CFR § 701.3(a)). (Emphasis supplied)
This rule is intended to eliminate the insidious, pre-MMWA practice of placing restrictions and limitations on a warranty in other documents like "terms of service" or "return policies" where they are unlikely to be read.
To combat this sneaky practice, the MMWA requires every provision of a legal consumer warranty to be included in the warranty document. Anything not in the document is ignored.
That rule applies to this little gem in the Signature Hardware warranty:
"Signature Faucets warrants its products to the original consumer purchaser to be free from manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship under normal residential use, for the following periods from the date of original purchase, unless stated otherwise on the specific product page: (Emphasis supplied)
To translate: The duration of the warranty as stated in the warranty document applies to a product only if some other duration is not stated in some other place.
That does not fly, however. Under the Single Document Rule, nothing written outside the four corners of the warranty document can modify any term of the warranty.
Deception in Consumer Warranties
Deception in consumer product warranties is not just frowned upon, it is absolutely formbidden, and this includes inadvertent deception resulting from inexpert warranty writing.
The implication that remedies other than those stated in the warranty are not available or that provisions outside the warranty document can modify the warrantyy are probably not intended to be deceptive but, in fact, they are.
Magnuson-Moss 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)) (Emphasis supplied)
Deception does not need to be deliberate to have consequences under Magnuson-Moss. In may not be intended, but still give rise to panalties. The Act imposes a duty of reasonable care on a company providing a written warranty …
"…to make the warranty not misleading." (15 U.S.C. §2310(c)(2))
Although the statutory language is awkward, its meaning is crystal clear. The very presence of these provisions in the Signature faucet warranty evidences a lack of the required reasonable care.
Additionally, deception in a consumer warranty may trigger not just the penalties provided by Magnuson-Moss but also the sanctions of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commision Act intended to curb deceptive business practices. These penalties can be serious.
The lifetime warranty easily met and even exceeded the minimum requirements for a standard North American faucet warranty. It had technical defects, but it signaled the rebirth of the company under new management and got a lot of attention.
By 2021, Ferguson evidently had decided that it had gotten enough attention. The "lifettime of the product" warranty was reduced to a 25-year warranty, not nearly as impressive or as attention-getting. But as a practical matter, not much of a change from a lifetime warranty.
We did not understand the purpose of the change. Evidently no one at Signature Hardware understood it either. We could not find anyone at the company that could or would explain it.
Our rating panel refused to consider a 25-year warranty as equivalent to a lifetime warranty and docked the company one point on its warranty score.
Then, on July 15, 2026, the company reverted to the original 5-year limited warranty.
What happened? Again, we don't know and could find no one at the company who would talk about it, but the change reduced the company's warranty score again.
The Golden Rule of Warranties
The Golden Rule of Warranties is very simple and, if you think about, fairly obvious:
"The longer and stronger a faucet's warranty, the more confidence company management has in the durability and longevity of its faucets.The shorter and weaker a faucet's warranty, the less confidence company management has in the durability and longevity of its faucets."
A warranty discloses management's true opinion about the quality of its faucets.
The company may promote its faucets as the greatest things since water was invented, but to find out what management really thinks, look to the company's warranty.
A warranty requires a company to stand behind its faucets with its own dollars.
How long management is willing to risk the company's cash is the best indication of how long it truly expects its faucet to last without developing problems.
From Signature Hardware's warranty, we surmise that management expects the mechanical elements of its faucets to last about five years and its finishes and electronic components two years.
Something to keep in mind if you are considering a Signature Hardware product.
The new warranty guarantees mechanical components ("spray heads, cartridges, handles, pull-down hoses, washers, and supply lines") for five years from the date of purchase. Finishes and electrical components are limited to two years. Batteries have no warranty.
The warranty does not fully comply with the minimum legal requirements for consumer product warranties specified in the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975, codified as 15§ 2301 et seq. This is the federal law that regulates the form and content of consumer warranties.
Customer Service
In the past, we have found the company's customer and warranty service to be courteous and effective.
Pre-sale questions were answered quickly and correctly, and post-sale issues such as warranty claims were handled with dispatch.
In our last report, we rated it 4.4 out of a best score of 5.0 based on tests conducted four years ago. Anything above 4.0 is acceptable.
Unfortunately, it did not do as well when tested this year.
Agent courtesy was high, but product knowledge was not nearly as comprehensive as it had been. Customer service personnel are not well trained on the technical aspects of the company's faucets.
One example is faucet finishes.
We asked one agent about the type of finishing process used on Signature Hardware faucets. She told us that all finishes are electroplatings. We know that bright brass is the material of a brass faucet and not an electroplated finish.
We asked if native brass and copper finishes were lacquered over the electroplating. The agent admitted that polished brass was lacquered but told our researcher that antique copper did not need a lacquer coating since "copper does not tarnish.".
Copper that does not tarnish is new to us (and to the rest of the world), so we called back again the next day.
This time a different agent told us that the copper was not actual copper. It was a metal that looked like copper but did not tarnish. (The agent did not know the identity of the mystery metal, however.)
A second agent told us that the metal was actually copper and that it is, like polished brass, lacquer-coated.
Seeking to resolve all of this conflicting information, we e-mailed customer support with our questions about finishes in writing. We got an immediate acknowledgment of the receipt of the e-mail and the promise of a prompt response, but we never did get that response.
Customer service also fumbled our questions about the source of the company's faucet cartridges, not knowing the answer and not knowing who to refer us to for an answer.
For this update, we have little choice but to lower our customer service rating to 3.8 on a 5 point scale due to lack of product knowledge and failure to communicate.
Agents that do not have sufficient technical knowledge about Signature Hardware faucets cannot possibly advise potential buyers about such matters with any accuracy.
However, when it comes to the basics of customer service, such as handling returns and warranty claims, customer service does fairly well. We have received no complaints about these aspects of the company's service over the past four years, and neither has the Better Business Bureau.
The Better Business Bureau rates the company an A+ on a scale of A+ to F for satisfactorily handling consumer issues. The company is BBB-accredited, which entails extensive vetting and a pledge to adhere to very high business standards.
As part of our tests, our return faucets to judge the effectiveness of the return process. The returns to Signature Hardware were promptly handled and the purchase price credited immediately.
Replacement Parts
Traditional faucet companies like keep an ample stock of replacement parts for the faucets they sell, even years after a faucet has been discontinued.
It is not uncommon for a company like Delta to still have parts on hand for faucets they have not sold since JFK was president.
Stocking, inventorying, storing, and distributing such a deep well of spare parts is, however, an expensive undertaking and one that small companies like Vigo can often ill-afford.
Signature Hardware is a , and marketeers do not usually have an organized replacement parts program or maintain an extensive inventory of parts for current and discontinued faucets.
We expected the handling of parts and components to improve under the stewardship of Ferguson Enterprises. Ferguson is a master of replacement parts, and we hoped some of that mastery would be transferred to Signature Hardware. We were disappointed. The parts issue improved a little, but not enough.
It is very possible that one consideration in the company's recent retreat from its 25 year faucet warranty was the expense of maintaining a replacement parts inventory for over two decades.
If your Signature faucet fails after a decade or so, do not look to the company for replacement parts other than cartridges and possibly aerators. There won't be any.
Signature Hardware Website
The company's website is very visual and easy to navigate. The company sells primarily through its own website, so we would expect it to be exceptional, and we were not disappointed.
The product search feature is robust and uses fuzzy search logic. If you mistype a word, it will often find the item anyway. Searches can be filtered by faucet type, handle style, price, and so on to narrow the initial result set. The filters work correctly most of the time.
Non-product searches in the site's knowledge base, such as on terms like "warranty" and "returns," were ineffective, pulling up no results.
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Signature Hardware
Website Faucet Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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Score: 65 out of 100
Grade: C (Average)
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This table displays how much information critical to an informed faucet buying decision is provided for the faucets listed on the Signature Hardware website.
The maximum possible total score is 100 pts. meaning that all of the information needed is provided.
A score of less than 5 pts. for an item means the information is not provided consistently or conveniently.
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| Specification, Property, or Document | Is Info Provided? | Score | |
| Yes | No | ||
| Primary Faucet Material (Brass, Stainless, Aluminum etc.) | ✓ | 5 | |
| Secondary Faucet Materials (Zinc, Plastic etc.)1 | ✓ | - | |
| Number of Mounting Holes | ✓ | 5 | |
| Flow Rate(s) 2 | ✓ | 4 | |
| Facet Dimensions or Dimensioned Drawing | ✓ | 5 | |
| Drain Included 3 | ✓ | 5 | |
| Baseplate Included 3 | ✓ | 5 | |
| Supply Hose Indluded | ✓ | - | |
| Supply Hose Material 3 | ✓ | - | |
| Supply Connection Size/Type 4 | ✓ | 5 | |
| Spray Head (Wand) Material 3 | ✓ | 5 | |
| Spray Hose Material 3 | ✓ | - | |
| Valve or Cartridge Type | ✓ | 4 | |
| Cartridge Manufacturer(s) | ✓ | - | |
| Aerator Manufacturer(s) | ✓ | - | |
| Multiple Faucet Images, 360° Display, or Video Link | ✓ | 5 | |
| Finish Type | ✓ | - | |
| Finish Images | ✓ | 5 | |
| Certifications 5 | ✓ | 2 | |
| Warranty | ✓ | 5 | |
| Warranty Link From Each Faucet | ✓ | 5 | |
| Installation Instructions | ✓ | 5 | |
| Exploded Parts Diagram | ✓ | - | |
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1 Spray head materials are identified, otherwise no secondary materials. However, specifications like "metal handle" hint that the secondary metal for many faucets may be zinc or a zinc alloy.
2 Provided in liters per minute (lpm) only for some faucets.
3 If applicable.
4 The most common connection fitting is IPS (international pipe standard). Rarer but possible are NPS (National Pipe Standard) or NPT (National Pipe Thread). These designations tell you the connector type your supply hose must have to connect to the faucet. Sizes are generally 1/2" or 9/16". If the supply hose is provided with the faucet, this information is not needed.
5 For some faucets, certifications are listed individually in the .pdf specification sheet, but for most, the only indication of certification is the UPC shield logo. There is no explanation of what the UPC shield represents.
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Searches on finishes, however, were more productive.
Finish searches are useful in putting together a coordinated bath or kitchen with all items in the same finish. Single-word finish searches (for example, "nickel") returned every product (faucets, drains, accessories, heat registers, hinges, doorknobs, cabinet hardware, etc.) available in the specified finish. For multi-word finishes ("antique copper"), the search algorithm was equally precise.
In a sampling of faucet pages, we found the descriptive information provided for most faucets more complete than that provided by most faucet sellers but still missing information that is essential to an informed buying decision.
Specifications, Installation Instructions, and Care Instructions are available for download in .pdf format. Specifications generally add nothing to the descriptive information on the website although many include a dimensioned drawing (which is useful in determining whether the faucet will fit your sink.)
As you select a faucet finish, the image of the faucet changes to show the faucet in the selected finish, a feature that is a great help in visualizing the faucet.
Some listings display multiple images of the faucet installed in customer homes, useful in seeing how the faucet would look installed.
Installation instructions are easy to follow, well-illustrated, and comprehensive. Our plumbers rated the installation of our test faucets as "Very Easy" on our four-point scale, from "Very Hard" to "Very Easy." For some faucets, the installation instructions include an exploded parts diagram. Others do not have the diagram, which is very useful if you ever have to order repair parts or call technical support to discuss how one part fits into another.
The website has deficiencies, however.
There is no information about a faucet's ceramic cartridge other than the fact that it is ceramic. Not helpful. There are good ceramic cartridges and not-so-good ceramic cartridges. To make an informed buying decision, you need to know the manufacturer. Otherwise, there is no way to judge the quality of the cartridge.
The type of finish is also not disclosed. The type of finish (electroplated, powder coating, PVD, etc.) is important to the long-term durability of a faucet. If the top (wear) coat of the faucet finish is a lacquer, a powder coat, or anything other than a non-reactive metal, long-term wearability is substantially reduced.
Certifications are also not mentioned in the faucet's description. Some downloaded specifications use symbols to signal that the faucet is certified, but there is no explanation of what the symbols mean.
Testing and Certification
Faucets are an important part of drinking water systems in North America, and every part of a drinking water system is strictly regulated at all levels of government: local, state and federal.
All plumbing codes in effect in Canada and the U.S. require faucets to meet certain basic standards [1] in order to be connected to water supplies (even private water supplies), and state and provincial laws require compliance for the faucet to be sold within the state or province [2]/a>.
The basic faucet standards and the tests to be used to confirm compliance with the standards are set out in ASME A112.18.1/CSA B125.1, the joint U.S./Canadian minimum standards for the safety, integrity, and mechanical reliability of faucets, and ANSI/NSF 61/9, the North American "lead-free" and drinking water safety requirements.
These include maximum levels of toxins such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury. Faucets that are not certified compliant with these standards by an independent laboratory may not be legally installed in a drinking water system in the U.S. or Canada.
In addition, U.S. law also requires certification that a faucet meets the water conservation standards imposed by the U. S. Energy Policy and Conservation Act. A faucet that is not certified as meeting water conservation standards cannot be legally "distributed in commerce", which means that it cannot be imported, sold, offered for sale, advertised for sale, or delivered in the United States or its territories. [3]
Although the company has always claimed to be "committed to doing things the right way," it ignored certification requirements for many years during its pre-Ferguson days and repeatedly lied about it.
The company insisted that its faucets were certified and legal to sell and install in North America in the face of overwhelming evidence that they were not. The deception went so far as to pass off the listing certificates of other companies as "proof" of its certifications.
When Ferguson bought Signature Hardware, we fully expected regulatory compliance in short order. It took longer than we anticipated, but at present Signature Hardware faucets are certified to all required North American standards.
Only faucets certified to comply with North American standards may be legally used in a drinking-water system in any state or territory of the U.S. or any Canadian province.
Comparable Faucets
Imported Asian faucets comparable to those sold by Signature Hardware that are fully certified and legal to sell in the U.S. and Canada include
Legal and Regulatory Actions
In 2022 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) assessed a $6 million civil penalty on Clawfoot Supply, LLC for failing to immediately report to CPSC, as required by law, that its Wall-Mounted Teak Folding Shower Seats contained a defect that created a substantial hazard and an unreasonable risk of serious injury to consumers.
Between 2011 and 2018, Clawfoot Supply received multiple reports of corrosion and breakage with the shower seat, including reports of consumers who were injured when the shower seat failed. Despite receiving this information, Clawfoot Supply continued to sell the defective seats and did not report the defect to the Commission until July 2018. The product was not recalled until Deccember 4, 2018, seven years after the initial report of the defect.
In addition to the monetary penalty, Clawfoot Supply to agreed to establish and maintain a compliance program and a system of internal controls and procedures designed to ensure compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA).
In Conclusion
There are deals to be had on faucets from Signature Hardware. But proceed with some caution. We don't know where some of Signature Hardware'ss faucet cartridges are made, and, the people we talked to at the company don't either.
A faucet is only as good as its cartridge, so find out the manufacturer of the cartridge before you buy, not several years later when it starts to leak.
Don't take "I don't know" for an answer. Somebody knows. If it is not a recognized cartridge brand, don't buy the faucet. It's a cartridge of unknown quality. It may be long lived, but it may also be a dud. Without knowing the manufacturer, it is impossible to find out.
See Faucet Basics: Part 2 Faucet Valves & Cartridges for more information on cartridge brands in general and the identify of brands recoginized as being of good quality.
Overall, taking into account the weak faucet warranty, we consider Signature Hardware faucets to be no better than f fair value, one step above "poor" on our scale from "poor" to "excellent".
Additionally, faucets are supported by one of the weakest warranties offered by a reputable faucet merchandiser.
Members of our rating panel would buy a Signature faucet only for a little-used guest bath, bar, or prep station. Without a strong warranty, installation in a busy kitchen or main bath is not worth the risk since so many companies offering similar faucets at similar prices provide far stronger guarantees.
Do follow our suggestions for buying a faucet to be sure you are getting one that is reliable and meets your needs.
Continuing Research
ssWe are continuing to research the company. If you have experience with Signature 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.
Please note: we do not answer questions posted in the comments unless they are of general interest. If you have a specific question, email us at starcraftreviews@yahoo.com.
Footnotes:
1. Certification for compliance with ASME A112.18.1/CSA B125.1 and NSF 61/9 is required by all state and provincial plumbing codes in use in North America.
- International Plumbing Code, Section 424.1 - Faucets and Fixtures, Approval: Faucets and fixture fittings shall conform to ASME A112.18.1/CSA B125.1. Faucets and fixture fittings that supply drinking water for human ingestion shall conform to the requirements of NSF 61, Section 9.
- Uniform Plumbing Code, Section 403.3.2.1: The following standards are adopted as plumbing material, performance requirements, and labeling standards for plumbing fixture fittings. Faucets, aerators, and shower heads shall meet either the ANSI/ASME standard or the CSA standard: ASME A112.18.1, CSA B125-1…Fixture fittings covered under the scope of ANSI/NSF 61 shall be in accordance with the requirements of ANSI/NSF 61.
- National Standard Plumbing Code: Section 3.4.6: "Limits on Lead Content: "materials used in the potable water supply system, including faucets and valves, shall not contain more than an average of 0.25 percent lead" and "drinking water system components shall comply with the lead leachate requirements &hellip of NSF 61.9". ASME A12.18.1/CSA 125.1 is identified in Table 3.1.3: as the safety and reliability standard for faucets. Published by the National Association of Plumbing Heating-Cooling Contractors since 1933, Louisiana and New Jersey are the only two states still using this model code as the basis for their state plumbing codes.
- National Plumbing Code of Canada: 2.2.10.6. Supply and Waste Fittings. 1) Supply fittings shall conform to a) ASME A112.18.1/CAN/CSA-B125.1 "Plumbing Supply fittings"&hellip"
- For a complete list of the plumbing codes adopted by each state, see Faucet Basics, Part 3: Keeping Faucets Safe & Reliable.
2. See e.g. Régie du bâtiment du Québec: "Après le 2 octobre 2008, la vente ou la location de matériaux, d'appareils ou d'équipements destinés à une installation de plomberie qui n'ont pas été certifiés ou agréés par un organisme agréé est interdite." ("After October 2, 2008, the sale or lease of materials, devices or equipment intended for a plumbing facility that have not been certified or approved by an accredited body is prohibited.") (Emphasis supplied)