Zline Faucets Review & Rating Updated: January 1, 2025

Summary
Imported
China Flag
China
Rating
Business Type
For more information on the five faucet company business types, see Faucet Companies
Product Range
Kitchen, Bath, Prep, and Bar Faucets
Certifications
Brands
Zline
Street Price
$220-$700
Warranty Score
Cartridge
Lifetime1, 2
Finishes
Lifetime
Mechanical Parts
Lifetime
Proof of Purchase
Required
Transferable
No
Meets U.S. Warranty
Law Requirements
No3
Warranty Footnotes:
1. The term "lifetime" is not defined.
2. "Repaired parts or replacement products will be provided by ZLINE Kitchen on an exchange basis and will be either new or refurbished to be functionally equivalent to new. The consumer is responsible for shipping costs."
3. The warranty contains legal defects. See the main report for more information.

This Company In Brief

Z Line Kitchen and Bath LLC distributes imported kitchen appliances sold under the Zline name through showrooms and online retailers.

It also imports and distributes kitchen sinks and kitchen and bath faucets along with coordinating shower systems and bathroom accessories. Faucets, however, are a minor part of its business.

Zline faucets are above average to good in overall quality and incorporate top-quality component parts.

They are supported by a lifetime warranty on all parts of the faucet. The warranty, however, does not meet the minimum requirements of federal warranty law in the U.S., contains ambiguous and undefined terms that affect the scope of coverage, and the warranty claim process is unduly complicated and time-consuming.

The faucets are made in China by companies that specialized in manufacturing for the export market.

Faucet styling leans toward contemporary but with a leavening of traditional and transitional styles. Most of the designs are of no particular distinction, reflecting styling commonly made available by Chinese faucet manufacturers, but some are novel and interesting.

A company spokesperson informed us in 2021 that the company was working to meet Energy Policy and Conservation Act filing requirements. However, as of the date of this report, the company still has not registered its faucets.

The Company

Z Line Kitchen and Bath LLC was founded in either 2005 or 2006 (depending on the source) by Andrew David Zuro. It was reorganized as a limited liability company under a Nevada charter in 2013.

Mr. Duro is still the company's CEO, managing the firm from an office/warehouse in Reno, Nevada.

The company has three locations.

Its headquarters in Reno is its import hub that also handles distribution to its showrooms and other authorized third-party retail sellers. A second distribution center was added in 2018 in Bruceton, Tennessee.

Its online retail outlet, The Range Hood Store in Marysville, Ohio handles direct sales to retail buyers and all customer services including warranty claims.

In addition to its own online store, the company sells through other internet retailers in the U.S. and Canada including general merchandisers wuch as Amazon and Wayfair, online appliance stores like A. J. Madison, plumbing suppliers including Build.com, and big box lumber stores such as Home Depot (online) and Lowes (online).

It also sells through independent brick-and-mortar showrooms throughout the U.S. A showroom locator on the company website will help you find the store nearest you.

The company's principal focus is on kitchen appliances.

Its original kitchen product, range hoods, takes up most of the space in its catalog. It offers a generous variety in every configuration including wall-mounted, under-cab­inet, and island hoods. It also sells ventilation inserts designed to be built into cabinets and remote blowers in which the fan mechanism is located in the ducting, away from the actual hood, to reduce kitchen noise. Hood materials include the usual stainless steel and copper but also unusual materials like zinc and wood. Some may be used outdoors.

From range hoods, the company expanded into other kitchen appliances and now sells ranges, wall ovens, microwaves, and dishwashers.

Its ranges are made in China to emulate the commercial styling of high-end products made by Dacor, Thermador, Wolfe, and Viking but without the sky-high prices of these American-made upscale brands. The dishwashers come in a range of door finishes not available elsewhere including a wood panel that can be stained or painted to match most cabinets.

The Suppliers

The next step brought in sinks, showers, and faucets. These are a relatively small although growing part of Zline's inventory of products. The faucets are made in China by two manufacturers (that we know of, there may be more).

Bath Collections

Some bath faucets are arranged in collections that include showers and matching accessories such as towel bars and rings, robe hooks, and toilet tissue holders for a nicely coordinated look. Other lavatory faucets are stand-alone – not a part of matching collections. Kitchen faucets are all stand-alone, not matched to any accessory or any particular Zline sink.

The Finishes

Faucets are available in six finishes: Chrome, Brushed Nickel, Gun Metal (Pewter), Matte Black, Oil-Rubbed Bronze, and Pol­ished Gold.

Any finish other than Chrome adds to the price of the faucet, sometimes significantly.

Only a few faucets are still finished in Oil-Rubbed Bronze which seems to be on its way out. Its replacement appears to be Gun Metal.

With the exception of Chrome, an finish, the finishes all appear to be the very tough (PVD) finishes.

Both are considered durable technologies, but PVD is the more durable. By some estimates they are 10 to 20 times more scratch-resistant than electroplated chrome.

Faucet Finishes: For more information on the types of fau­cet finishes and their advantages and drawbacks, see Faucet Finishes.

Zline Websites

Zline maintains three websites that we know of:

All of the websites are well-designed and well-illustrated with intuitive, menu-driven navigation.

Finding a faucet is very easy. Click on the product at the main menu to display thumbnail images of all of the faucets available arranged by finish. Then click on a thumbnail to display the listing for the particular faucet that interests you.

Once the faucet is found, however, information about the faucet is disappointingly sparse – much less complete than is needed for an informed faucet buying decision.

The faucet listing contains a brief description of the faucet and its finish options. When a finish is selected a 3/4 image of the faucet is displayed in the chosen finish. Additional images show the faucet installed.

Specifications

A Specifications link, however, does provide more detail about the faucet including its dimensions, configuration (one-hole, three-hole, pull-down, etc.), flow rate, and whether the faucet is ADA compliant.

Installation Instructions

There is no access to installation instructions specific to the faucet.

There are general faucet installation instructions in what is identified as a "manual", but these are much too general to be of much use. Model-specific instructions are useful to read before buying a faucet to identify any installation problems that may arise in the particular location planned for the faucet.

Valve Cartridges

There is no information about a faucet's cartridge other than a mention 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.

We think that the cartridges in Zline faucets are probably some of the best made – a conclusion reached through a visual examination of a selection of Zline kitchen and bath faucets and confirmed by a Zline spokesperson.

However, we did not examine every Zline faucet model, so it is always prudent to confirm the manufacturer of a cartridge with customer service before buying a faucet.

The company's single-handle faucets we examined are equipped with ceramic mixing cartridges made by Kerox Kft. of Hungary. Kerox is well known for the high-quality ceramic discs that it sells to other cartridge manufacturers and Kerox cartridges are regarded by most in the industry as among the best mixing cartridges on the market.

Zline's two-handle faucets include a ceramic quarter-turn stem cartridge made by the German company, Flöhs Drehtechnik, GmbH, well-known for its stunningly flawless products.

Flöhs, located in Lödenscheid, Germany since 1926, is renown for its precision machining and is generally thought of as the manufacturer of the world's best single-function stem cartridge. Flöhs (sometimes spelled Fluehs for English speakers) valves are heavy-duty products with an established reputation for leak-free reliability.

The combination of Kerox and Flöhs cartridges is used in many premium faucet lines including

So, Zline is in good company with its choice of cartridges.

Ceramic Cartridges: Its ceramic cartridge is the heart of a modern faucet. The cartridge controls water flow and (in single-handle faucets) water temperature. With a working cartridge, a faucet is a faucet doing what faucets do: metering water in a safe and controlled manner. Without a working cartridge, a faucet is just a strange-looking paperweight. So, the ceramic cartridge must be tough, durable, and long-lived.

See Faucet Valves & Cartridges for more information on cartridge brands.

Aerators

The faucets also include Neo­perl® aerators. Faucet aerators used to be simple devices, often no more sophisticated than several layers of window screen installed at the end of a faucet spout to infuse a little air in the water stream so it would not splash out of the sink.

Legal Defects in the Zline Warranty

The Zline warranty does not comply with the minimum requirements of the Mag­nu­son-Moss War­ranty Act (15 U.S.C. §2308), the federal law that sets the rules for consumer product warranties in the United States.

  1. Undefined Terms & Phrases

    In addition to the word "lifetime", certain other terms and phrases used in the warranty that do not have commonly understood meanings are undefined. Such terms and phrases are not permited in a consumer warranty (16 CFR § 701.3(a)(2)).

    These include the phrases "[a]bnormal mechanical or environment [sic[ conditions" and "unauthorized disassembly repair". We have no idea what makes a disassembly repair "unauthorized" or a mechanical or environmental condition "abnormal" – and we suspect no one else does either.

    The phrase "non-consumable replacement parts" is also suspect. We know of no part of a modern faucet that is considered "consumable."

  1. Prohibited Limitation on Implied Warranties

    The warranty attempts to limit the duration of state law implied warranties with the following language:

    "[A]ny applicable implied warranties, including the warranty of merchantability are limited in duration to a period of express warranty as provided herein." …

    The overall scheme of Magnuson-Moss is that a company's written warranty supplements but does not replace state law implied warranties. Implied warranties cannot be excluded entirely.

    In a limited warranty, however, the duration of the warranty can be shortened to match the duration of the company's written warranty. For example, if the company offers a one-year written warranty, implied warranties can also be limited to one year.

    However, the limiting language must include the following disclaimer:

    "Some States do not allow limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts, so the above limitation may not apply to you."

    Zlin's warranty does not include the language. Without the delimiting language, Zline's attempt to limit the term of implied warranties is void and without effect.

  2. Warranty Claim Instructions

    Magnuson-Moss requires

    "[a] step-by-step explanation of the procedure which the consumer should follow to make a claim under the warranty including the mailing address or telephone number to use." (16 CFR § 701.3(a)(5))

    The Zline warranty does not include any warranty claim instructions, leaving the consumer to guess at the procedure to be followed and how to contact Zline with a claim.

  3. Incidental and Consequential Damages:

    The warranty attempts to exclude any responsibility for certain consequential and incidental damages including

    "…any loss of properties or any cost associated with removing, servicing installing or determining the source of the problems with our products."

    But, the warranty does not include the following required clarifying statement: (16 CFR § 701.3(8))

    "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."

    Without the required disclaimer, the attempt at exclusion is simply void.

    Consequential and incidental damages are those other than the defect in the fau­cet itself. For example, your Zline fau­cet leaks and damages your cabinets. The leak is a "direct damage" to the faucet. The damage to the cabinets is a "consequential damage". If you need to hire an engineer to prove that the leak caused the damage to the cabinets, the engineer's fees are an "incidental damage". Col­lec­tively, consequential and incidental damages are called "indirect" or "special" damages;

  4. Required Language:

    A consumer product warranty must include the following statement: (16 CFR § 701.3(9))

    "This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from State to State"

    The Zline warranty does not contain the statement. The courts have not made clear the legal consequence of omitting this language, but most likely it simply voids the warranty.

Show More

Today, however, aerators are precision-engineered products used to limit water volume to the lower flows required by local water conservation laws, and in faucets with pullout sprays, to prevent back-flow that could contaminate household drinking water. It is important, therefore, that this little device, often smaller than a dime, be the best available. And that, almost by definition, is the Swiss-engineered Neoperl® aerator.

Certifications

The Zline website identifies each faucet's certifications, but in many instances the identification is incorrect. Faucets are described as "UL listed", which is not true. Appliances are UL Listed, plumbing products almost never.

Zline faucets are indeed certified to joint Canadian/U.S. standards, but not by Underwriters Laboratories. We think the error is just carelessness in drafting and not an attempt at deception. See more information below.

Faucet Materials

Zline also claims that some faucets are made of brass, then a few lines later describes the faucets as made of stainless steel. It is undoubtedly made of one material or the other, but it would be nice to know which. Again, we think this is a result of carelessness and not intended to be deceptive.

Misleading Claims

However, the company does make other claims about its faucets that appear to be intentionally misleading.

For example, some bath and kitchen faucets are described as featuring "German … engineering and design" – a claim that is simply not true.

The faucets are designed and engineered in China. They may have been copied from German faucets, but were neither designed nor engineered in Germany or by Germans.

Zline also plays games with its customer reviews.

If there are insufficient positive reviews about a particular faucet, it simply imports favorable reviews from other faucets, then rates customer satisfaction with the faucet based in whole or in part on these imported reviews.

Not exactly Kosher.

The Faucet Warranty

The company's faucet warranty is for a "Limited Lifetime", which is the standard for faucet warranties in North America. However, the cumbersome claims process, ambiguities in the warranty document, and its lack of compliance with the U.S. Mag­nu­son-Moss War­ranty Act (15 U.S.C. §2308) reduce its warranty rating to "Below Standard."

While the warranty caption indicates a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects in the faucet, the term "lifetime" is never mentioned in the body of the warranty and is never defined.

The term is not self-defining as both the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. courts have pointed out many times.

It could have many meanings: the lifetime of the buyer, the lifetime of the faucet, even the lifetime of the company. The term is ambiguous. U.S. warranty law does not permit ambiguity in a faucet warranty. Where ambiguity exists, it must be resolved in favor of the consumer. So, whichever lifetime is most benefits the buyer will be the lifetime that applies.

The warranty is also unusual in that it does not require the buyer to continue to own the faucet for the warranty to remain in effect. One interesting and unexpected result of the omission is that it is possible for the buyer to retain all rights under the warranty even after he or she no longer owns the faucet.

Consider this example:

The buyer sells his or her house to Cousin Nell. The warranty does not end at the sale because (1) the buyer is not yet dead, (2) the faucet still exists, (3) the company is still in business, and (4) the universe lives on.

The ownership of the faucet passes to Cousin Nell with title to the house but not the warranty. The warranty, by its terms, is not transferable. Since Cousin Nell cannot inherit it, warranty rights are retained by the buyer.

If the faucet develops a leak, could Buyer make a warranty claim for Nell's benefit?

The answer is yes. A party to a contract can enforce the terms of the contract for the benefit of a person who is not a party to the contract.

An odd result indeed, but that's the way Zline has chosen to write its warranty. We doubt that the Zline warranty was drafted by a lawyer, but if it was, he or she urgently needs a refresher on U. S. warranty law.

The company makes the warranty claim process needlessly cumbersome and time-con­sum­ing.

To get repair parts or a replacement faucet, the buyer must first ship the defective parts or the whole faucet back to the company (at the buyer's expense).

After confirming the defect, the company will then ship replacements "on an exchange basis," (shipping again at the buyer's expense).

With smartphones that produce high-resolution images and videos, examining the actual parts to confirm a defect is seldom necessary. The lengthy process required by Zline may mean that a faucet will be out of service for weeks if not months. (How long can you make do without a working kitchen faucet?)

By comparison, a company with first-class warranty service like will have repair parts or a replacement faucet to you in a few days after a single telephone call.

Buyers outside of the continental U. S. should be aware that the warranty does not apply to Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, or any U. S. overseas territory. It applies only in the contiguous 48 states of the continental U. S. We did not find a Canadian warranty.

Customer Service

The company scored well on our standard customer support tests, 4.1 our of 5. Anything above 4.0 is satisfactory.

The Better Business Bureau rates Zline A+, its highest rating, for responding to customer complaints appropriately over the past three years.

Comparable Faucets

Faucets made in China comparable to Zline in price, quality, design, and strength of warranty include

All of these companies offer a stronger warranty on their faucets than is available from Zline and many offer similar faucets at substantially below the prices charged by Zline.

Conclusions

The company has failed to meet all of the regulatory requirements imposed on importers of foreign-made faucets. However, it has met the important requirement that faucets be certified safe, reliable, and lead-free. So, we know they will do no harm and are safe to use.

Be aware, however, that the warranty supporting the faucets is sub-standard for the North American market primarily due to the convoluted and cumbersome claims process. Similar Asian-made faucets with stronger warranties are available from other companies (See the list above).

Zline faucets are not approved by state authorities for sale or installation in Massachusetts and cannot be sold or installed in that state. Its bathroom sink faucets are not Watersense® listed and cannot be installed in Colorado.

Continuing Research

We are continuing to research the company. If you have experience with Zline faucets, good, bad, or indifferent, we would like to hear about it, so please e-mail us at starcraftreviews@yahoo.com or post a comment below.