How to Choose a New Kitchen Faucet that will Last

The kitchen faucet is the centerpiece of your sink, so it’s worth taking time to pick one that looks great and works well with the rest of the kitchen.

Whether you are remodeling, building an ADU, or replacing an existing fixture, this guide will help you choose a new kitchen faucet that you’ll love and that will stand up to everyday use.

Choose your Kitchen Faucet Style

This has more to do with the overall design of your kitchen. While you may be able to mix styles in certain situations, you will generally want to get a traditional faucet for a kitchen with a traditional design, and a contemporary faucet for a kitchen with modern design elements.

Here is an example of a faucet with a traditional design:

Here is an example of a contemporary kitchen faucet:

You might hear the term transitional thrown around a lot as well. ‘Transitional’ is the gray area between contemporary and traditional. 

I prefer to be more specific, using terms like Art Deco, Gothic, Arts & Crafts, Industrial, English Country, etc.

Here are some kitchen faucet examples that may fall into one of those categories I just named:

Choose your Kitchen Faucet Finish

The color of your faucet is just as important as the style. A faucet finish that complements the color palette of your kitchen will help tie everything together and be a welcome focal point.

Knowing the range of colors you want to use before shopping for a kitchen faucet is also helpful. While many manufacturers make their faucets in a wide variety of finishes, many limit certain finishes to certain kitchen faucet series.

In general, if you have cool tones in your kitchen, such as black, gray, white, and blues, the following finishes will work best:

-Matte black

-Polished chrome

-Stainless steel (not to be confused with brushed/satin nickel)

-Black chrome

-Gunmetal

-Satin brass

-Matte white

-etc.

If you have warm tones in your kitchen, such as browns, beiges, golds, rusty reds and so on, these finishes tend to work best:

-Brushed/satin nickel

-Polished nickel

-Satin gold

-Polished gold

-Polished brass

-Brushed bronze

-Oil rubbed bronze

-etc.

There are always exceptions to thes rules, but this is a solid foundation from which to choose the right kitchen faucet finish.

Pulldown, Pullout, or Bridge?

Pulldown

As of this writing, the pulldown kitchen faucet is by far the most common and popular choice. They come in a wide variety of styles, range from ~15”-21” high, and only use one hole on your kitchen sink.

The sprayhead pulls down, has a reach of ~18-22” and typically has a toggle switch on the head to go from spray mode to a steady stream.

Pulldown faucets take up the least space, which is a consideration when you may also be adding an air gap, soap dispenser, air switch for the garbage disposal and maybe even a filter faucet.

Pullout

A pullout spray is not as common as the pulldown, and because of this you’re options will be limited. However, if you find a style and finish of pulldown kitchen faucet you like, you will have a fixture that is lower, typically from 6”-14” high, and pulls out as opposed to down, which some people prefer. 

The pullout faucet is often used when a homeowner doesn’t want to block a beautiful view.

Bridge Faucets

Bridge kitchen faucets now have as many contemporary options as traditional ones. They take up a minimum of two holes, and most often 3 because the sprayhead is separate and gets its own space. 

Add to this a couple of accessories and you could have 6 or 7 holes on your sink, as many bridge faucets have 3 holes before you add the sidespray.

These faucets make a bold, beautiful statment and tend to cost much more than pulldown or pullout kitchen faucets. There are also more moving parts to deal with, so an experienced installer is a must. 

So how do you choose between these three styles? If you’ve finished the first 2 steps, choosing your kitchen faucet style and color, your options should be significantly narrowed down.

Decide whether you want the cleaner simplicity of the pulldown or pullout, or the more attention-grabbing bridge faucet. 

Choosing Quality

Choosing a quality kitchen faucet can be difficult. There are some that are obviously not made to last. They are lightweight potmetal, may have lots of plastic, and can be purchased cheap and off the shelf.

Chances are you will be replacing those within 3-5 years.

However, there are also solid brass faucets that are made to order and cost a lot money, but can be problematic. 

What’s a kitchen faucet consumer to do?

Here are a few traits I’ve noticed associated with the least problematic kitchen faucets, that might help you narrow it down:

-Well designed styles and finishes. Companies that take the time to create a special product seem to stand behind it more

-Practical, efficient design. In other words, is it easy to use? Is the spray comfortable to squeeze or toggle? You will be using this everyday so it’s important to consider.

-Magnetic sprayhead. A lot of companies have begun to add magnets to the sprayhead and/or dock to keep them tucked in until they’re ready to use. 

-Customer service. This should probably be number 1. 

I have a motto, if I can’t reach someone at the company who makes the product without a hassle, I don’t sell their product. 

Time zones notwithstanding, if you’re charging $1000+ for a faucet, you should be available to your customers.

-Warranties. A lifetime warranty or even 10 year warranty is great. Make sure it covers the finish as well. However, it’s even more important if the company takes care of customers with minimal hassle when there is a warranty issue. 

You may have to trust your salesperson’s experience on this one. For example, because I work in the industry I’m aware of how easy or how difficult it is to get parts or replacments from the different companies we sell. (For the record, the vasty majority do really well with this.)

There are always more tiny details you can consider when choosing your new kitchen faucet, but if you follow this basic guide, the kitchen faucet of your dreams can be yours.

Happy Shopping!

*I am an Amazon affiliate and will receive a small commission for any items purchased through links in this article, at no additional cost to you.