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KRAUS Commercial-Style Single-Handle Kitchen Faucet with Pull Down Pre-Rinse Sprayer
I'm pretty well competent in doing plumbing, electrical, construction, you name it. Bought the faucet as price wise it looked a great buy compared to the local home stores as the price was about the same as a standard name faucet set.
Upon arrival the faucet is impressive. The lower section is quite heavy and looks well made. The sprayer retainer has a couple of set screws to hold in a plastic guide for the thing to pivot on. The upper portion is a heavy chrome spring (chrome finish faucet) with a standard looking flex hose run in the middle of it. The sprayer head is very heavy with a good feel to the handle and has a loop that flips over the top of the handle to hold the sprayer on if you want to wash veg etc. without having to hold the handle down to get the spray. Whole thing is very commercial looking.
The little flip handle at the end of the faucet allows you to divert the water. You can have both the sprayer and the faucet going at the same time or you can turn the little handle piece at the end of the faucet and gradually turn the water off on the faucet side so only the sprayer works.
Flow wise it seems plenty to me. We have good water pressure in our home so don't know if that makes a difference, but the sprayer and faucet run a good jet of water that seems plenty powerful for what we need. Any more and I would think that the water would be hitting whatever you are spraying and splashing everywhere. Still might as it is now.
Main control is the handle on the side down low. With the handle tilted out from the faucet the water turns on. Takes a bit of getting used to not to pull it too far and have the water full on. Does not take much range of motion to do. Feels solid and not flimsy. Straight up is cold and if you turn the handle towards you is hot. Turns (going off memory now) approx 90 degrees from straight up. So, worked well for us as we were concerned with the range of motion of some faucets we looked at and felt they would hit the back splash and so we'd have to turn the control more towards the sink to clear. Not a problem with this one as the range of motion puts all action out toward the sink. Hope that makes sense. Both the facet spout and sprayer both pivot so you can put the water where you need.
Issues. Not been in that long so longevity I don't feel I can comment on. We felt, for the price, we could install it, use it and if it had a problem that was not in warranty then we were not out any more than a regular faucet. Looked at a Kohler that was approx the same as this one (had a arched tube instead of a spring and a standard looking pull out sprayer hose with a really nice head on it) that was $1000! Felt this was quite a bargain then!
Instructions. I'm pretty handy. The instructions are a little vague. Connection of the hot and cold lines - when they are talking about left and right on connection lay the faucet assembly down with the main controller facing the right. The hose connections are angled, but one is more to the left than the other and this is how I hooked it and it works correctly. Turn to the red position on the main controller and the hot water comes on.
There are two rubber washers in the kit. Might have missed where they go as all you get is an expaneded view picture, but looked to see and did not really see where they go. I finally (and perhaps not correctly) put one on the connection of the flex pipe with the spring around it to the main unit as it looked like it needed some seal there. Also, maybe need to take a better look, but could not decide which way the spray retainer should be sitting. The retainer is cupped on one side and flat on the other. With it installed with the flat surface up the connection for the spring hose is easy to get too, but then the spring just slides around and can twist at an angle. With it flipped the other way with the cup part up the hose connection is pretty difficult to get in and tighten, but the spring then sits in the cup and is held in place. That is how we have it installed now.
Last is a comment on mounting. Instructions are clear enough, but it would have been nice to have something that looked a little more sturdy. Perhaps a threaded collar made on to the base, in a diameter to fit a standard faucet hole, that would slide through the sink or counter and then a retaining washer and nut that could be tightened on so that you had a wider load spread and perhaps less chance of movement within the mount hole. The soap dispenser we bought looks more sturdy of a mount. What the faucet comes with is a threaded hole at the bottom that a 3/8 or so stud mounts in. This and the hoses slip through the hole and then a horseshoe metal retainer (to allow the hoses to pass through) and a rubber seal are what retains everything. You just tighten a small 7/16 wrench nut on it. With the weight of this thing it just seems like it could have been designed more stable. I tightened it as much as I dare (mounting in silestone counter) and it does not move or wabble, but wonder about maybe having to go back in down the road to retighten. Just seems a flimsy mount compared to what it could be. Might be fine though. Hose connections - simple enough, they screw to your hot and cold pipe connections. Only issue I had was the flex lines that come with the faucet were too short. Had to go buy some hoses to extend the length to reach the lines.
Guess last word of caution is that this thing is HEAVY! If you are mounting to a sink itself and the gauge is not thick enough you may have issues. Nothing to support this, but just a feeling. Hope that helps. NOTE: so far I'd recommend, but again has not been in long so no longevity comment. Feels pretty sturdy, metal for the spray head, metal base etc. Looks great for the price.