This Old House Reviews team

Kitchen faucets come in various styles, from smart, touch-to-start faucets to basic single-handle models. To help you determine which kitchen faucet is best for a replacement or upgrade, the This Old House Reviews team searched Amazon for the best kitchen faucets. Here are our top five picks.

 

Buyer’s Guide

Before buying a kitchen faucet for your home, it is essential to understand the factors that impact its user experience and look. Here are three factors to consider before purchasing a faucet.

1. Finish

While a kitchen faucet’s finish doesn’t affect its use or performance, you may want to purchase a faucet that matches other appliances in your kitchen. Some of the most common faucet finishes are chrome, stainless steel, and brushed nickel, though some faucets are available in matte black and bronze.

2. Flow rate

Flow rate describes how much water a faucet pours in a set period, usually measured in gallons per minute (GPM). While a faucet with a higher flow rate typically has higher water pressure, it will use more water and cost more money to operate. A typical faucet flow rate is under 2 GPM.

3. Type

Kitchen faucets come in different styles with unique benefits. Popular faucet styles include single-handle, double-handle, hands-free, and pull-down. 

Single-handle faucets are some of the most basic models, consisting of a temperature-adjusting handle, a spout, and a separate side sprayer. 

Double-handle kitchen faucets are similar to single-handle faucets in design. However, instead of a single handle to control hot and cold water, a double-handle model features a hot handle and a cold handle that allows users to adjust the water temperature. Like single-handle faucets, double-handle models don’t have a sprayer but usually include a separate side sprayer.

A hands-free kitchen faucet uses touch technology and a traditional handle to deliver water. Hands-free kitchen faucets are convenient because of their touch technology, but they’re more expensive than their traditional single- or double-handled counterparts.

Pull-down faucets can be single-, double-, or hands-free faucets and are equipped with a spray nozzle located in the spout that you can pull down for simple spraying.

 

Additional Content Section

Tips and Tricks for Your Kitchen Faucet and Sink

The kitchen faucet and sink are some of the most used parts of any home. Once you’ve decided on the best kitchen faucet for your needs, you’ll want to take good care of it so the faucet can serve you and your family for many years to come. Below, we’ve outlined various tips and tricks to help you better utilize and maintain your kitchen faucet and sink. 

• Use an old electric toothbrush (or simply an old toothbrush head) to clean your kitchen faucet and the area around it. The powerful vibration of a fully-charged electric toothbrush, combined with part water and part distilled white vinegar, will quickly break up any caked-on grime or hard water deposits. 
• Use a pool noodle to extend the reach of your faucet when filling large buckets or other awkwardly-shaped items that won’t fit into the sink. Pool noodles do an excellent job at containing and directing the water from the faucet to wherever the noodle is aimed. Plus, they’re flexible. 
• For a natural way to cut down any hard water coming through the tap, place half a lemon in a plastic bag and tie it around the head of the faucet with a rubber band. Make sure the lemon is slightly jammed into the head of the faucet. After a few hours, the citric acid should clear up most of the hard water deposits. 
• Place the instruction manuals or other papers inside a plastic bag with a zipper to keep any information about your kitchen faucet, sink, or garbage disposal on hand. You can also place any spare pieces of hardware, such as washers or o-rings, in the bag. 
  • If you have hooks in the cabinetry underneath your kitchen sink, you can punch a small hole near the top of the plastic bag and hang it. 

 

 

FAQs

 

• Are kitchen faucets universal?

Not all kitchen faucets are constructed or installed in the same way. Typically, a kitchen faucet will have between one and four mounting holes, with each hole corresponding to a part of the faucet. For example, kitchen faucets with two mounting holes typically have a single-handle spout and a side sprayer accessory.

• How long does a kitchen faucet last?

Kitchen faucets can last more than 10 years, though there are warning signs that signal when it’s time to replace your faucet. So if you’re constantly repairing a leaky faucet or its water efficiency is outdated, consider a replacement.

• Do I need a plumber to replace a faucet?

Whether or not you need a plumber to replace a faucet depends on your comfort level. If you have experience replacing plumbing fixtures, replacing a kitchen faucet is a simple procedure that requires a few tools, such as an adjustable wrench and pliers. However, if you don’t want to worry about installation, a professional can install your new faucet in less than an hour.

Why Trust The This Old House Reviews Team

This Old House has empowered homeowners for more than four decades with top-notch home improvement content in the form of television programs, print media, and digital content on its website and social media platforms. The This Old House Reviews Team focuses on creating in-depth product and service review content to help inform your purchasing decision for just about any item or resource that you might need for your home. The This Old House Reviews Team has written over 1,000 reviews on products in the home space, from cordless drills to kitchen trash cans, lawn mowers, and dining room decorations. 

We recommend products in each review using an intensive research process, spending hours combing through the best available models on Amazon. For a product to make our list of top picks, it must hold a solid sales record on Amazon, have consistently positive customer reviews, and offer unique features, among other factors. After narrowing down our list of recommendations, we conduct additional research and sometimes in-person testing to ensure that the products meet our standards. Once we conclude the research phase, we craft a well-rounded, user-friendly article that includes our recommended products and additional information to help homeowners like you make the right purchase.

 

 

The This Old House Reviews Team provides overviews of select products that are top-selling on Amazon and/or popular in consumer searches. Our team evaluates the products based on industry research, consumer reviews, pricing data, hands-on testing in select cases, and other objective criteria unique to a given product line. Unless otherwise noted, these product reviews are intended to help inform buying decisions for DIY or other non-pro users only. Editor’s picks are made by members of the This Old House Reviews Team.