Although the bath/kitchen renovation was spec’ed out to be a 6-8 week project at the most, and started back in late January, the last 10% of work has been dragging on for months. In the meantime, one of the few fully functional things in the kitchen is the sink and faucet. So I thought I’d comment on its performance.

This was one of the few purchases that we didn’t anguish too much over because really, aren’t all sinks more or less the same? Anyway, we really, really wanted a farmhouse (aka “apron”) sink. They have been a little overplayed in the past couple of years but it seemed like the perfect thing to capture the sort of vintage-y look we were going for. There aren’t too many models to choose from in Canada, and we ended up going with the Franke (though really, it’s by Villeroy and Boch though) because it was the only one that had close to the right dimensions. We considered the Ikea DOMSJÖ sink but read some bad reviews about poor craftsmanship and cracking, and decided not to chintz out. Modification of the Ikea cabinet to house the non-Ikea farmhouse sink is an entirely separate post, complete with its own drama. Let’s just say it’s not a straightforward process.

The faucet was also fairly easy to narrow down — not only did it have to coordinate with the sink, but I also had specific requirements for a) one on/off waterflow control that could be regulated with, say, the side of a hand (for those grimy situations) and b) some sort of integrated pull-out sprayer to get to those hard to reach spots in dishes. We checked out the aisles of Rona and Home Depot and came to the conclusion that not only were their faucets for the most part very suburban looking (to put it nicely), but they did not were not designed with farmhouse sinks in mind.

Once more, the modest options available to us in Vancouver meant that we were left with looking at faucets at a few small retailers. The only store that had something appropriate seemed to be Cantu, and then it was just a handful because most of their options were very modern. One model left us gasping at its pricetag, and then there were two. The one we ultimately decided on was by Hansgrohe, still somewhat pricey but with a decent reputation. And on a lark, we checked to see if it was on Ebay. We lucked out and found the model we wanted at significant savings there. Unfortunately, I no longer remember the model name — why, you ask? Well, we did purchase it, and got it delivered while a trip down in the US, and then on the return flight, the airlines promptly lost it. Poof, gone into the ether. Right around then, we happened to be at the new chi-chi, ultra-confusing Cambie location of Home Depot and they had a similar looking “Metro” Hansgrohe faucet laying around in a random bin for a fantastic price (none of the staff seemed to really know anything about it). Sure, it was a bit more modern looking but by this point we didn’t really care.

The day arrived when the whole thing came together: the cabinet could finally house the sink, the granite finally had the hole in the correct spot for the faucet (it wasn’t done correctly the first time), we had the second faucet, and the water was turned back on! How exciting not to have to wash our dishes in the basement bathroom sink anymore! And visually they both worked really well in the kitchen, and made for a nice contrast against the black granite.

As we turned the faucet on, we realized that the thing really blasted on. By blasting, I mean that when you press the handle, either the water is all the way on, or it is off. And “on” meant lots of splashing and in some cases, a nasty ricochet of water bouncing off of plates right into your face. To find some nice, trickling middle ground requires some serious finesse and patience, not an easy nudge of the hand. Also, it’s somewhat difficult to describe, but the “needle spray” holes that surround the circumference of the spout drip even when it’s streaming water in “regular” faucet model. Icing on top is that the fixture overall is a bit wiggly. Hard to believe for a faucet that can retail for $500.

As for the farmhouse sink, it did mesh well with the vintage vibe. What we didn’t realize was the sink interior isn’t angled to encourage the water to flow down the drain. This means that various pieces of rinsed off food, debris and suds etc get stuck in its corners, much like the completely rectangular modern sinks. Huh, can’t believe a relatively expensive sink could have this design flaw. Good thing we have our pull-out spray, even if a washcloth is needed to clean up its watery aftermath…On the plus side, the width of the sink means you can wash large pots and pans with no problem. Not to mention you can cram a lot of dirty dishes in there!

So, all in all, good look but not as great functionally as we thought it would be. We’re not sure if we can stomach removing the faucet and sending it back to the manufacturer for the mystery drip and wiggle. It might just have to be one of those things we accept.

Lessons learned:
1. Check out the drainage situation in kitchen sinks, make sure that it’s angled so gravity can take over.
2. Try to avoid modifying Ikea base cabinets for farmhouse sinks if at all possible.
3. If there’s any way to check out the pressure of a faucet before purchases, try to do so.
4. Having some way of leaving the pull-out spray “on” (without pressing continuously on a button) would have been a very handy feature.
5. Higher-end products doesn’t necessarily mean better design. Sigh.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 5:48 pm and is filed under materials, tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.