Choosing Home Plumbing Fixtures and Faucets
Styling
Faucets come in many styles and you have a wide variety of styles to choose from. The modern style incorporates clean and simple lines and very few details. On the other hand those with banding, fluting and floral motifs can be used for a more traditional look. You can also add variety while choosing faucet handles. Whatever styling you choose keep in mind the basic theme of your home.
Surface Finish
The base metal in most faucets is brass. Variety is achieved by adding different surface finishes. The cheapest finish is of course chrome but it has an ordinary and plain look. To add more style to the plain chrome surface you can choose one with a colored enamel finish. The nickel finish is still better because you can have a brushed look in addition to the polished look. Many people prefer the brushed finish because the polished nickel surface is shiny and retains ugly fingerprints. You can also choose to have stainless steel faucets which also come in the brushed and polished finishes. They are a bit more expensive. Finally you can buy faucets with the brass finish either alone or in combination with stainless steel.
Function
After you have decided on the styling and finishes you have to choose the fixtures according their function because that is why you are buying them in the first place. The basic type of plumbing fixtures according to function are as follows:
Kitchen Sinks
The most important factor in choosing the kitchen sink faucet is the large clearance from all sides so that you can fit in your largest pots underneath. There must be enough room for easy maneuver. You can also go for a faucet having a removable spray head. This will enable you to easily clean difficult to reach spots in some utensils. Also it is easier to maneuver the spray head than a large pot.
Bathroom Sinks
The bathroom sink faucets need not have much clearance and therefore they are smaller than faucets used in kitchen sinks. The simple function lends itself to a wide variety of choices.
Laundry Sinks
The faucets used in laundry sinks that are large and tub shaped are designed to be functionally suitable for the purpose. They are designed to extend out a few inches so that the direction of the spray is towards the center of the laundry sink. For these types of faucets you won’t have much choice of style as function is more important here.
Bar Sinks
The faucets used in bar sinks look like smaller versions of the faucets used in kitchen sinks. Don’t use them with larger sinks as they will look odd. Here also you can have a choice of styles.
Shower
Traditionally the function of the shower faucet was to control the water temperature and the rate of flow of water. Therefore they came with a simple knob that did this quite well when you turned it as much as needed. Modern shower faucets come with a variety of controls for different spray patterns, body jets, and the intensities of flow. They come in a wide variety of styles that you can choose from, but you must keep in mind that they suit the basic style of your shower.
Bathtub
Bathtub faucets are designed to suit the whirlpool tub or the simple bath tub. Here the functional aspect is also important as you need a faucet that has a large flow rate so that the tub is filled as fast as possible. You wouldn’t like wait long for you bathtub to fill up, would you?
You don’t go for a change of plumbing fixtures every now and then. Therefore it is important that you buy the fixtures made by reputed companies. Do a little bit of comparison shopping and find out about other peoples’ experiences with different types and styles of faucets. Maintain a good balance between style, function and finish.
