Having a good kitchen faucet is a crucial element in any good kitchen, a permanent fixture that you use daily to clean and prepare meals with. Replacing your kitchen faucet shouldn’t be an afterthought when renovating your kitchen, but it doesn’t have to be a difficult task either. There are a multitude of budget-friendly options that will add a fresh style to your kitchen in a way that’s still functional to the room. Here’s what to look for!
Make It A Standalone Project
When choosing a new faucet, you need to start by knowing how many holes are available on your kitchen sink. Unless you replace your entire sink or are prepared to start drilling, the number of holes you currently have is going to be the max number of slots you have to fill with spouts, handles, and accessories. Of course, you can always opt for a faucet that takes up fewer holes (and use simple plates to cover them), but you can’t easily add more if you need more than what you have. You can also put in sink extras like a side sprayer or soap pump if your current setup has more holes than you need for your new faucet.
Choose Your Style: Single Or Double Handled
All that said, how many handles should you have? That’s really up to you! One handle faucets only require one hand to operate, meaning you touch less and have a hand free for food prep. Two handle faucets allow for finer control over water temperature, as you choose how much hot and cold water to use. Either option gets the job done, so there’s really no wrong answer – especially because you can find more “modern” single-handle faucets in very traditional designs and vice-versa.
Side Sprayer Or Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet?
Sprayers are an invaluable tool for dish washing and it’s wise to consider having one if you do a lot of it by hand. An add-on sprayer matches your faucet and streamlines your kitchen counter space for easier access. If you don’t have room to install an add-on sprayer next to your faucet, consider a pull-out or pull-down faucet head, which have the ability to turn into sprayers themselves. These typically have less range than an add-on, but still have a powerful spray that clears dishes across the whole of the sink.
Conventional Or High-Tech Kitchen Faucets?
You may want to consider how high-tech your new faucet is as well. There’s nothing wrong with a conventional one, but touchless faucets are becoming increasingly popular. Sensors allow you to handle your sink without touching it, recognizing your motion and turning on (and automatically off as well if you just leave it). In this time of hyper-awareness of what we touch due to the pandemic, cleaning your hands with a touchless surface isn’t such a bad idea.
Make Sure To Match Your Faucet To Your Kitchen
All of these features are available in a multitude of styles that enhance your kitchen’s look and make it personalized to you. Whether it’s traditional, modern, vintage, transitional, cottage, or another style, your faucet can be both functional hardware and an accent piece. Make sure your faucet choice doesn’t stand out too much in your kitchen; you want all the hardware to match for a unified look. A way to do this is through choice of metal; copper and brass are for older style kitchens while newer ones rely on a chrome or steel.
Before replacing your faucet, think about what style and structure best fits your kitchen and how you use your sink.
