If you're googling “best faucet for kitchen” or “faucet for sink in kitchen“, you probably don't know much about kitchen faucets or how you should go about selecting one.
Chances are, you've ended up here because you're not sure how to choose the best faucet for your kitchen sink.
In this Kitchen Infinity guide we give you advice on how to choose the best kitchen faucet for your home, whether you need two handles or one, and which kitchen faucets will work best for you. You can also learn more about kitchen faucet sprayer repair and the best kitchen faucet with sprayer.
Let's get to it!
What are the different types of kitchen faucet?
While a lot of faucets are similar in their general shape and design, there are many different kitchen faucet designs you need to take into consideration.
Some common types of kitchen faucet include:
Sink Mounted
The most common type of kitchen faucet, you'll usually find that kitchen faucet taps are mounted onto the sink itself, rather than a nearby wall.
Different sinks have a different number of holes for a kitchen faucet to attach to depending on their design, which can make how to tighten a kitchen faucet easy or challenging. , which can make how to tighten a kitchen faucet easy or challenging. . The number of faucet holes can differ, but sinks with one hole, two holes, or three holes are most common.
Four and five-hole kitchen sink designs exist, but they're usually reserved for very large and/or luxurious kitchens.
Wall Mounted
Wall mounted sinks are less common, but they have the advantage of giving you extra workspace around the back of the sink. Wall faucet mount tends to have extended reach, which can also be very convenient.
However, bear in mind that wall mounted sinks need a whole separate drainage system building into the wall of your kitchen – this is very difficult to achieve.
Chrome
Chrome is one of the most common kitchen faucet materials you'll find when you go kitchen faucet shopping, especially in new kitchen faucet designs. Made to be very shiny, chrome kitchen faucets fit well into modern kitchen designs.
These relatively new faucet styles tend to be quite expensive, though they are very very durable.
Nickel
Nickel kitchen faucets tend to have a sort of “dull shine” to them that's all the rage in modern and transitional kitchen designs.
You can have nickel finishes in many different ways, so you'll often see variants like “brushed nickel” and “satin nickel” that have a slightly different faucet finishes to each other. This is the right faucet design to fit in with the rest of your space – many cabinet door handles come in the same finishes.
Stainless Steel
Another common kitchen faucet material is stainless steel. This material is similar to chrome, but it tends to be slightly less shiny and “blingy”.
However, this steel is naturally resistant to rust, so it's very durable. When it comes to a sink faucet, kitchen spaces for industrial means such as restaurants and hospitals often use this steel because it's very easy to clean.
Pull-down Sprayers
When it comes to a faucet, kitchen enthusiasts often rave about pull-down sprayers. These are the large designs you often see in restaurants and professional kitchens once again.
Pull-down sprayers are great because you can spray water directly onto your dishes/food in the sink, reducing the chance of backsplash from the spray and helping to spray and clean things down more efficiently.
Different Types of Kitchen Faucet Handles
There is no one type of right faucet. In addition to the faucet itself, you need to think about the different kinds of faucet handles at your disposal. The way that you operate your sink is crucial to how you use the spout every day, so don't overlook this detail. While choosing the sink materials kitchen flooring should also compliment with sink and faucet.
The types of handles available to you may vary depending on the spout height, faucet finish, and other faucet features, but here are some of the common designs you'll come across:
Lever Handle
Sometimes called a “single handle”, these handles are easy to use and very modern in design.
Lever handle faucets are great for carefully mixing temperatures between hot and cold, as you tend to remember the position of the handle for the approximate heat of the water that you desire.
Cross Handle
Though they're not very common these days, you might see cross handles in the sinks of more old-school classic kitchens.
Cross handles tend to look dated these days, and they're not particularly easy to clean. You also need two of them to mix hot and cold together. Most people only buy these handles if they like the design or if they happen to match their kitchen faucet design.
Knobs
Another blast from the past, you might see traditional knobs in classic, old-school kitchens. Usually paired with a suitably old-school kitchen faucet, a pair of knobs allows you to control the hot and cold water separately.
Again, these knobs are quite difficult to clean, so they're not the most practical option by far.
Push Button
Though not super common, you'll sometimes find push buttons in a new kitchen design that's designed for people who do a lot of multitasking when they're cooking.
Push buttons make getting water out of your faucets very simple. They're also very easy to clean.
Motion Activated
Common in public bathrooms and increasingly common in residential kitchens, motion activated faucets are one of the smartest kitchen faucets you can choose.
Motion activated faucet designs are easy to clean, hygienic, and ultra-modern. If you want the faucet of the future, look no further.
6 Tips for Choosing the Best Kitchen Faucet
It's impossible to tell you which faucet is best for your sink without being there to see the design as a whole. However, here are some general tips to help you in choosing a faucet for your kitchen's sink:
- Match Your Cabinet Fittings – The #1 rule of kitchen design is to match your faucet to your cabinet handles and fittings in terms of color, style, and finish. A silver faucet spout paired with bronze cabinet handles will look ridiculous, especially if they're close to each other.
- Your Faucet Is Your Focal Point – For many kitchens in the US, the faucet is the focal point of the kitchen. If this is the case, you need to choose it early on in the design process and choose other details such as color schemes and cabinet hardware around it so that they match.
- How Many Holes? – Different kitchen sinks have a different number of holes where a faucet can attach to them. Check how many holes your sink has, as this can limit the design options available to you.
- Single Handles Are Normally Best – If you're going for practicality over aesthetics, then single-handle designs are usually the best. Single levers are simple to use, easy to clean, and allow you to easily get the rough temperature you want from your water very quickly.
- Be Careful of Tall Spouts – If you're going for a faucet design with a very tall spout, you probably don't want to put any cabinets above the sink (otherwise you could spray the cabinets with backsplash). If your kitchen space is on the small side, go for lower spouts.
- Pull-Down Sprayers Are Very Efficient – If efficiency is the main thing you're after, consider a faucet with a pull-down sprayer spout design. These sinks allow you to pull down the spout and spray dishes/food precisely, effectively removing the dirt you desire. As well as their intense spray, these faucets tend to lead to fewer leaks too.
Whichever kitchen faucet design you go for, we hope you find a sink and faucet style that suits your aesthetic and practical needs. Good luck!
