Actually, $400 is pretty inexpensive for a Grohe . They are made very well with excellent materials. I must warn you that if you have a lot of UV entering your kitchen and especially on your faucet, and your exposed faucet has rubber parts (e.g., to change spray patterns) will need periodic replacement. We have a large wide and high garden window that runs ten feet along part of our kitchen, and it wreaks havoc on our Grohe faucet rubber bits. Hansgrohe, to me is not as nice as Grohe although we do have one of their high-end adjustable showerheads on one of our showers that does very well, and guests seem to like.

I will repeat here what I have said several times before: my plumber emphatically told me NOT to buy faucets at Home Depot or Lowes. They are made especially for these stores with plastic parts where there should be ceramic, for example. They may have the brand name but they are not the same quality. Even $400 for a Grohe is unbelievably inexpensive, as Fahrenheit 451 has said. So $197 should be a big red flag.

Hansgrohe is a different animal than Grohe. Different company, much more lower end product.

I would not hesitate to spend the money to buy Grohe. Of course, there are other options. We bought our faucet off of eBay for about 50% of retail. It was a floor model. When the hose broke just at the base of the faucet head, I called Grohe USA to order a new one. No big deal. The good news is that they sent it to me free along with a new faucet head since the old one had been scratched some time ago. Completely free--didn't even have to pay for shipping.

They didn't care that we bought off eBay and not retail. When they say lifetime warranty, they mean it... :)

We won't buy any other brand anymore...

I was told the same as raynag not only for faucets but also for toilets. I don't think that it makes the product bad. It is just misleading. We have a cheapo HD faucet that the previous owners had installed in the bathroom, ony God knows when. I am waiting for a leak or something to go wrong with it so I have an excuse to change it. We are here 7yrs now and nothing is wrong not even a drip. The point I am making is that if you spend $400 for a faucet it doesn't mean that it will last any longer than a $200 faucet. IMO if you spend between $150 and $250 for a kitchen faucet you should be able to find something that combines form and function. Anything above that you are just paying for art. Not that that is a bad thing if it's in your budget. Many times I have over paid for something just based on style. Also don't assume that if you buy it at the Big Box stores that you will be getting a lower price. When we replaced our 10yr old Moen faucet with a Kohler faucet I first went to HD to see what was on the market. I found a faucet that was a special order and they did not have a display. I went to a high end pluming supply showroom just to see it in person. The faucet was $10 less and they had it in stock.

have you shopped online? you can get some pretty good savings on grohe. i ordered the alira from homecenter.com for about $285 (in chrome); it was delivered the next day. :) (it does have those rubber parts mentioned above, though :( ) (homecenter.com is an authorized grohe dealer, btw, so shouldn't have the home depot issue; the faucet is available on many sites in the $285-309 range)

We have had two Grohe Kitchen Faucets. Terrific quality,
very nice to use. Smooth operating,looks good.
You can get a more "mass market" faucet to provide good service,
but the feel of a high end Grohe says "quality".

Also with your large window issue. You may want to investigate 3M UV film.
We have done that on several south-facing windows, and just did our kitchen windows when we removed the mini blinds that we used to have there. The UV film does a terrific job of controlling UV. It was visible in the washed out stain that we had on several pre-remodel kitchen cabinets that were exposed to eastern sunlight. Two other cabinets exposed to southern windows with the UV film, were still full color with no dried out look.

Good Luck

Got my Grohe Ladylux from lowcostplumbing.com for under $400 and am completely satisfied with it.

We put Grohe into 2 of our bathrooms....faucets, baths, and showers, Kohler in another basement bath, and the Kohler Promaster in the kitchen. Then, since there was no money left, LOL, we put a cheap $89 Pegasus bar faucet on the prep sink in the island.

I can't say enough great things about the Grohe faucets. Superb quality, some of the best chrome in the business, and well worth the money. The Kohler Promaster, while the most expensive faucet in the house, has been a little tempermental. And the cheap Pegasus bar faucet looks like a $400 unit...surprised us.

You can't go wrong with Grohe. You can find many online bargains. Do not buy at HD or Lowe's.

I like my Hansgrohe high arc. I purchased it online (Homeclick holiday weekend sale) for less than I later saw it priced in HD, and I would not have purchased in HD for the reasons cited above. Same with my Elkay and Blanco sinks (although they were clearly the same models in HD) and HD prices where much less than my local plumbing suppliers). Grohe powder room faucet from Homeclick was also less than local suppliers who also had a longer lead time for everything and I would have had to carry it all home instead of it being delivered.

vivian31, can you explain how Hansgrohe is much lower quality than Grohe? I'm honestly curious b/c I've just started shopping for faucets, and I haven't seen anything else to suggest as such.

raynag, I completely believe that big box stores carry lower quality versions of the same products sold elsewhere; however, I'm a bit confused as to how HD's version of a faucet would differ from the one sold at my local supplier if the model number is the same. I would think that the faucet mfg would have inventory tracking issues if the faucets were physically different but had the same model number.

Another vote for Grohe -- we used them in both sinks and absolutely love them. I vaguely recall reading some negative things about Hansgrohe in 2005, when we were researching our kitchen and I'd fallen in love with one of the Hansgrohe models... wish I could remember what we heard then. However, we did go with Grohe and you can't go wrong! We bought ours for a very reasonable price on Homeclick, I believe. They have been absolutely, totally trouble free for two years. Only wish I'd gotten the Grohe soap dispensers instead of the Rohl...

It's a "feel" thing for me. It's not the same.

At one time Hansgrohe and Grohe were one company but there was a split and the partners went their separate ways. (There's more to the story, but honestly it's been so long, I've forgotten it).

Frankly, I've stopped even looking at other faucets and fixtures. If I'm buying, I'm buying Grohe. Period. DH and I gave ourselves a shower head/valve set for Christmas a few years ago...LOL It cost a BUNCH, but we love it.

We have the Grohe Eurodisc, in satin nickel since 2002. Don't really like the way it works. Our main objection is the pull out & we want a high-arc. Pull out always tangles below the sink. We gave up the LadyLux in Grohe before because our backsplash was too close & we didn't want to turn the handle into the sink to turn on/off.

We are fixing to install granite countertops now so many things are getting a new look, including the faucet. We are leaning towards the Hansgrohe Axor right now. Is it less quality/expensive? Maybe, but there are other trade-offs.

Thanks for your feedback, vivian31.

I was looking at the Grohe Ladylux, but I much prefer the look of Hansgrohe's Stratos high arc. I will have to google to see if I can find the problems people had with Hansgrohe.

I was looking at a Blanco faucet today on lowcostplumbing.com http://www.lowcostplumbing.com/store3/blanco-157079st-elipso-p-1868.html
and I talked to them about it and they said it was good, but the Grohe one like it was very popular and stainless steel all the way through. He really recommended it, but had nothing really bad to say about the Blanco.http://www.lowcostplumbing.com/store3/grohe-alira-2spray-pullout-steel-32999sd0-p-1239.html

The Blanco is coated. I also found out that both sprayers are the same. I stated that even if the Grohe faucet lasts a long time, it doesn't seem like it would matter if the sprayer was to wear out. Oh, he did say that the Grohe sprayers had two rows of spray and most others had one.

What do you guys think about Blanco? Is upgrading to the Grohe worth the price. I actually like the looks of the Blanco better.

I have to explain my choice. I have a tall faucet sitting here that I love, but discovered that even though I showed the faucet to the plantation shutter guys, and they gave me a door that folds to one side rather than opening in the middle, I won't be able to open it! I decided to just go lower, get a deeper sink and have the arm reach out more. I hate settling but I have to get this house done before I die...and the bucket under my sink is filling with water faster than before.

I got my Grohe ladylux pro at Costco.com
I thought the price was good and they have a great return policy so I felt comfotable buying there. Of course I couldn't get the matching prep faucet there and had to pay more for it through a plumbing supply place. But I love the faucets and have been pleased with the quality thus far.

Here is a link that might be useful: Grohe at costco

The first purchase for my kitchen renovation was a Grohe Ladylux Cafe faucet. my counters are 30" deep so there is plenty of room for the lever action. I much prefer the pull down sprayer to the pull out ones; very little effort required; sensible design; lovely to look at!

Carguy60: my new larger window over the sink faces west and in summer will get lots of sun. the windows have Low E coating; is the UV film still advisable? I am planning to have some sort of Roman type blind that will raise and fold up into its own little housing, mounted above or on the window trim. I want a spare, simple look most of the time, but have to block the sun in summer.

Grohe vs Hansgrohe: Hansgrohe is the cheaper version of the Grohe, just like cars have their cheap/deluxe versions (i.e. Lexus is the fancy version of Toyota cars, Infinity of Nissan and Accura of Honda). Both came originally from the same company (not heard that the Co split!)

If any of you are still shopping for faucets, Grohe is excellent german made product and because of the slow-down in the house building market and upcoming recession, you will find a lot of sales on remodel products right now on the net. Keep shopping, Ladies. You KNOW there are great deals out there for you! (and me!)

Got the Grohe Alira. It's great. I love the way it looks and works. Needed a low profile faucet. It still is a nice height. Any higher and I think that we would have had splashing.

With the sink 10 inches deep, will that Ladylux or K4 be splashing madly?
i am sort of concerned about that. I like K4 the best after i went to the store and looked at them all/

answer to tina999:
I have the Grohe K4 and I think my Franke Orca sink is about 10" deep. The water does not "splash" when I turn on the faucet.
However, if I am rinsing dishes, water will splash depending on how the dish or pot or whatever is positioned under the faucet. It isn't a problem if the faucet is on "spray" mode.

thank you, Ashlander/
i was considering getting the Eurodisc or Alira instead because of that. Now i'll be just huntong down the right price for K4. Though right now it is 382 dollars on lowcostplumbing. com, and it is probably the best price i'll be able to get.

This was one of my concerns when I redid my kitchen. $400+ for a faucet! I did get the Grohe Ladylux Cafe and I love it. I do notice now that when I use other people's faucets that mine is just so much sturdier. I don't remember what I ended up paying, but I do say it is worth it. You use the faucet more than anything in the kitchen, splurge.

I have a grohe k4 and 9" deep sink, everytime i wash dishes it's like im taking a shower. ive tried replacing the airator with a generic replacement from lowes but they dont fit. i love the faucet but i wish it wouldnt splash so much!! anyone else have problems with the K4?!
please help

^^^^ thought id add a picture for above post.....