I was shocked at the prices of faucets! Find the look you like in the expensive faucets, then try to duplicate as close as you can in a less expensive model. I could not justify spending more on a faucet than I did on the sink, which was ridiculously over-priced, too.

Grohe Bridgeford pulldown, satin nickel, very nice faucet, not cheap, but not outrageous -- $349

I was hoping to stay in the 200-250 range, but looked at models up to 400 just so I didn't miss out on something I loved. Of the handful that met all my wants, I liked the Kohler Simplice best. $209, no soap dispenser, though you can get it with one for not much more.

I think mine (Whitehaus Metrohaus) was around $350 and I found it through other sources for around $500. I found it today at $427 and $598. My prep sink faucet was at least as much as my larger one.

Is it Moen that has a commercial that points out how often you use a faucet everyday? Maybe that doesn't justify the price of an appliance for one, but if you think about it, it does make sense to buy quality -- within reason.

This post was edited by lascatx on Thu, Jul 11, 13 at 23:43

I'd expect to pay around $300 for a good faucet. Not sure how well those below hold up. I got $100 ones for two bathrooms. I consider that to be a lot of money. We'll see. The kitchen was about $300 as I recall, a splurge and expensive to me at the time, but that was quite a few years ago. $1000 is outrageous, imo, unless you are buildling the Taj Mahal. I'm sure some of the high end kitchens "need" them though to hold their own in relation to what's around them. The look of quality can't be beat. I just can't justify something like that.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 0:04

I bought this price pfister faucet. It looks much like the Kohler simplice posted by Williamsen. I liked the shape and lines of it and my faucet is on the island and visible from a lot of area.

Here is a link that might be useful: FAUCET

This post was edited by cheryleb on Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 0:04

I got the Hansgrohe allegro E faucet from Costco for $200.

Kohler Bellero- $280 in Canada, no soap dispenser

I walked into Lowe's and looked at all the faucets without considering prices and picked the style I liked best. I happened to find a Delta Talbott in my desired finish on Amazon's Warehouse deals for $125 with a soap dispenser. It was very similar to the style I chose and I couldn't pass up that bargain with all the features I wanted with a lifetime warranty!

I spent around $500-600 for my Rohl faucet. My budget was $500, but I did spend a little more because I liked it. The Rohl soap dispensers were all over $100, so I think I went with Kraus for around $50-60. I think $300 will get you a very decent faucet--buy online, not from Lowes or HD--I've heard that the better brands sold at HD/Lo are specifically made for big box stores and not the same quality...not really sure if that is true...just what I heard. Once you find the model you like..go to a site like Nextag and you can see which online retailer has the best price.

Delta 9159-AR-DST from Amazon, $289. Clean, modern lines.

I have the Kohler Purist, $500, which was a HUGE splurge for me, especially since the matching soap dispenser cost a ridiculous amount. But I really don't think you need to spend that much to get a good faucet. Below is a link to an often mentioned site which has reviews of faucet manufacturers and good info on what to look for in a faucet. Lots of other good info, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Starcraft Custom Builders on faucets

This post was edited by fouramblues on Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 9:11

I got my Kohler Torq bridge for around $450 as open merchandise on Amazon. It normally list for around $1K. I'm not using a soap dispenser.

We are in the process of doing renovations that we except to last the rest of our lives in the house. So I'm hoping this will be the only faucet I have to install. Think about how much it will cost to swap out a cheap faucet later, and paying a few hundred now doesn't seem outrageous. And, repairs always have a way of needing to be done at the worst time.

By way of explanation, when you get up into the $1000 and plus range for faucets what you're buying is more metal and less plastic in the faucet. And that should include an integral vs a coated finish. As a broad way to gauge this, the heavier the faucet, the higher the quality (i.e. the more metal).

Having said that, the manufacturing technology for coatings and plastics is so good that there are really good faucets in every price range.

But faucet love is faucet love. Sometimes you cannot help yourself. And, to me, since the faucet is surely the most-often-used fixture in any kitchen, a case could be made that splurging on that makes more sense than splurging on anything else except. perhaps, the sink itself.

I spent $500 on a Hansgrohe high-arc pull-down, no other accessories. Going into it, I knew I was probably gonna have to spend that much on a faucet, so I budgeted for it and the price wasn't shocking. Amazing what you can used to. :)

I agree with rococogurl. Your faucet gets used a lot. Also, depending on the size of your kitchen (mine is small), it is a huge feature on the landscape, so you better like how it looks. It took a while before mine stopped looking like the Loch Ness Monster or a private part of one's anatomy.

Costco is really the best place for faucets.

Price Pfister Avanti ... Home Depot $150 or so.

I wanted a faucet that had the best possible deck clearance (faucet to rear of sink) to make filling pots easier. It had the single handle the SO wanted, and the pull-down sprayer he wanted, and the clearance I wanted.

I remember when my builder's designer was all excited to tell me that their supplier was out of their specific model of Kohler kitchen faucets so they were upgrading me to a Grohe Ladylux.

Not knowing or caring about kitchen faucets, I shrugged and said, "Fine, whatever". The designer actually looked a little disappointed/offended at my reaction.

So later on when the plumber was installing it, I asked him how much they cost. When he said around $600, my exact words were, "Holy sh*t! People pay that much for faucets!?"

So yeah, there you go.... But it is a really nice faucet, lol.

Haven't read the previous posts, OP, and it's probably been said, but good faucets are available out there for less than $100.

Because it would take decades for people to "discover" how substandard standard faucets were, nobody had bothered to replace the old one that came with the house we purchased in the 1970s, a brand and type seen across America and still available in its current iteration in every big box store. When it started to leak, we knew it was time to replace the washer. When we sold the house in the 1990s, we replaced the whole faucet with one of a current appearance--not because it still didn't work perfectly well, but just the usual attempt to manipulate those people planning to pay over $300K who might be influenced by a thing like that.

Pay whatever you want for a faucet, and I hope you love it so much you end up fondling it every time you walk in, at least the first week or so (longer would be weird), but make the decision realizing you're upgrading from blue jeans to a prom dress, not sack cloth to blue jeans.

Got our Grohe on eBay for $225. Way cheaper. And Grohe has no problem honoring the warranty. Had to have he spray head replaced due to our hard water.

I think my Moen pulldown in stainless was about $320 in 2011.

Mine is from Price-Pfister, comes with soap dispenser and pull down sprayer, it was around $270. They just sent me a new set free of charge since I sent them a photo of a minor discoloration! Very pleased with their customer service and I love the faucet.

The h/c faucet on the other hand cost over $500 and it has issues that the company never addressed after I sent two emails.

Good luck!

Costco has the Grohe Metro for 199.000 and it has very good reviews. I've seen it go on sale every now and then for 40.00 or 50.00 off at Costco.

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

I found a brushed stainless Newport Brass faucet on eBay and won the auction for less than $200. It was never installed because someone changed their mind. I had time and motivation, so I just kept searching for what I wanted. List price for the faucet was more than $1000.

I bought two Hansgrohe faucets on Amazon for less than $300 each. I had one in my old kitchen and loved it. Very nice quality. I am assuming these are similar quality. They look very nice, but have not been installed yet. I'm sure you get a very nice faucet for $1,000, but you can get a very nice Moen or Delta at your local plumbing supply showroom for about $300, and they will last forever. The big box stores don't have the same ones. I've heard they sell plastic-y versions of the same faucets the plumbing stores sell, but I don't know if that's true. My plumber recommends Delta and Moen because they are durable, easy to install and easy to repair if they ever need repairs. Parts are cheaper than the German ones too. Chicago Faucets are great, and not hugely expensive, but they only have limited designs.

Get what you love. If the $1K faucet is it for you, search online for it at a lower price, and get it! You'll be touching it every day, many times. Don't buy something that's a compromise that you'll come to regret or worse, hate.

Thank you very much everyone. Sounds like I will be able to find a good quality, nice looking faucet in the $300 to $500 range. Seeing so many expensive faucets at the showroom, I thought one needed to pay that much for quality.

Thanks!

The bridge faucets I first looked at were all >1K which was crazy to me, especially in the context of our budget. How could a huge, heavy slab of rock shipped all the way from Brazil, cut to size, polished and installed cost less than a faucet?

Ended up with a Whitehaus bridge faucet from Vintage Tub for around $500 which was still way more than I wanted to spend on a faucet but it is really nice and heavy.

I paid $335 for my faucet. It won't be installed for several weeks, but that doesn't stop me from playing with it! My kids think I'm weird.

Here is a link that might be useful: Grohe Eurostyle

I'm lusting after this one

Here is a link that might be useful: Rohl Cinquanta

I have to chime in here...because I am one of those goofballs who paid a lot for a faucet:) I scrimped here and there but when it came time to choose the faucet, I had some things I was trying to avoid. Our old Kohler Fairfax was great for the first 6 years...which is a long time..but then the rubber started to tear on the top button. No rubber buttons. Then I wanted one that would stay in spray mode and toggle to stream (because I never have two hands). I wanted single lever. The list kept shrinking. And then I fell in love. Yep, fell in love. And when you are in love...you become less rational. The plumbing store was good to me and gave me my contractors discount plus some...so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. And then I was further seduced by the accessories. But...Never the soap dispenser. We have had two houses with built in soap dispensers and we end up with an inevitable bottle of soap next to the sink. Could just be me, but those never worked for us. And guests could never figure out where the soap was. Okay, more than two cents. Maybe one day my faucet, which is sitting in a box right now, will be installed and we can begin our life together. Happy Faucet shopping! Anything above the regular old faucet...it is mostly seduction:)