I could do without it, though my husband likes it. If you drink a lot of tea or eat a lot of instant oatmeal it is handy. I never use it to fill pots because I have to hold it for hot water and it fills slowly. I use cold water for my coffee maker.

I really like mine, and use it for instant soup, tea, hot chocolate, oatmeal, warming up a coffee mug before use, jump-starting boiling water for cooking, and for soaking dirty pots.

How much power will you have at your stove? I find that with my Bluestar the kettle boils in a snap. I drink a lot of tea and am happy to be making it properly again, with a teapot and cozy. For me, the kettle sitting on the stove looks homey and comforting (though mine is a pretty copper one). Sorry to chime in when I have never had an instant hot...

Love it! As you know mine also is on the same faucet as my reverse osmosis water. Use it all the time.

I loved getting rid of mine. Previous owner installed it and I didn't like the idea of not boiling water for tea and such. It was also kind of clunky behind my sink (kitchen aide) and in the way. Now I have ONLY my delta allora pull down faucet and a ceramic bottle I bought to hold my soap and totally am into the minimalist, clean look and feel.

I love mine. I drink green tea all day long. I still boil if I have friends over whose drinking black tea. The instahot is definitely one of my favorite parts of the kitchen. It will be a sad day when it no longer works.

We've always had one. For some reason Hubby thinks it something we need. He doesn't cook, drink hot tea, so not sure of his reasoning. Right now the tank it acting up, so it needs to be replaced. I use it to make ice tea (from bags) and when cooking and need hot water. Personally, if it wasn't for having the hole already drilled in the granite I would take it out.

If you are someone who uses a tea kettle, it would come in very handy. Just spend the money and get one with an elegant dispenser. Hubby was helping a friend put one in. They bought one with a clunky dispenser. The thing was huge!

I have a hot/chilled water dispenser and I LOVE it. I use it all the time but mostly for cleaning. I also use it to make jello, hot chocolate, etc.

Here's a couple of pics--it's the faucet on the right:

One of the advantages I've heard for the hot water dispenser is for cleaning dirty pots and pans. Having that almost boiling water can break up almost anything stuck to a pan. Is the cleaning feature something you find useful?

Yes, I find it most useful. I clean pots, pans, tupperware, silverware-- almost anything that has to be handwashed. Or, has to be degreased--I put a drop of dishwashing detergent, then put the boiling water and let it soak for a few minutes--no more grease!

Just made the decision to take it out of the renovation b/c I didn't want one more thing to clean around at the sink. Also, for me the money is better spent on an espresso machine. I'll continue to use my super fast electric kettle that can sit on the coffee/tea bar. Maybe a case of 'you don't miss what you never had'?

True, one can't miss what they never had, but the flip side to that is, once you get something new, it's sometimes very difficult to go without it later (like my heated car seats, but that is another story).

I too, really appreciate the instant hot water and never had one prior to this remodel. If it were suddenly gone, I'd miss it terribly and would replace it pronto. I have 3 holes cut in the counter, which I do not consider excessive.

Besides enjoying the cooking and cleaning conveniences it provides, I have also used it for some quick thawing processes. I wouldn't do this for all frozen items, but for example: if the last person to finish the juice did not make more, on busy mornings I just run about 5 seconds worth of hot water around the concentrate can, and the contents easily slides right into my pitcher. I have also floated a bag of frozen shrimp in a bowl- ready for the party in no time.

I am always finding a new use for this low budget addition, and for me too, this is one of my favorite features.

It's funny, because my immediate response was / is YES! I love my insta-hot. We all love love love it.

But I guess there are caveats, like: you know I've two small children. I also happen to drink tea all day long, and having the insta-hot is, for me, a godsend. I don't have to wait for a kettle to boil and then wait for the tea to cool enough for me to drink it. I just use the insta-hot which, admittedly, is not as hot as a boiled kettle would be. (It's still plenty hot, however!) So I've saved time in two ways: not waiting for a kettle and not waiting so I don't burn my mouth.

Another caveat: I live at (high) altitude, so water takes longer to boil here. Our insta-hot isn't as hot as it would be lower down. (It's still scalding hot, but I did notice a difference.) We canNOT use it for oatmeal (we put it in a pyrex measuring cup in the micro and that gets it hot enough for oatmeal), but that's here. Back in San Francisco it was hot enough straight out of the tap for (instant) oatmeal.

We make bread pretty often (at least once a week), and by mixing the insta-hot / filtered cold I'm able to get a good temp for the yeast. I like that a lot!

We also use it for occasional soaking of cooked-on pots / pans, as you asked. (Really occasional because we mostly just throw things in the dishwasher.)

We used to have one of those Japanese countertop electric kettles and when we first started planning the remodel assumed it would make its way back to our countertop. Then we realized we could do a combo insta-hot / filtered cold faucet, and for us it was a no-brainer! Granted, the countertop kettle got hotter than the insta-hot, but what a pain to have to frequently refill it.

We use ours throughout the day, every day. Every single day. The use we get is disproportionate to its cost (meaning, for us the overall cost has turned out to be inconsequential because of its frequent, wonderful convenience).

I don't know if it's worth it for everyone, but for us it's worth its weight in gold!

LSandler: I would love to know the name of your faucet and hot/cold water dispenser. From what I can see you have a lovely kitchen. TIA!

We use ours a lot, and replaced it with the 2nd remodel (we chose it again despite having a very crowded prep sink area). In addition to the above uses, a drop of dawn dish soap on a microfiber cloth with a corner soaked by the instant hot water will clean even the greasiest grossest thing I can do to my granite counter top. I also like rinsing off my can opener in the hot water while the offending agent is still fresh on the blades. I like being able to add hot water to things I'm cooking that may need a little more fluid than I originally anticipated (or that I neglected a little too long).

We use ours daily at least, and usually multiple times daily.

As the friend whose kitchen was the source of several of my wants likes to say, "Let's hurry up and make a nice relaxing cup of tea"; count me in.

I'm definitely sold...but does everyone have the chiller also? I am thinking
that room temp filtered cold is fine but I don't want to make a mistake by not getting it. Thoughts?
vic

I didn't have room for the chiller! We would probably use it, but don't miss it. We also live up north, so warm cold water is not an issue. I'm sure I would have loved it in Tucson, but I might have held out for an ice maker had we stayed....

The reason I have no room for the chiller:
Disposal,instant hot, very small sink cab with maximum size sink:

Yes, it seems that the majority love their instant hot water. And vicnsb has asked the next question, do you get just the hot water dispenser or do you go for the chiller as well? And what brands do you recommend?

claybabe, thanks for the pic. Beautiful sink! I get mixed up, is this the
kitchen with the Aga range and wood counters next to it? and what is
the round piece next to the disposal button?

pluckymama, I do remember another post where it was said the chiller did
make some noise, for some that could be a factor. I am just trying to decide
whether or not it would matter to me.

Thanks, vic

Vic, the other thing about the chiller is that it takes up a lot of space. I just looked up several online and I don't think I have room underneath my farm sink with the disposal and the hot water tank. Would like to know favorite brands for the hot water tank dispenser?

Vic, yeah, this is the Aga kitchen (actually we moved the Aga and replaced it with a kenmore stove: I couldn't imagine that the Aga would be a big selling point!) with the butcher blocks.

The round thing is a Mockett grommet, basically a power strip that plugs in under the sink.

Costco sells one for around $130.00. It's the same brand I have (used to be Mountain plumbing), not an ISE, but I really like mine. Anyway, it's a good price; no fancy faucets or finishes.

pluckymama: Ours is a combo insta-hot / filtered water, not chilled. The water comes out plenty cool! It would have never occurred to me to get that ... and I'm glad, knowing the temp the filtered water is. (To have already-cool water further chilled would have been a waste in every way imaginable: many, space, energy.)

We have Mountain Plumbing because that's the brand my husband chose (and he did heaps of research on it), but I know from others here on GW that Newport Brass and ISE are also considered high-quality brands for insta-hots. Mountain Plumbing and Newport Brass / Brass Tech both have tons of faucet styles and finishes, so don't think you have to spring the extra $$$ to get one made by your (main) faucet manufacturer!

We have the Costco one and I love it. One of the big things I use it for is cleaning; I dampen a microfiber cloth with the hot water and clean the baseboards, sills, doors, fingermarks, etc., along with (as someone mentioned above), our counters, which are soapstone. I also use it to clean the stainless refrigerator and stove.

I also use it for tea and my daughters use it for hot chocolate and oatmeal. I would never want to be without it. (Not to gush too much.)

This sounds really wonderful. And the combo insta-hot/filtered water sounds like the answer. Glad to hear the water is nice and cool. Looking forward to another gadget I learned about on GW :)

kulagal, thanks for your kind words about my kitchen--here's the info you requested:

Main faucet; Kohler Vinatta
Hot/cold filtered faucet- Everpure everhot/evercold --LVH600

See website below for more info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Superwater

I know this is getting repetitive now, but I LOVE mine, use it at least once a day, and though I never had one before, I cannot imagine a kitchen without one now. I use it for hot drinks, heating up cold coffee mugs and thermoses before hot coffee goes in, speeding up pasta water boiling, cleaning, etc. I just have the simple Costco model.

Yes, love. HOWEVER, if you are already have or are getting a nice espresso machine, that will give you hot water also.

If you are concerned about the the water being hot enough check the specs of the ones you are considering. Some heat the water as much as 10 degrees higher than others. If you don't like really scalding water for tea anyway, it might not matter to you. Wish I had sprung for the hot and the chiller, but even filtered cool tap water would be nice. Depends on how big your sink cabinet is, what else you need to fit in it and how much you want to spend.

Yes, LOVE mine.

Sue

We're putting one in because DS and DDIL love theirs so much . . . she used to have a bulky instant hot water machine on her pantry shelf, which took up a lot of room. This is so much handier. We expect to love it as much as they do!

Lsandler,
We are looking for a pulldown faucet and instant hot and were thinking of the Kohler Vinatta for the faucet. Matching the finishes seems like it might be a challenge since they are different manufacturers. Are you happy with the matching of the finishes between that faucet and your Everpure instant hot? Are they both brushed nickel?

Can't help you on the brushed nickel finishes, but since this came up, I wanted to address another point I saw mentioned.

I have the Mountain Plumbing instant hot with a Whitehaus Metrohaus faucet. They go very well together. I also have an espresso maker and had it before we did the remodel and got the instant hot. The espresso maker is not a very satisfactory hot water dispenser. The espresso maker has to be turned on and the water heated first, and then it is slow to dispense. I also find it handier to have the hot water at the sink for more uses. For occasional use and only for beverages, the espresso maker might meet your needs, but if you want to use it more, I'd get the instant hot. I almost didn't get one, but I'm glad we did.

provgarden--the finishes look like they are made from the same manufacturer. They are perfect together!

---From an earlier post: "Another caveat: I live at (high) altitude, so water takes longer to boil here. Our insta-hot isn't as hot as it would be lower down. (It's still scalding hot, but I did notice a difference.) We canNOT use it for oatmeal (we put it in a pyrex measuring cup in the micro and that gets it hot enough for oatmeal), but that's here. Back in San Francisco it was hot enough straight out of the tap for (instant) oatmeal." ---

Just a minor nitpick ... actually, the water boils sooner at altitude, but it boils at a lower temperature, so it takes things longer to cook. (It has to do with the lower air pressure at altitude, and water boils when the water vapor pressure exceeds the atmospheric pressure.)

I'm trying to decide on an instant-hot, and I too am at altitude, so thanks for your experience. I guess the temp in the water tank is lower because it has to keep beneath boiling ... just like the coffee makers (coffee is never quite hot enough in the mountains, and just barely at home).

pluckymama: Thanks for this opening this thread. We have a hot water feature on our stand alone water cooler. We'll be getting rid of it as the fridge has internal filtered water, but I was hating the idea of going back to always having to use the stove top kettle.
The messages above have convinced me to install an IWD. I know it will become one of my favorite features.

claybabe - I tried to send you an email directly but not sure if garden web took it or not. Where did you get that cool grommet?! And is it a problem if you spill something on it? Is it water tight? Thanks much!

i know this is an old thread - but can any users out there with instant hot water at the kitchen sink tell me if this is dangerous with small kids? mine are 2 and 5, 2 year old likes to play at sink. is this easy to turn on so a kid might burn themselves? never had one but drink a lot of tea so sounds great. thanks!

you can adjust the temperature on the control below the sink but if it is not hot enough to scald I would worry about bacteria building up? There is a reservoir that the water sits in for a while. It really is instant hot, unlike the regular kitchen tap that gradually builds up to be hot. I treat it like water coming out of a just boiled tea kettle. Dangerous for kids and animals, and unsuspecting adults.

There are kinds that are too hard for a kid to turn on. We had them all the years our kids were growing up and noone ever got scalded (that's not to say it can't happen, just that it didn't). It was the kind you have to turn, rather the kind you just press down.

OT: If you like this idea, have you thought about putting a circulator pump on your hot water line? Turn on any hot water tap in the house and get hot water in two seconds. This is one of my favorite features -- along with a central vacuum and F&P dish drawers. It costs electricity to run the pump, but you're not wasting water waiting for the hot water to flow.