Which kitchen tap should I choose?

Kitchen taps are sold on appearance and fail on compatibility. The most common expensive mistake is a tap specified for a minimum pressure the house does not have, followed closely by a tall spout under a window that then will not open. Both are checkable in ten minutes.

Step by step

1. Count the tap holes in your sink.One hole means a monobloc — a single body carrying hot and cold with one lever or two heads. Two or three holes means separate pillar taps or a three-hole mixer, and a monobloc will leave holes to blank off. The hole count constrains the choice hard.
2. Establish your water pressure and system type.A combi boiler or an unvented cylinder gives mains pressure to both hot and cold. A gravity system with a tank in the loft gives low pressure hot, and the head available depends on how far the tank is above the tap — which in a bungalow or a top-floor flat can be very little.
3. Check the tap's minimum pressure requirement.Manufacturers state a minimum, often around 0.2 to 0.5 bar for a low-pressure-compatible tap and 1.0 bar or more for many modern designs. A high-pressure tap on a gravity hot supply gives a trickle, and no amount of adjustment fixes it.
4. Measure the spout reach and height against your sink.The spout has to deliver into the bowl you actually fill, which on a bowl-and-a-half sink is usually the large one. Measure from the tap hole centre to the middle of that bowl and compare with the tap's published reach.
5. Check the window.The classic kitchen mistake. A tall spout under a window that opens inwards, or a lever that swings up, will foul the window. Measure the clearance and check the lever's full range of movement, not just the tap's static height.
6. Decide on a pull-out spray or not.A pull-out or pull-down hose is genuinely useful for rinsing the sink and filling things that do not fit under the spout. It adds a hose, a weight and a retraction mechanism under the sink — more to go wrong, and it needs clear space in the cupboard to hang.
7. Check what the tails are.Modern monoblocs usually have integral flexible tails, often 10mm or with a 3/8 inch or 1/2 inch connection. Older pillar taps have 1/2 inch threaded tails. This decides what connectors you need and whether your existing pipework will reach.
8. Think about the handle you will use with wet hands.A single lever can be operated with a wrist or a forearm, which matters when your hands are covered in raw chicken or flour. Two crossheads are period-correct and need a grip. This is a bigger daily difference than the finish.
9. Treat finish as a durability decision as well as a look.Chrome is hard, cheap and cleans easily. Brushed steel hides water marks better than chrome. Matt black and brass finishes vary enormously in durability and some are a coating that can be worn through by abrasive cleaners. Ask what the finish actually is.

Tips

• If your hot water comes from a tank in the loft, work out the vertical distance from the bottom of the tank to the tap in metres and divide by ten for a rough bar figure. It is often much less than people assume.
• A tap that swivels through 360 degrees on a sink under a window is worth having, because it can be swung out of the way. Check whether the tap you are looking at swivels at all.
• Buy a tap with a replaceable cartridge from a maker who sells spares. A drip in five years is then a two-pound part rather than a new tap.
• Check the depth of the sink and the height of the spout together. A tall spout over a shallow bowl splashes, which is a daily irritation nobody anticipates in a showroom.

Common mistakes

• Buying a high-pressure tap for a gravity-fed hot supply — The hot side trickles while the cold runs properly, and nothing can be done about it short of a pump or a different tap. The minimum pressure figure is published for a reason.
• Not checking the window — A tall spout or an upward-swinging lever under a window that opens inwards is discovered on the day it is fitted, and by then the old tap has gone.
• Choosing a finish without asking what it is — Some coloured and brass finishes are physical vapour deposition and are extremely durable; others are a lacquer that abrasive cleaner takes straight off. The two look identical in a photograph.

Alternatives

• Single-lever monobloc mixer: One hole, one lever, a ceramic disc cartridge controlling flow and temperature. The default modern kitchen tap. Easy to use with a wrist, easy to repair — a drip means a new cartridge.
• Two-handle monobloc mixer: One hole, two heads, hot and cold blended in the body. Traditional look with a single tap hole. Two valves to service instead of one cartridge.
• Separate pillar taps: Two holes, two taps, no mixing. Period-correct on an older sink, simple to repair, and genuinely inconvenient for washing hands. Still the right answer on some older gravity systems.
• Pull-out or pull-down spray: A spout with a hose and a spray head. Excellent for rinsing the sink and filling awkward vessels. The hose, weight and retraction mechanism are extra parts under the sink and need clear space to hang.
• Bridge or wall-mounted tap: Used with Belfast sinks and in traditional kitchens where the sink has no tap ledge. Wall-mounted needs pipework in the wall, which is a decision made long before the tap is bought.
• Boiling water tap: A tap with an under-sink tank delivering near-boiling water on demand, usually alongside hot and cold. A separate decision with its own requirements — power, space and servicing.

Questions people ask