Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This faucet is beautiful. All metal construction, beautifully packaged (looks like one purchased an expensive luxury item), easy to install and works nicely. The aerated flow from the faucet part is strong and very nice. I would have given it 4.5 stars if ½ stars was an option because flow pressure from the hand sprayer is not as forceful as I would prefer. In all fairness to Kraus, it is advertised as a low flow rate faucet that meets California's preferred low flow rate and several other reviews mentioned the lower pressure from the sprayer so I knew it would not be as strong as some others. On some of the other faucets people complained that the pressure spray was too strong resulting in water going everywhere so there may not be a perfect answer for everyone. I also like that it automatically switches from the faucet to the sprayer when you activate the sprayer handle and the handle has a locking mechanism to keep it on hands free or to make it default to the sprayer. I have read where others did not like this feature and preferred the ability to control each separately with the master valve controlling temperature and overall flow and individual flow valve on faucet so they can have both operating at the same time. For me, I prefer this operation as it requires less fiddling and leaves my hands free to wash off dishes or clean pans which I prefer to do by hand. I have purchase several Kraus sinks and this faucet and I have been impressed with the overall high quality of their products at reasonable prices for the quality. Clearly, they are not the least expensive items in their category but I am willing to pay a little more for quality. I was concerned with the height as I knew my wife was not enamored with this restaurant design but since I am the one that does most of the clean up and cooking she relented. It is still taller than she would prefer but I was pleasantly surprised that it really didn't seem that tall to me. It is slightly taller than the specs shown on the Amazon site as they show 730 mm and it is 815 mm shown in the instruction manual; however the actual measured height is 756 mm (29.5"). I ordered the chrome finish and it is very nicely finished and looks great. I can't speak to longevity as I haven't had it long enough to give it a rating in this area. I thought I would add an update to my review based on a little more experience. Since installing it and now using it when washing dishes and pots I have found the pressure from the spray handle to be in adequate to the task. It lacks enough force to remove much of anything from even a plate, much less a pot so it fails as a pre-rinse. I called Kraus CS and they wanted to blame calcium build up and problems in my plumbing, anything but the faucet. The pressure from the pot filler appears to be better but neither is what I would call great. When I explained that this was a new unit so calcium build up was not the issue, he said it might be the ceramic cartridge or that replacing the cartridge with a 2.2 gpm version might resolve the issue (the one shipping is 1.8 gpm). He also suggested I remove the spray handle and see how much pressure flow came from the hose without the spray head. I did that and found the flow to be low. I have since emailed Kraus asking for a replacement cartridge to see fi that will resolve the issue. I guess it will depend on how quickly they respond (other than automated response) and if they offer a solution. It could be caused by the spray head too since many commercial units operate at 1.4 gpm with a lot of spray pressure. Depending on how Kraus responds will determine whether I reduce their rating. One other issue worth mentioning but not a fault of the unit is that with no on-off flow at the pot filler it can be a bit messy when you reach to turn on the faucet and suddenly find your arm and hands soaked from the pot filler. It is easy to forget that the filler arm is right out there and almost always seems to come to rest right where it will dump water on your arm. Not a huge issue if you have on short sleeve shirt or blouse but quite another thing if wearing anything with long sleeves. Our solution is to lock the spray head in the on position but this is not the best solution. So while it initially seems that a valve on the end of the pot filler is unnecessary, it becomes more obvious why that is not the case. It seems that all of these pull down sprayer type faucets have some major complaints but I will try the Vigo if this can't be resolved quickly. Update 5/12/15: After communicating with Kraus customer support about the low pressure from the spray head, I was told that nothing could be done to address the issue. In the meantime I ordered the Vigo unit to see if that might solve the problem. First, I tried the sprayed from the Vigo unit to see if the problem was in the spray head or the supply to the spray head. I found that the spray pressure was still weak, even with the Vigo spray head. The thing that surprises me about the unit having such low spray pressure is that the real commercial units like T & S or Fisher can operate down to 0.65 gpm and typically operate at 1.42 gpm, which is considerably lower than the 1.8 gpm the Kraus is rated at and the 2.2 gym the Vigo is rated at. Yet these units must perform well day-in-and-day-out as they pre-rinse a whole lot more dishes in a day than most of us pre-rinse in a month. Clearly, they are engineered to provide more spray power. In going through this purchase, I learned a whole lot more about these products and the vendors. A sight worth visiting to get un-biased information on all most all faucet vendors is: http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/sources.faucets2.htm#kraus_namelink be sure to check out their site to learn about these vendors from professionals that know how to evaluate each. Back to my faucet. I then replaced the Kraus with the Vigo. Spray pressure is significantly higher and appears to be adequate to do the job but I will be more certain after I have some dishes to test tomorrow after breakfast. The overall quality appears to be slightly better but it isn't a huge difference and installation is a little more tedious in that the hoses to the water supply must be connected to the faucet (they come pre connected on the Kraus) and the 1 ⅜" nut that holds the faucet to the counter requires full tightening instead of having screws to perform the final tightening like the Kraus nut. All connections had to be teflon taped (according to the instructions) whereas the Kraus unit depends on its O rings to seal the connection. The Vigo unit is not as tall as the Kraus unit (27" vs 33"). The spray head is heavier and feels better made. The instructions tell you to check for the washer a flow restrictor at the shower head connection but it appears that the flow restrictor is at the top of the stem where the hose connects to the faucet and not where the hose connects to the spray head. Having the separate pot shut off is quite nice. I haven't decided whether to leave the mixer valve open and then just use the pot filler valve or the spray handle valve to produce water output or whether to shut everything off when not in use. Final note before my next update: I was very disappointed in Kraus customer service. While they were pleasant and responded within a reasonable time, they seem un-informed about issues with the product. Clearly, they never read the product reviews or they would be familiar with the issue. I asked if they could replace the cartridge with a 2.2 gpm model in hopes that it would help but one CS said yes and the other said they didn't have any. I realize that neither Kraus nor Vigo actually make any of their products and that they are primarily marketing companies that rebrand various Chinese manufacturer's products; however, you can't build a brand without good customer support in this day of the Internet and product reviews. Neither Kraus or Vigo offer parts break down lists and the ability to order replacement parts. If they want to last and compete in the US market they will need to improve this aspect of their business model. I will update this post after I have thoroughly tested the Vigo unit.