Branded bathroom taps..are they worth it?

[fizz47]

Apologies for another one of my house questions - but this places seems to be the best place with the wealth of knowledge on offer....

So as per title are branded bath/shower/basin taps worth the extra expense...

I was all set to buy some nice looking taps for my bathroom from one of these online places which were coming to a total of approx £300 for all of the above taps..

Someone mentioned to me that go for branded taps as the cheapo ones will break and be worthless very quickly...

So should I spend 3 or 4 tmes the amount on branded taps? If so can anyone recommend where to buy them from?

[SkinnyBoy]

The cheap taps are cheap for a reason. I've just spent over a grand on taps for our bathroom and powder room because of the buy once buy right ethos. They have decent aerators which reduce splashback and lovely damped handles. The ones I bought are a single piece instead of welded like the cheapos. Spend the extra as nothing does your head in more than a dripping tap!

Edited by SkinnyBoy on Tuesday 8th October 13:34

[B17NNS]

fizz47 said:

So should I spend 3 or 4 tmes the amount on branded taps?

I doubt they are 3 or 4 times better or will last 3 or 4 times longer.

They do tend to come in nice little bags though.

[Tino]

But you need to take the fitting cost into accound if you need to replace the taps prematurely.
Having said that, our bathroom taps look like run of the mill taps, and at least 25 years old and still work OK.

[sleep envy]

B17NNS said:

fizz47 said:

So should I spend 3 or 4 tmes the amount on branded taps?

I doubt they are 3 or 4 times better or will last 3 or 4 times longer.

They do tend to come in nice little bags though.

And the branded taps manufacturers tend to stock spare for their products for far,far longer than the non-branded manufacturers.

The spare also come in nice little bags too.

Spend the extra.

[Little Lofty]

Even the good stuff doesn't seem to last nowadays.Ive just replaced loads of bits on some Hudson Reed bath taps i fitted about 4 years ago as they were leaking all over the place.They did supply the bits free of charge which was nice of them, but the customer did have to pay for the removal of the bath and some re tiling.I'm just pleased the customer supplied them, or i would have felt obliged to do the work for free.I've just fitted some cheapish taps for another customer and they were fine, they also came in a nice bag.

[B17NNS]

It's all about the bag.

Drawstring natch.

[Rude-boy]

My experience.

Just over 6 years ago we bought a house that needed a total refit of the ensuite, bathroom and downstairs show/toilet room as well as the kitchen and utility.

We bought some different basins and stands off the internet and all these came with taps and wastes. The quality of the taps and wastes was not the best and the wastes weren’t really what we wanted so those were junked and only the taps used.

All of these taps have since failed, even the one that had very little use. All have been replaced with ‘branded’ taps of the same sort (tall mixer taps) which have all already outlasted the originals. We are still trying to get round to sorting out the replacement tiles that are required to tidy up the boxing and so on. Not to mention the extra fitting costs and time off work to let trades people in and so on and obviously the leaks which had to be sorted (we were lucky, all failures spotted before there was much more than a puddle to clear up).

My advice would be to buy good quality wastes, taps and traps.

[Composite Guru]

I bought some nice ones from aldi about 5 years ago and they are still going stong and also look brand new. Great taps for the money.

[andye30m3]

I bought Bristan taps 10 or so years ago, not the cheapest but reasonable and both sets have been faultless

[Rude-boy]

^^^^

These are the brand we got to replace and can't fault them.

[Muncher]

Rude-boy said:

^^^^

These are the brand we got to replace and can't fault them.

I've gone relatively cheap on taps. They are easily replaced, apart from two which would be a right pain if we ever had to swap them.

[dave_s13]

We've got B&Q mixer taps in the bath and sink.

Sink one is ok 2 years on but the bath one isn't the best. you can't really regulate the flow, try slowing down the hot tap a bit (to allow it to run a bit warmer) and it'll run like that for a few minutes then just turn off by itself.

This is frustrating if you set the bath going then go off to do something else while it runs only to come back to an empty bath. 1st world problem though and not devastating enough for me to be spending time and money swapping them out.

Do they have to be megabucks - isn't there a good midrange alternative?

[grumbas]

I'd say there's a difference between branded and designer, yes a decent brand will be worth the extra over a generic chinese product. Then you get into designer stuff where you have to decide whether you want to pay a premium for a particular style.

As an example I just swapped my kitchen tap for a cheapy £60 Screwfix jobby, it works but doesn't feel anywhere near as solid as the Carron Phoenix one I put in my last place which I think cost around £250.

I'd probably take the Screwfix one back if it wasn't just a stop gap until the whole kitchen gets re-done in a couple of years.

[Rude-boy]

Muncher said:

I've gone relatively cheap on taps. They are easily replaced, apart from two which would be a right pain if we ever had to swap them.

I know what you are saying but having had four taps fail in the last few years (5th never really worked properly in the first place!) the cost and ease of replacement is the smallest issue. We were lucky in that ours all failed when people were at home and able to spot and deal with within minutes/hours. If, say, the En-suite one had failed just after we had left home at 6am on a Saturday and we hadn't spotted until our return at 10pm on the Sunday (we are often away for these sort of weekends) then it would have been buggered electric, water damage and deep pooh all round.

Lesson learnt. Never fit cheap taps....

[Craikeybaby]

With the branded taps it is easy to shop around. We got Grohe basin tap, bath taps and shower for £600.

[anonymous-user]

PROPER brands such as Gessi are well worth the difference. The castings are better, the chrome is better, the cartridges are better, the designs feel, look and perform better. Longer term backup is more considered too.

[fizz47]

So what 'proper' brands should I be looking at? So far I know of Grohe, Hudson Reed, Roka and now the name mentioned in the previous post.

[RDMcG]

I do not know much about this, but the taps in out house are all Grohe, and were installed in about 1995. Two years ago there was a bit of a problem with the soap dispenser thing on the kitchen sink. I called them up and ordered a replacement.

Yes, they had it in stock.

" How much will that be?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing sir. Lifetime guarantee, No questions asked". Arrived by mail two days later, and did not even charge postage.

[bernhund]

I run a bathroom refurb company and have fitted all the brands above plus others like Ideal Standard and Crosswater. They've all been reliable and, in my opinion, not particularly expensive. Bristan is probably the most popular. Be aware that if you buy any tap that has a cartridge type mechanism, 1/4 turn or mono mixer, rather than the old washer type, the replacement cartridge is unlikely to be found on the shelf in the local plumbers merchants. For this reason you should keep the make and model details etc. where you can find them later. I've been to enough unidentifiable taps and have had no choice but to tell the customer they'll need a new tap.