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Choosing a faucet is often a time-consuming and sometimes complicated task, in order to find the right quality and aesthetic faucet that will perfectly match your sink or basin. In this article, we will look at the decisive factors when buying a tap for the bathroom or kitchen.
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Taps in your bathroom
In a bathroom, you don't usually need just one tap. In fact, you will have to choose the tap for the single or double washbasin, then the shower or even the bath. You will have to find taps that meet your criteria, water saving, aesthetics.... There are many taps available but how do you tell them apart and choose the best one for you?
To begin with, taps are divided into two ranges. Firstly, the mixer tap, which has two control handles for hot and cold water. It works simply by turning the two sides to mix the hot and cold water to the temperature you want. The hot and cold sides are often recognisable by the colours red for hot and blue for cold. The principle is simple, but with regular use it quickly becomes boring as you have to find the right temperature for each use.
This is why there is also the mixing valve. The most commonly used in our modern bathrooms, it has a single handle usually on top of the tap but it can also be found on the side. It is possible to adjust the temperature by turning it from left to right and to keep its setting for each use. All you have to do is lift the lever to turn on the water, the more you open the tap the more water you get. It is often more economical than a mixer as there is no need to run the water to find the right temperature.
It is possible with this technology to find mixers that offer anti-bumping systems that limit the opening of the hot water which can be very practical with children or elderly people. It is also possible to find an optional flow limiter that regulates and blocks the opening of the tap halfway to reduce the flow rate and therefore water consumption. Of course, this option only creates a hard point in the middle of the tap's travel, so you only need to lift it a little harder to open it fully.
In the range of mixers we also find thermostatic mixers most often used for showers and baths. It is composed as a mixer with two levers, one to adjust the temperature by going backwards and forwards and the other to adjust the flow in the same way. It is very easy to use and allows you to set the temperature precisely once and not to touch it afterwards. We also often find a blocking at 38°C in order to limit the accidents of burning.
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Taps for the kitchen
This is also very important for both kitchen and bathroom taps. To differentiate quality taps it is important to rely on standards:
- The NF mark is a French certification mark that guarantees quality in design, it is not compulsory which means that taps with it are generally of good quality.
- The ACS mark is mandatory and demonstrates compliance with health standards.
- The ECAU rating, which shows the capacity of the taps, litre per minute, noise level of the flow, resistance to wear and tear or the maintenance of the actual temperature.
As for the bathroom, there are mixer and mixing taps that work in the same way, in this case the big difference is in the shape and material. A kitchen tap will be longer to allow more space for washing dishes, it is also possible to find models with a flexible hose to move the tap as desired. You will have to choose the aesthetics to match your interior, many choices are available however be careful with the materials used so that it lasts a long time and with a simple maintenance.
There is however a difference in price, the mixer is the most affordable tap whether for the bathroom or the kitchen, the comparison is of course made with equivalent ranges, a top of the range and aesthetic mixer can be much more expensive than a classic mixer.
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