Double Faucets

I used to think the Kohler Karbon faucet reminded me of an 80s Italian car manufacturer but this image reminds me of storks at the waterhole.
I really wanted to find out why I would need dual Karbons in the kitchen, after all it articulates so surely it will reach to every corner of the sink, no? Unfortunately as usual with Kohler when you click on the photo it takes you to an article that DOESN"T MENTION THE FAUCET AT ALL. Does Kohler know how infuriating this is? If you're gonna make me look you'd better be sure I'm satisfied with what I see. Anyway, it looks as though one is for washing up or maybe rinsing vegetables and the other is for... soaking the chips 'n' dip??? Please guys at Kohler, link the images to the relevant articles in the future and put me out of my misery by telling me what to do with the second Karbon faucet.

Champagne Supernova

When I met Jon Spector, President and CEO of Dornbracht Americas, at a Blogger's Bash last month, I learnt Dornbracht would be launching a new faucet at ISH 2009. I was promised a geometric faucet that would become as iconic as their sleek and beautiful Tara faucet. Mr Spector thought its origami shape of the new product might be just what I was looking for to be the jewel in the master bath rehab. Believe me, I was already excited but when he told me it was to be called Supernova and would be available in a champagne finish I was beside myself.


The champagne finish has a top layer of 22 carat gold, which will probably put it beyond our reach but there is a chrome version that may be a tad less glamorous but is just as stylish. The crisp sculptural quality does echo the rooflines of The Cool House, so from a design perspective this faucet is a winner.
Of course I couldn't write this post without a reference to this song. I don't know if it was a deliberate homage on the part of Dornbracht's marketing and design teams but I can't imagine that it didn't cross their minds that everyone would be singing it while they shower. I haven't been able to stop since I first heard about it, can you imagine what I'll be like when the Supernova finally makes it to the showroom?
via Stylepark

Pot fillers

I'll be upfront here and say that I don't understand the pot filler's place on the list of most desirable kitchen gadgets. I know they save you from having to lug a heavy pot full of water across the kitchen but you still have to lug that same pot over to the sink when you're done cooking, and then it's hot and steamy as well as heavy. Much like a laundry chute where it's super to be able throw all the dirty laundry through a hole in the ceiling and have it fall next to the washing machine, but you still have to fold the clothes and carry them back upstairs when they are clean, it's efficientish.
Having said all that here are a few modern-looking pot fillers that from a design perspective I'd give a little wall space to.


Grohe Ladylux Pot Filler. If this is as robust as the Ladylux faucet we had in our last kitchen it will be worth the money. And who can resist that come-hither lever? Available in wall or deck-mounted versions, in stainless steel. $1029.00 retail, around $625 from online faucet sellers.


The very simple Whitehaus Decohaus available in brushed nickel or chrome, for half the price of the Grohe. It also comes in a cross-handle model.


Hansgrohe Allegro. This faucet has cute stubby little levers that I just want to pinch. It's available only in chrome, list price $662. But once again there are bargains out there. Hansgrohe also make a similar model Talis, but the lever is so tiny I'm not sure how I'd operate it.

Gold Fever

I don't know about this Soffi Gold Fever Murano Glass waterfall faucet from Bongio. I can't decide if it reminds me more of an upside down retro table lamp or alibaba's turban. I am certain that if it were in our shower someone would hit with a shampoo bottle on day one and it would be raining Murano sprinkles and I don't think we'd be singing this song.
via trendir

Surreal bath filler

I'm still looking for that inspiration piece that will kick-start the master bath into action. I don't think this Mimi Bath Filler from Gessi is it, though. Perhaps it's just me but I find it too Daliesque, too Magritte, too surreal. Like the side section of a male anatomy model sculpted by Picasso......

My Superpower: Total Mastery of Water - Updated

Nearly 40% of the keyword analysis on my statcounter is coming from people searching "Kohler Karbon".* That's the new pot filler introduced by Kohler at K/BIS last week, which reminded me of the articulated robotic arms Fiat used to replace manual labour in its auto factories in the 70s.
To be helpful to those looking for more information on this revolutionary faucet I researched the product and here's what I have learnt: it is made from carbon fiber, that means it's very strong and yet flexible; you can move it into several different positions and then use it hands-free; you can place the control on the right or the left; it has a button for spray. In other words it's like many other kitchen faucets but it's made from a more unusual material and aesthetically it looks very different. A lot is made by the copywriters of its modern design; having looked at the faucet in more detail I now think it resembles a socket wrench as much as a robotic arm. That is not necessarily a negative, why shouldn't a "powerful kitchen tool" look like a powerful home improvement tool?
What I'd be buying it for, though, would be it's effect on my psyche, for the Karbon promises "a totally different experience with water at the sink" whereby I will "achieve mastery of water". Now that's a tagline I can get behind.
It won't be available for some months yet so to experience the faucet for yourself try it out virtually and be sure to check out the two videos Kohler have produced to promote their new product.

*and it would seem, Kohler themselves. Someone from Kohler has been visiting the blog regularly since I posted this .

Update: It would seem that I made a huge error in labeling the Kohler Karbon a pot filler. It is not. It is a faucet. I stand corrected. Its flexibility allows you to easily fill tall pots without having to place them in the sink but it is not designed to fit behind a range or cooktop. However, the wall-mounted model still looks like a pot filler, it folds back flat against the wall and extends out to, well, fill pots. So my question for M. Kohler is: Why not design a Karbon Pot Filler and extend the "mastery of water"?

Fortunatissimo, family car

The new Karbon Articulating Kitchen faucet from Kohler featured in today's New York Times reminds me of something. I can't quite think of what.... oh, yes.......

Powder room: the fixtures

No gold tiles or bejeweled faucets but a splash of colour from the vessel sink amongst the sea of gray tones

Bliiiing

From the "you can never have too much bling in your bathroom" department, the Italian firm Teknobili brings you the Oz collection. In collaboration with goldsmith Alberto Cotogno, designer Nilo Gioacchini has produced a solid gold faucet with 282 diamonds, total carats: 10.24.
A gold diamond-encrusted bidet faucet. I want to know how you keep that thing clean. I guess if you're asking that question, bling in the bath is not for you. Oh, and if you have to ask the price................
via Trendir

Drip, drip

It's almost Spring and we are thawing out here. I can hear the drip, drip, drip of melting ice. But wait. Isn't that dripping sound awfully clear? Much closer than I'd imagine. Drip, dRIP, DRIP. Getting warmer now. There it is, under the kitchen sink. The hot water hose to the spray faucet is dripping.
I think we've found the answer to what's been puzzling us for many, many months.
Of course, now I have to fix it.............

Pretty or ugly?

Am I the only person who thinks this Kohler Finial wall-mounted faucet looks as if it's clinging onto the wall like an actor in a B movie pretending to hang on to the side of a mountain. You know that really he's stretched out on the floor faking that white knuckle business.
Maybe it's just that the sleek grey tiles in the photo seem at odds with the ornate handles on this model, maybe it's the detailing on the mount but it seems oddly disproportionate. It doesn't look as though it was designed to fit the space, just that it was stuck on its side and I'm expecting it to slide off any moment.
However, if it rocks your boat it's available with white handles too.

Girls' Bath done, tick

new vanity in use
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

One more thing ticked off the "To Do" list. The Kohler Stillness faucet was installed this morning. I cannot tell you how much this faucet sucks in comparison to the Grohe Tenso in the boys' bath.
First there's the weight issue. You pick up the Grohe and it weighs a ton, it feels substantial. The Kohler feels lightweight, like it would buckle if you squeezed the faucet really hard. Then there's the finish. We went with the Kohler because we needed a brushed nickel finish to match the other fixtures (lights, hardware) in this bath. But the finish feels cheap, I think it'll chip if I breathe too heavily on it. The Grohe is smooth and I'm sure will resist every bang and knock for years to come.
Then there's the design issue. The Tenso is simplicity itself: push back, turn, push forward - each movement is straightforward , smooth and seamless. The Stillness faucet is rough, hard-edged and the pop-up drain is resting on the spout so it is impossible for anyone with limited mobility (or small children) to pull up the rod that controls the drain cover. I'm sure it will scratch the back of the spout too, but you won't be able to see that.
If we had purchased these faucets in chrome, they would have been the same price, but the quality? World's apart. That said, the Stillness is a pretty faucet and, as I knew I would, I made the plumber happy by choosing Kohler. After all that's what he has in his house.

Basic Needs v Bathroom Jewelry

I was extremely distressed at having to part with $500 yesterday just to ensure continuing warmth and security. The garage door opener was declared dead and that was the cost of a new one, installed.

Apparently it was a miracle that the thing had held up for 38 years because the door is heavy and the Genie opener only had a single chain. Amazing. So I should expect the other one to go any second now? Anyway, I am now the proud owner of a double chain opener, guaranteed for one year.
I had that $500 marked down for the start of the downstairs bath remodel and specifically for either one of these beauties. They are both sleek and modern but the one on the left is the angular Tosca Bergamo and on the right we have the more traditional KWC Vesuno Classic.
Strictly speaking, I don't need a new faucet, but we do have a leak on the existing one, and the vanity is starting to de-laminate and I hoped that while we were on a bathroom remodelling kick we should just go with it and update the lot. I hadn't discussed this with Steven because I know he'd be even less enthusiastic than he was when I suggested adopting a new kitty........
In the unlikely event I should have a spare few hundred bucks in the future it would be good to have the fixtures already chosen, so some input on my faucet choice would be appreciated. Vote here for your favourite

Your favorite faucet
	Tosca Bergamo
	KWC Vesuno Classic
	Either, I love them both
	Neither, they leave me cold
Free polls from Pollhost.com

(mostly) Excellent service

I spent Tuesday evening online ordering some of the fixtures for the new bath. Shopping around for the best price takes time but beats the hell out of driving round visiting every plumbing supply store and bath showroom in a twenty mile radius to find a Tenso faucet. And that was after I'd visited the Grohe website to locate the dealers. Every one could show my a picture in a catalogue but no one had the model in stock. I'd seen the faucet on the website and had the dimensions but I wanted to see it in real life. I wanted to see how shiny it was, how big, how bulky. After a really frustrating four hours and nearly half a tank of fuel I gave up, came home and started searching online suppliers. By 5:00 pm I had not only ordered the faucet but a matching shower valve trim and a Freehander shower.
Then I moved on to the vessel sink. I'd wanted a bronze tempered glass sink but I was concerned that the color might not be as pictured on the websites and once again I couldn't find anyone locally who had anything in stock - not even the snotty hardware store in Nassau County, NY where the salesman's first question wasn't "Were you looking for glass, ceramic or stone?" but "How big is your budget because we only deal in expensive sinks, we're a high-end store, that's what our clientele demands." (note to self: wear a huge diamond ring and borrow Louis Vuitton bag when shopping in Great Neck). He showed me a bunch of catalogs and gave me a price on a glass vessel that I could beat by $180 elsewhere. Superb customer service.


I identified a cute Italian ceramic vessel sink at Qualiytbath,com, emailed them about lead times, had a reply within 10 minutes saying it would ship 5-7 days after the order was placed, ordered it at 5:30 pm and it arrived by UPS at 3 pm yesterday. Less than 24 hours, free shipping and no sales tax. Oh, and no snotty salespeople of course. I rounded off the evening by ordering the towel racks, toilet roll holders, robe hooks and finally a Toto Maple Softclose Toilet Seat.
Just to prove that I can shop locally without feeling like I'm wasting the salesperson's time, I ventured out again to look at lights and had lots of help from The Lighting Gallery in Huntington. I explained what I was looking for and was directed to contemporary vanity lights. A few questions later and I had the perfect solution: a bar light that won't detract from the mosaic tile but will still make a statement and will fit in with the style of the house. I did have to pay NY sales tax but I got excellent service and I got to feel the merchandise too.
It's all coming together at last. Today, before 9:30 am FedEx dropped off the faucet and shower. The trim is promised, via the wonderful UPS tracking system, for Monday, the other things by the end of the month. The plumber is getting the actual toilet for me and the Grohe shower valve and now he, the handyman, the other contractor, my husband and myself have all agreed on the dimensions of the shower I can go ahead and order the base, safe in the knowledge that five people can't be wrong. Can they?

It's a leak, not a drip

The plumber had to come back to fix the shower that was still dripping - it worked fine till I tried to use it! Luckily it was, as I suspected, just a piece of dirt that was stopping the valve from shutting off and I don't know who was happier about that, me or the plumber.
I thought we were done with leaks until I went to wash my hands on Saturday. I couldn't believe my eyes. Water was coming out from the base of the hot faucet. I'd seen water there before but thought we were just splashy washers and wiped it up. It was the first time I'd witnessed this phenomenon. Steven decided that it was just a washer job and he'd fix it while I went out. No big deal.
When I got back several hours later he was very proud that he'd changed the O-ring and all was working again. "I couldn't believe how easy it was" he said, so I trotted off to test drive the tap. I turned it on and the water seeped from the base again, maybe not as fast as before but there was definitely a flow and not just from the spout. Even better, when I turned on the cold tap water flowed from the base of the hot faucet. Like magic.
Steven was not impressed. He took it to bits again and made sure everything was tight but that didn't fix it. By this time the local hardware store was shut, so armed with the Kohler valve we set off for Home Depot. Unfortunately Hopelessly Depressing did not have the correct part for the 40 year old tap so we looked at a new unit. Twenty 8" faucets and not one we liked. What were the odds? We left empty-handed. It's not leaking badly and we'll be renovating that bathroom eventually so we might as well wait and get something we like.
At this moment I'd just like one bathroom that doesn't leak, drip, where the toilet doesn't continually fill or the shower pan isn't cracked. Just one.

MEM's the word

We did something totally out of character today. We actually left a plumbing showroom on speaking terms, without screaming at each other that "one of us has no taste, and it's not me", or without the despondent feeling that comes after looking at every faucet in the showroom and knowing you hate them all equally. We were so pleased with ourselves we rewarded us with lunch overlooking the water.
And what had caused peace and serenity to envelop us in this manner? The stunningly simple but arrestingly beautiful MEM bathroom faucet from Dornbracht. We looked at it and simultaneously declared it THE ONE. It comes also as a waterfall bath spout, which will make it perfect for the master bath, as well as the large spread for the basins. The only teensy weensy little issue is that we seem to have set our hearts on the most expensive faucet in the store, and we'll need two sink faucets, the bath faucet and a shower system, which flies in the face of our philosophy and promise to do this renovation as economically as possible. Still, it's a small price to pay for marital harmony, no?