Kitchen faucets have already been described in detail on our website. The concept of “faucet” is somewhat broader than “mixer”: a tap is understood as any device for passing, adjusting and shutting off the flow of a liquid or gaseous medium - both with mixing of two or more media approaching through underwater pipelines, and without mixing. For example, there are simply taps for cold water - without mixing it with hot water.
But such “just taps” are no longer found in the kitchens of modern homes. Therefore, further in the text the concepts “faucet” and “mixer” will be treated as identical. And everything that has already been published on our website about kitchen faucets will also apply to the kitchen sink faucet.
Types of kitchen taps
Taps, like mixers, are divided into two large groups - valve and lever. Within each group there are two subgroups.
Valve tap in the kitchen
Valve are divided into valves with a worm axle and with a ceramic one.
Lever– for kitchen ball faucets and kitchen faucets with ceramic inserts.
More information about the design of a kitchen faucet of any of these types can be found in the materials about the corresponding types of mixers. It should be taken into account that the kitchen ball faucet is no longer produced by the industry, but due to inertia, all types of lever faucets are often called this way.
The design of a kitchen faucet is identical to that of a bathtub or sink faucet, but there are several specific designs that are used only for kitchen sinks. One of these is a kitchen faucet with a pull-out shower.
Pull-out shower faucet: installed on the kitchen sink The nuance of such a device is that inside its spout (the “pipe” of the faucet) there is a miniature shower on a flexible hose 70-80 cm long. It can be pulled out of the “pipe” and, say, washed from different sides of a large dish or a cast-iron duck pot , which is inconvenient to move in the sink.
The shower is pulled back into place under the weight of a weight, which is connected by a wire to the shower head, and the wire itself passes through the “pipe” of the spout. However, there are designs for a kitchen faucet with a shower, which is held on a screw spring wrapped around the spout; there are other design options.
Faucet in the kitchen with two spouts - for drinking and technical water Another specific kitchen design is the dual spout kitchen faucet. Two tubes are hidden in the body of such a faucet: one for supplying technical water for washing dishes and the other for drinking water. The flow is switched using the same lever handle as in a regular “ball” kitchen faucet.
Both pipes of the two-spout kitchen faucet are hidden in a hollow console hanging over the sink sink; Only their tips protrude outward. Visually, a kitchen faucet with two spouts is difficult to distinguish from a regular one with a massive “pipe”.
The standard material used for kitchen taps is chrome-plated brass. Sometimes there are advertisements for kitchen taps made from more prestigious materials - even gold and platinum.
As a rule, these are the same brass taps, “painted” with special coatings like gold, platinum, etc.
Retro style bronze kitchen faucet Kitchen faucet nozzle
The most popular of them is aerator.
Kitchen faucet aerator A kitchen faucet aerator is a metal (stainless steel or brass) or plastic cylinder that is attached with a threaded connection to the very end of the spout. Inside the aerator there is one, two or three mesh filters, through which the water is saturated with air and acquires a characteristic foamy color. Since the mesh covers 20-30% of the drain area, the water flow through the tap also drops by the same amount, while maintaining pressure.
The article on our website under the title will tell you about devices whose purpose is to make the work of housewives easier
About mixers that are controlled using
A mixer with a thermostat can be especially useful in the kitchen. A whole series of articles on our website is devoted to these gadgets. Go to one of them -
Our experts purchased several varieties of these “sprayers”, disassembled them and came to the conclusion that these are ordinary aerators, into which either an additional filter mesh was inserted in a homemade way, or, between the filters, a propeller-spinner or something else of the like. At best, they provide additional water savings of 5-6%, which does not correspond to their price.
A faucet with an aerator should not be confused with a kitchen faucet with filter. With the advent of kitchen faucets with ceramic shut-off devices that are sensitive to contaminants in water, experts strongly recommend installing filters on the main pipes leading to the faucets to purify the water and reduce its hardness. But these are large industrial-type filters, which are in no case mounted in the faucet itself - simply on the pipe suitable for it.
LED nozzle for kitchen faucet The most advanced type of kitchen faucet attachment is LED. This is a device with a temperature sensor and several lights that illuminate the stream of water coming out of the spout. Depending on the temperature, its color can change from red to blue. It is believed that such a device can protect against burns - do not put your hands under the scarlet stream from the tap!
Kitchen faucet repair
What to do if the kitchen faucet is leaking?
Disassemble the kitchen faucet and troubleshoot problems. If this is a crane with worm axle boxes, then, most often, you can get by by replacing the rubber gaskets. In more modern models, you will have to change the ceramic cartridge.
Repair of a kitchen faucet with removal of the worm axle How to change a kitchen faucet if, for example, a crack is discovered in the body? - Remove and install a new one!
Installation of a kitchen faucet is carried out according to the same instructions that are given in the section of our website dedicated to the repair of faucets. A video of a kitchen faucet repair can be viewed here:
