Faucet / plumbing fixture recs?

[dr.girlfriend]

Just had an unproductive visit to the plumbing showroom my contractor recommended...the guy kept steering me toward stuff that was like $2800 for the tub filler alone!  So, among more "standard" brands like Moen, Delta, Kohler, etc., any recommendations?  The contractor alotted $1800 for fixtures, but we need:

- shower (would prefer separate temperature and on/off controls, one showerhead and then handheld on rail)
- tub filler
- two vanity faucets

I've heard buying in big box stores gets you substandard products...are there other online places to buy faucets with brass rather than plastic parts?  Or even just recs for websites (with prices) that are good for looking around?  The plumbing supply place had a few samples but mostly their little black and white pictures in their newsprint catalogue, and I gave up and came home.

[munkii]

Build.com and Ferguson are both reputable plumbing suppliers. I'd look at Grohe and Hansgrohe--they both offer lifetime warranties and, generally, have products in all price points. Delta is nice because they have a standard shower valve that most of their current pieces work with, which makes it easy if you decide to switch something out later.

[lacey]

We went with Moen when we remodeled our master bath a few years ago.

Faucet: Moen 6600

Shower:
Moen S6320
Moen S122
Moen A725
Moen S3371
Moen S3600 (You need two of these if you want to be able to turn the regular shower head and the handheld shower head on independently of one another)
Moen 3636 (This doesn't have the sliding bar. We want to put one in the hall bath with the bar and I think the 3667EP looks the most similar. It's in my Amazon cart but I haven't pulled the trigger yet)
I can't find the order with the trim kits for the shower valves but I'll keep looking and we didn't do a bath so no help there.

We've been happy with Moen. We did a combo of Amazon, Faucetdirect.com, and Lowe's. We found that while you couldn't walk into a Lowe's or Home Depot and get the better quality items, they were available on the website.

[bhnumbers]

Apr 22, 2019 22:00:49 GMT -5 munkii said:

Build.com and Ferguson are both reputable plumbing suppliers. I'd look at Grohe and Hansgrohe--they both offer lifetime warranties and, generally, have products in all price points. 

all of this. I bought Grohe for our master bathroom shower and love them. Same for our sinks.

However, I had to draw the line at the coordinating Grohe tub filler that was like $2K. No thanks. I ended up getting this one from Jacuzzi that looks fine with our Grohe stuff and was a hell of a lot cheaper. We've only been using the bathroom for about 3 months now, but I'm loving it so far and it works great. I ordered everything from Build.com and was able to use our contractor's discount, so make sure to check on that.

eta: I spent a lot of time looking at things in showrooms before I ordered online. I went to Ferguson and a place near us in the DC area called Somerville. 

eta2: the sales guy who "helped" me at Ferguson was a little intense, very high pressure in the showroom. he did work up a whole list, with their pricing, for every part I needed for both of the bathrooms I was doing. I emailed him later with some questions and he never responded--so I called a week or so later and left a message and he still never responded. Then I compared their pricing with build.com for all of the exact same products, before they applied my contractor's discount, it was already about $400 cheaper through build.com. I spent about 2 seconds feeling bad about not ordering from Ferguson and then placed my order online

[hbomdiggity]

ditto Grohe fixtures. H must have actually purchased them because they are not showing up in my email history, but I'm pretty sure it was build.com or faucet.com

ETA: for vanity faucets, I much prefer single handed/one hole and they are much cheaper.

[tripleshot]

We just got a new kitchen faucet and our plumber said Delta and Moen are the best and stand by their product. I found the style I wanted on the Delta site and ended up buying it from faucetwarehouse.com since it was cheaper there and an authorized seller according to the Delta site. Build.com, faucet.com, efaucets.com, and supply.com we’re also on the approved seller list.

[redheadk]

I HIGHLY recommend Build.com. We used them for fixtures in our old house for a remodel. My dad (a builder) was very happy with the quality. We used Delta because I prefer their magnetite docking for kitchen faucets.

I used them to replace all of our door handles and locks in our current house and their customer service reps were extremely efficient and helpful.

Their prices were generally the lowest I could find. For one or two things, I found a very slightly lower price, but not enough to make a separate order over.

[dr.girlfriend]

Apr 23, 2019 17:46:01 GMT -5 redheadk said:

I HIGHLY recommend Build.com. We used them for fixtures in our old house for a remodel. My dad (a builder) was very happy with the quality. We used Delta because I prefer their magnetite docking for kitchen faucets.

I used them to replace all of our door handles and locks in our current house and their customer service reps were extremely efficient and helpful.

Their prices were generally the lowest I could find. For one or two things, I found a very slightly lower price, but not enough to make a separate order over.

Thanks...I asked a question with the online chat and the build.com customer service person started a "project" for me and gave me a significant discount on the stuff I'm considering!  Right now I have Hansgrohe stuff in my cart...people on Houzz message boards seem to indicate that Grohe got bought out a few years ago and has declined in quality, and the build.com person agreed.  The build.com rep actually recommended Brizo as something at a similar price point as Hansgrohe and also very good quality, but I think they were dreaming about that similar price point part of it.

[atarianna]

One thing to keep in mind Hansgrohe and Grohe aredifferent brands.
Grohe is owned by Lixil, like American Standard and DXV.

We are doing a New Build and are using American Standard and Grohe products.

[dr.girlfriend]

Apr 24, 2019 19:36:15 GMT -5 atarianna said:

One thing to keep in mind Hansgrohe and Grohe aredifferent brands.
Grohe is owned by Lixil, like American Standard and DXV.

We are doing a New Build and are using American Standard and Grohe products.

Thanks -- here's the thread I found if you're interested.  
www.houzz.com/discussions/2273170/grohe-or-hansgrohe-which-is-better

[cuadrado]

dr.girlfriend, have you finalized things yet?

I found it was helpful to walk through the plumbing showroom, find out what brands they could get in, and then pick things out online.

We are in the middle of a house renovation and we went with Kohler Artifacts for our fixtures. The tub fillers are freaking expensive and we didn't want to change our selections just because of that. We ended up deciding to build a pretty ledge right against the tub and do a deck mounted faucet instead. Added bonus is that it provides a place to set a candle or book.





Also, the Moen Brantford line looks nice and its fairly inexpensive. We are using that in our guest bathrooms. 

One thing about Build.com - We noticed the fixtures themselves were cheaper, but that the extra plumbing pieces required for installation were way more expensive. It ended up being about the same price in total as ordering from the local company, and then the responsibility for everything coming in correctly didn't fall on us.

[dr.girlfriend]

May 9, 2019 6:53:51 GMT -5 cuadrado said:

dr.girlfriend , have you finalized things yet?

I found it was helpful to walk through the plumbing showroom, find out what brands they could get in, and then pick things out online.

We are in the middle of a house renovation and we went with Kohler Artifacts for our fixtures. The tub fillers are freaking expensive and we didn't want to change our selections just because of that. We ended up deciding to build a pretty ledge right against the tub and do a deck mounted faucet instead. Added bonus is that it provides a place to set a candle or book.





Also, the Moen Brantford line looks nice and its fairly inexpensive. We are using that in our guest bathrooms. 

One thing about Build.com - We noticed the fixtures themselves were cheaper, but that the extra plumbing pieces required for installation were way more expensive. It ended up being about the same price in total as ordering from the local company, and then the responsibility for everything coming in correctly didn't fall on us.

Thanks for the input!  That ledge looks great!

We haven't finalized things...it's all still sitting in by build.com cart.  Good to know about the price issues.  Maybe I'll have my contractor price the stuff out.  One thing the build CSR (self-servingly) pointed out is that if you order it yourself, you have access to all the warranty info without having to chase down your contractor if something happens.  That's something that strikes me as a good point.

I'll look at that Moen line -- still on the lookout for faucets.  It does bug me that some of the faucets on build.com are trim only and don't have the valve stems. 

[cuadrado]

May 9, 2019 8:26:29 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

May 9, 2019 6:53:51 GMT -5 cuadrado said:

dr.girlfriend , have you finalized things yet?

I found it was helpful to walk through the plumbing showroom, find out what brands they could get in, and then pick things out online.

We are in the middle of a house renovation and we went with Kohler Artifacts for our fixtures. The tub fillers are freaking expensive and we didn't want to change our selections just because of that. We ended up deciding to build a pretty ledge right against the tub and do a deck mounted faucet instead. Added bonus is that it provides a place to set a candle or book.





Also, the Moen Brantford line looks nice and its fairly inexpensive. We are using that in our guest bathrooms. 

One thing about Build.com - We noticed the fixtures themselves were cheaper, but that the extra plumbing pieces required for installation were way more expensive. It ended up being about the same price in total as ordering from the local company, and then the responsibility for everything coming in correctly didn't fall on us.

Thanks for the input!  That ledge looks great!

We haven't finalized things...it's all still sitting in by build.com cart.  Good to know about the price issues.  Maybe I'll have my contractor price the stuff out.  One thing the build CSR (self-servingly) pointed out is that if you order it yourself, you have access to all the warranty info without having to chase down your contractor if something happens.  That's something that strikes me as a good point.

I'll look at that Moen line -- still on the lookout for faucets.  It does bug me that some of the faucets on build.com are trim only and don't have the valve stems. 

Also check on labor as it involves the warranty. Our contractor uses full service vendors, so labor for someone to come out and fix the issue + fixture parts is included for a certain time period after installation in addition to the manufacturer warranty. But if we order the pieces on our own then we would have to pay for someone to come out and look at if something goes wrong. I'm sure this is completely different amongst all contractors but it may be worth asking about before you decide on things. We are having these exact conversations with our contractor right now and it can be really stressful. Good luck!

[dr.girlfriend]

May 9, 2019 8:34:11 GMT -5 cuadrado said:

May 9, 2019 8:26:29 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Thanks for the input!  That ledge looks great!

We haven't finalized things...it's all still sitting in by build.com cart.  Good to know about the price issues.  Maybe I'll have my contractor price the stuff out.  One thing the build CSR (self-servingly) pointed out is that if you order it yourself, you have access to all the warranty info without having to chase down your contractor if something happens.  That's something that strikes me as a good point.

I'll look at that Moen line -- still on the lookout for faucets.  It does bug me that some of the faucets on build.com are trim only and don't have the valve stems. 

Also check on labor as it involves the warranty. Our contractor uses full service vendors, so labor for someone to come out and fix the issue + fixture parts is included for a certain time period after installation in addition to the manufacturer warranty. But if we order the pieces on our own then we would have to pay for someone to come out and look at if something goes wrong. I'm sure this is completely different amongst all contractors but it may be worth asking about before you decide on things. We are having these exact conversations with our contractor right now and it can be really stressful. Good luck!

Oh, interesting, I had no idea that was even a thing!

[redredwine]

May 9, 2019 6:53:51 GMT -5 cuadrado said:

dr.girlfriend , have you finalized things yet?

I found it was helpful to walk through the plumbing showroom, find out what brands they could get in, and then pick things out online.

We are in the middle of a house renovation and we went with Kohler Artifacts for our fixtures. The tub fillers are freaking expensive and we didn't want to change our selections just because of that. We ended up deciding to build a pretty ledge right against the tub and do a deck mounted faucet instead. Added bonus is that it provides a place to set a candle or book.





Also, the Moen Brantford line looks nice and its fairly inexpensive. We are using that in our guest bathrooms. 

One thing about Build.com - We noticed the fixtures themselves were cheaper, but that the extra plumbing pieces required for installation were way more expensive. It ended up being about the same price in total as ordering from the local company, and then the responsibility for everything coming in correctly didn't fall on us.

I didn't know my dream bathtub until I saw this photo...I adore the marble "mantle" behind this tub (and the tub) and can see this setup when we eventually redo our master bath. I love the idea of a ledge behind the tub!

[cuadrado]

May 10, 2019 0:19:18 GMT -5 redredwine said:

May 9, 2019 6:53:51 GMT -5 cuadrado said:

dr.girlfriend , have you finalized things yet?

I found it was helpful to walk through the plumbing showroom, find out what brands they could get in, and then pick things out online.

We are in the middle of a house renovation and we went with Kohler Artifacts for our fixtures. The tub fillers are freaking expensive and we didn't want to change our selections just because of that. We ended up deciding to build a pretty ledge right against the tub and do a deck mounted faucet instead. Added bonus is that it provides a place to set a candle or book.





Also, the Moen Brantford line looks nice and its fairly inexpensive. We are using that in our guest bathrooms. 

One thing about Build.com - We noticed the fixtures themselves were cheaper, but that the extra plumbing pieces required for installation were way more expensive. It ended up being about the same price in total as ordering from the local company, and then the responsibility for everything coming in correctly didn't fall on us.

I didn't know my dream bathtub until I saw this photo...I adore the marble "mantle" behind this tub (and the tub) and can see this setup when we eventually redo our master bath. I love the idea of a ledge behind the tub!

The deck mount faucet that we picked out was 1/3 of the cost of the floor mounted one from the same collection. Another bonus is that plumbing is cheaper because they can run it along the side of the tub with the ledge hiding it instead of under the tub. The things you learn when you’re renovating a house 🤣

[Susie]

We used the Delta Addison line last year when we renovated our bath.  I like having the temperature control separate from the on/off on the shower valve.  I'm glad we spent a little more for that.  We later replaced the matching shower head with a handheld one (also Delta, one of the In2ition ones).



We bought our hardware at cost through FIL's kitchen & bath business, so I don't have any great recs on where to shop for better than retail prices.  I don't remember exact costs, but it was in the couple hundred per piece neighborhood -- like $200 or so for a faucet, for example?

We put in Moen Eva fixtures in our powder room when we renovated ~5 years ago, and I've been pretty happy with that too.