Kitchen tap with pull out spray attachment

B

BetsyClark

Registered User
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152
Hi

I fancy one of these and saw one on e-bay, from Germany. Has anyone bought one and what price should I expect to pay for one in hard chrome, not plated, and if the description says "standdardized Fittings" will it be easy to install?

Betsy
 
Hi, I bought one of these here in Ireland and spent approximately €100 on it. After only a couple of months, it started leaking so I brought it back and got a refund. I would advise you to do your research on the brand before you actually buy it.
 
Hard Chrome is an industrial electrolysed finishing process for carbon alloy steel, iron castings, copper alloys, stainless steel and aluminium alloys. It is not a decorative finishing process. In order to get a standard ”Chrome” finish parts have to be coated and polished. If the coating is over 1mm the parts have to be ground and polished. Unless you are paying hundreds, and possibly thousands, of Euro for the tap then I suggest that it is a standard 300 series cast stainless steel tap with a 5 to 12 micron coating of decorative chrome or, if it has a matt finish, it has a thin coating of hard chrome.
The problem is that Chrome is usually plated onto ferrous metals as a cheap substitute for stainless steel. I would not buy chrome kitchen fittings.
 
Purple said:
The problem is that Chrome is usually plated onto ferrous metals as a cheap substitute for stainless steel. I would not buy chrome kitchen fittings.
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Forgive my ignorance, but what else do kitchen taps come in ?

Also, Lidl are doing one [broken link removed] if you want to try one before you 'splash out' (excuse the pun) on an expensive one.
 
Taliesen said:
Forgive my ignorance, but what else do kitchen taps come in ?

Also, Lidl are doing one [broken link removed] if you want to try one before you 'splash out' (excuse the pun) on an expensive one.
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Carbon in steel is what causes rust but other additives can also cause plating to lift. Low quality stainless cast parts can have impurities that cause chrome to flake over time. They can also have a small amount of free carbon (carbon molecules that are not bonded to other molecules), which can cause staining over time. The etching process prior to plating also has to be good in order to give the chrome a good hold on the metal.

Basically, to a large extent, you get what you pay for and chrome can make rubbish look like high quality parts. That’s why I would only buy un-plated stainless steel fittings.
 
Hi Purple and thanks.

I've shopped around some more and found a Franke model and the technical document says the finish comes in a choice of chrome or "silk steel" - would this steel option be better than chrome? The price range is £200-300

Thanks again
 
Just saw [broken link removed] on Lidl's website available next Thursday 14th August.
 
BetsyClark said:
Hi Purple and thanks.

I've shopped around some more and found a Franke model and the technical document says the finish comes in a choice of chrome or "silk steel" - would this steel option be better than chrome? The price range is £200-300

Thanks again
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Silk Steel is probably a matt brushed finish. What matters is that it is a good quality stainless steel with ceramic discs inside (just about every tap has these now).
 
BetsyClark said:
Hi Purple and thanks.

I've shopped around some more and found a Franke model and the technical document says the finish comes in a choice of chrome or "silk steel" - would this steel option be better than chrome? The price range is £200-300

Thanks again
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I have a silk steel franke tap (~200 euro's) at present and I'm not impressed with it, it seems to stain and i can't remove them and this is from normal use..no chemicals etc, so I'm not going for this brand this time.
 
seen them advertised in the Lidel or Aldi...not sure which , but this week for €29.99.....has safety thermostat and pull out spray head!
 
Just saw [broken link removed] on Lidl's website available next Thursday 14th August.
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Is this not just a regular tap as opposed to a pull out spray attachment tap ??
 
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