Ashby - Retractable Kitchen Faucet

We bought this faucet to replace an overpriced Moen faucet that had started falling apart within a year of installing it. Add to that the difficulty installing the Moen and it was not a good value for the price paid. I installed it in a quarter of the time it took to uninstall the Moen, and probably ten times faster than the original installation of the Moen. So far we are extremely happy with the purchase and with the daily use of this faucet. I highly recommend it at this early point in use.

This replaced a 12+ year old Delta Kitchen faucet that I'm sure was $200 and she paid someone probably $150 to install...I was "in charge" of taking care of it, but I would replace parts to it every few months and it was just a costly mess.

I finally decided to nix the whole thing and get a new faucet. This one had great reviews and looks easy to install...which it was. The hardest part was removing the old faucet...the hot water faucet had rusted up, and it was in an awkward position, but eventually came out. Once that was out, it took about 10 minutes to install this one, check for any leaks which there were none, and I was up and running! My wife so far has been impressed with the heavy sprayer button, which I'm sure we'll (meaning "me") be using a lot in washing the dishes. And the water pressure seems to be better overall.

We've only had it for one day, so I'll update if any changes, but honestly if this thing last more than 2 years, I'm sold!

Vary happy with this sink! It has all the features that we wanted and more. Less expensive then the competition and just as good. It was vary well packaged. Theres no way it could of gotten damaged in shipping. Super easy install! It took me 3x as long to take the old one out as it did to put the new one in. The hose was the perfect length. No need to by extra hose. Its tall enough that there's almost no need for the extendedable head. Gives you alot of room above the sink to wash dishes.

All in all a good value. A solid build, aesthetically a nice piece and ergonomically it is a winner.

Pros:

- Strong flow in all modes, especially the sweep (almost too strong for overspray (see below) but great for rinsing)

- High clearance to get pots and pans under, etc.

- Easy to install. Uses 3/8 compression fittings, which is what I already had plumbed. Just had to hook them up. The rest was well designed to make it somewhat idiot-proof and mindless.

- Seems solid and well-constructed - time will tell how it holds up, but there's at least a 5 year warranty.

- You get a free gift for registering (not conditioned on the review, which is nice.) They send you a card with 3 options. I chose to get a cover for the hole created in my sink by removing the old sprayer.

- Customer service is responsive.

Cons:

- No pause mode. Commercial sprayers use a trigger on the handheld part to turn on when squeezed, which is really convenient when you think about it. This one requires you to turn the sink on, grab the sprayer out of the faucet, squeeze the mode button you want, let go (if you only have one hand), which pulls the sprayer back into the faucet, turn off the water flow at the base, etc., repeating this cycle if you don't want to leave water flowing continuously.

- Spray and Sweep modes get everything wet with mist. Perhaps this is because my sink is too shallow, but especially when using the Sweep mode (which I really enjoy, and was my reason for getting this model), there is lots of mist and everything around the sink gets wet and needs to be wiped down after.

- Every time you turn the water off, the mode switch goes back to the standard aerated stream. You cannot leave it in Spray mode. (Note: The sweep is a separate press-and-hold type of button that can be activated from either the stream or the spray mode.)

- Older sinks had 1/2" threads (which were then reduced to 3/8). This only has 3/8. I have a culligan under-sink water filter for drinking water, and that comes with a tee connector that assumes 1/2" connection is available. Solution is to use a 3/8 in. x 3/8 in. x 1/4 in. Compression x Compression T-Fitting with a 1/4 in. Brass Compression Nut and Insert Fitting so that I can connect my filtration system's 1/4 plastic tubing and still have 3/8 compression for the faucet. Not a problem with the faucet, but just something to be aware of that I hadn't realized at the time of purchase.