14 January 2009

Overstock.com --who knew?



When I posted the photos of my marble counter the other day, I heard a lot of questions and comments about the faucet and the sink that went into that kitchen. Originally, I had specified the Kohler Vinnata faucet and a Houzer flat-bottom sink.

Here's the Vinnata from Kohler in another project from last year. The Vinnata is a beautiful fixture and it retails for around $700. That's honed Calacatta marble on that counter in case you're wondering.


This is the back end of a Kohler Verity apron-front sink in this photo, and it's also a great sink, but that's a topic for another day.

So anyhow, despite my explicit instructions, my client went off on her own and found some less-expensive substitutes. Good for her I say, she picked out some good stuff. She must have a good coach. Hah! When the sink and faucet showed up she was pretty proud of her selections but a little cagey about where she got them. Eventually, I pried the source out of her. It turns out that this client, who's become the current holder of my Best Client Ever title, found her fixtures on Overstock.com.

I mean, who knew? I'm a pretty Internet-savvy guy and I had no idea that Overstock.com sold plumbing fixtures. Well, they do and they sell all kinds of other home-related things too.

So in the kitchen featured in Monday's More Marvelous Marble, here's the faucet.


And here's the sink she bought.


I don't get too attached to my plumbing recommendations and I love saving a buck as much as the next guy. So if you're in a bind and you're looking to save some money on an upcoming renovation, Overstock.com might be a good place to check. But be careful, their offerings are kind of hit or miss from a quality standpoint. But hey, times is hard.

12 comments:

  1. Faucets, faucets, faucets. Too many choices. Thanks for the post. Great lead for those of us comparing the goods. The faucet shown in your post is a "durable finish" which means what? I love the description I have encountered which is a "living finish." As a friend of mine says whatever is living, also dies. Hmmm. Can you cut through this with your sharp wit and inform us what finish terms mean and what we really want?

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  2. Having kicked the tires on this one personally, the finish is a matte nickel-y kind of finish. Almost all plumbing fixtures are made from electroplated brass, except for stainless steel fixtures. Living finish would be a red flag to me. Brass is a reactive metal and I would suspect that something billed as "living" would be the same. Ugh. Unfortunately, there aren't any standards in the industry and finish descriptions vary wildly from manufacturer to manufacturer. But know that in most cases, a description is describing a color, not the metal a fixture is made from. Oil-rubbed bronze is a good example. And oil-rubbed bronze faucet isn't made from bronze, it's just made to look as if it is.

    Let me dig around a bit on this one and I'll blog about it later. Thanks for the post idea Ming, you keep me on my toes and I appreciate it.

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  3. Just a note - I have had very good luck with a site called homeandstone.com. Excellent prices, great customer service and high end brands. In my own kitchen I bought two KWC faucets at a huge discount off the retail prices - no shipping, no tax. It's worth a look.

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  4. Thanks for the tip. KWC's my personal favorite --I'm a modernist at heart, but KWC's 1922 faucet makes me drool. I hope my reader Ming caught that referral and in the meantime, I'll check it out too.

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  5. Hi Paul. I love the features of a goose neck faucet and the Vinnata is a good looking one. Although, one of my biggest pet peeves with the goose neck faucet is when they have bad traction. Bad traction looks like a broken limb, the faucet head just kind of swinging there a-kimbo. There is only one faucet on the market I know of that has smooth retraction with a built in magnet. It's by Delta. Anyone tried that one yet?

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  6. I know what you mean about bad traction. That Vinnata has a really heavy weight attached to it and it snaps back into place pretty quickly. I don't know about the one you described from Delta. Let's see if anybody else has.

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  7. I would like to know also about opinions of the Delta gooseneck. I have planned at this point to use a Delta goose neck, name and model number slip my mind.

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  8. This magnetized Delta gooseneck was news to me when Laurie brought it up last night.

    Anyone? Anyone?

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  9. Ming, I found some information about the Delta magnetic pull outs and I'll make it my post tomorrow. I'll start putting something together tonight and it will go live tomorrow morning at around my usual time.

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  11. We have had the Delta gooseneck pullout faucet for 2 years and it works really well. When you get the head pushed close to the gooseneck, it snaps into place.

    Bill Avard

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  12. Sounds like you have a Delta with their new-ish MagnaTite locking system. I am a big, big fan of Delta's innovations. Thanks for your comment!

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