See what Delta can do

In January of '09 a couple of people started a conversation in my comments section about pull out sprayers. In the course of that exchange, the great Laurie Burke from Kitchen Design Notes brought up Delta's new MagnaTite™ docking system for pull outs. That little pearl of wisdom led to my post on 16 January, MagnaTite Docking from Delta. I pride myself on being up on the latest and greatest innovations in my industry, but I have to say that the MagnaTite™ system caught me by surprise.

I dug around a bit and as I was writing that original post everything I read and learned led me to the conclusion that Delta was really onto something. I was impressed then and I remain impressed now. It's a great idea and I can't believe no one's ever thought of this before. Kudos to Delta for being the first.

One of Delta's models, the Pilar, is a particularly well-designed faucet and it features the MagnaTite™ system. The Pilar also features Delta's Touch2O™ technology, and that's another triumph for Delta. I'll write more about Delta's Touch2O™ on Monday.

For now though, the Pilar is all I want to write about. I'm really struck by this faucet. I mean, look at it. It's really beautiful and elegant. Ordinarily, I'm all about Kohler if I'm in this price point, but the Pilar is making me re-think that single handedly

Clearly, I'm not alone in this appreciation of Delta's Pilar. In the last month and a half, Delta has won two industry awards for it and the Pilar deserves every accolade it gets.

The first is an MVP from Building Products Magazine. Delta's MVP was one of 21 products honored across eight categories relating to home construction and renovation. The second award is a 2009 Stevie^® in the “New Product or Service of the Year – Manufacturing” category at the 7th annual American Business Awards^sm, held in June 22. These awards add two more voices who have joined the chorus of praise for the Pilar. Keep it up Delta, keep up the good work.

By now, I'm sure you've seen this new TV spot from Delta introducing their Touch2O™ technology. Tune in Monday and I'll explain what it is, how it works and why it's so cool. Oh and by the way, that's a Pilar in action in this ad.

Check out Kohler's Karbon faucet

I saw a Karbon faucet by Kohler in a plumbing showroom yesterday and I was impressed by it. It's a pretty modern design, with that no one can argue. But it has a level of utility I don't think I've ever seen in a kitchen faucet before. Check out this video from Kohler.

The Karbon is available as either a deck mount or a wall mount fixture. However it ends up being used, this thing is pretty cool and you can expect to see the functions of this cutting-edge faucet to work their way through the market and before too long, having an articulated kitchen faucet will be as common as a sprayer is now. Bravo Kohler!

MagnaTite docking from Delta

So in response to the discussion that started earlier this week about pull out sprayers, here's what I learned about Delta's new MagnaTite magnetic docking system. Thank you Laurie from Kitchen Design Notes for alerting me to the fact that these things exist in the first place.

Delta has a new docking system for some of their faucet models. In these select models, Delta's placed a strong magnet along the inside rim of a few of their kitchen faucets with pull out sprayers. This magnet pulls the sprayer head back into the stem of the faucet and holds it there. Traditionally, these pull outs are held in place with a weight placed at the far end of the pull out's hose. Keeping the pull out retracted becomes a matter of gravity. So long as there's nothing for the weight to get caught up on, this system works. However, most people don't keep their sink bases free of obstacles. We have a Vinnata from Kohler in our showroom and that faucet's weight has an unnatural attraction to the Insinkerator that shares its space. If you look at thebottom left of the illustration below, you can see the weight clamped onto the hose. So as I know from experience, this back-weighted pull-out hose thing is a hit or miss proposition. In an ideal world, there's nothing to get in the way of the weight when the sprayer's in its retracted position.

But in the real world, sink bases are filled with all manner of obstacles for these weights to get caught up in. This is a pain in the butt because it never happens at a convenient time. Getting the weight uncaught is pretty simple, but it usually involves emptying the contents of your sink base. Ugh. Well enter Delta's MagnaTite and here's how Delta explains this innovation:

MagnaTite™ Docking

MagnaTite™ docking keeps the kitchen pull-down spray wand firmly in place with a powerful integrated magnet, so it stays docked when not in use.

The pull-down spray wand comes free with a gentle tug and gives you total flexibility. The hose extends and retracts without friction points, fed by gravity. The toggle button on most wands featuring MagnaTite allows you to switch between aerated spray and stream modes.

As you raise the wand to dock it, the magnet embedded in the spout pulls the wand precisely into place. So unlike other pull-downs that tend to droop over time, MagnaTite keeps your pull-down faucet looking picture perfect.

Here's a Delta video that shows this system at work. It's a great idea, really.


Now this MagnaTite system is only available on a limited number of their faucets, there are two of them that are Lowe's exclusives and the following four models are available through independent dealers. Independent dealers like our pals at eFaucets.com who furnished these images.

This is the Allora


This is the Pilar.


This is the Victorian.


This is the Leland.


Each of these four designs is available in a multitude of variations and in any of Delta's five finishes: chrome, stainless, Venetian bronze, black and white.

I have no firsthand experience with these faucets and I'd be glad to hear from anyone who does. Finding non-sponsored reviews on these things has eluded me completely. It's a really clever idea and I can't imagine why it wouldn't work exactly as promised. But then again, real estate never depreciates, right?

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.

Trend watch: new faucet shapes

KBIS (http://www.kbis.com/), the national Kitchen and Bath Industry Show is right around the corner. Manufacturers and suppliers use the yearly KBIS to roll out new products and in the weeks leading up to it, those same companies offer previews to the industry. My preview from Kohler (http://www.kohler.com/) arrived yesterday, and they have some pretty cool new stuff. Kohler's march toward the higher end of the market continues in their new products, that's for sure.

KWC (http://www.kwcamerica.com/) , a high end plumbing fixture company from Switzerland, makes a faucet they call the 1922. The 1922 is pictured above. I've always thought the 1922 was a beautiful, elegant sink fixture. Kohler's new HiRise suite of faucets seems to have taken KWC's idea of the 1922 and expanded it into a whole suite of fixtures.

The HiRise series has a deck mount faucet, a wall mount faucet, a single pole faucet, a pot filler and a sprayer. The tall, arcing shape of the faucet is continuing the trend of the last couple of years for kitchen faucets to get taller and taller. What's different though is that it has no integrated sprayer. I think it's an interesting direction and the HiRise is really gorgeous. As I mentioned earlier, this is definitely another step in the direction of the higher end of the market. The retail price on these things starts at a thousand dollars. That makes it a more expensive fixture than KWC's 1922, and I always think of KWC as an unabashedly high end brand. From the looks of Kohler's preview, I guess I need to readjust my thinking about Kohler as a company in the middle.