Ta-dah!
I post this not because you need to know every little thing about my everyday life, but because I wanted to alert you to "Amazon Warehouse" for your photographic purchases. I saved about $65 by buying this in "Used Like New" condition from Amazon Warehouse, options which appear on the page for the item in the right-hand column and down a bit, in the rectangle that is slightly grayed out (see inset). When it arrived it appeared to be an open-box item, but otherwise new.
On the small faucet, for drinking water, I saved about $40 (the new price has been reduced since I bought mine). The one I got was also intact in new packaging but in a re-taped box.
It doesn't look like going to Warehouse directly is likely to be very satisfying—first of all, when I click on "Cameras and Photo," three of the "Sponsored" items that come up are fishing waders, a subwoofer, and peanuts, which seems—how shall I say it—a tad lacking in focus. And the photographic items I sampled did not make it clear what the normal new price is, or made it seem like the Warehouse price was the new price. I was a bit confused.
In any event, this might be something to look out for when shopping on Amazon. Look around the page and see if you can find offers.
Tradeoffs
As far as the new faucets are concerned, I have a feeling I have just bought a present for the next owners of my house. But hey, you gotta have a faucet that works, right? Falls under the category of routine maintenance.
By the way, my Q&D research indicates that "pull-down sprayer" faucets are not especially long-lived. The pull-down parts are under-engineered, and they tend to fail when the faucet ("tap" in Britspeak) is still relatively young, like my old one did (its age: between seven and 11 years). But they're handy. I wouldn't pay $600 for one, or even $400. But you can make your own calculation about that.
Mike
Original contents copyright 2023 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)
Featured Comments from:
Kye Wood: "I'm all for savings. But open box on house hardware is beyond my risk appetite. Scene: plumber arrives. You present the box to him. He opens it and says 'where's the flange thread adapter? It should be in here.' But it probably fell out or was, um...'borrowed,' by the person who opened the box originally. Sure, you can send it back to Amazon. But you've got to eat the plumber's call-out fee and minimum charge. Semper vigilance or carpe widget."
Mike replies: You've just adroitly exposed the risk I took to save that ~$100. Good thing I didn't think of any of that beforehand, because it might have paralyzed me!
I commented about this in your earlier post, but it never appeared. My 15 year old Kohler kitchen faucet, bought new for my 15 year old house, recently broke. It came with a lifetime guarantee. So I called Kohler customer service and they expressed mailed me a free (and improved) replacement, no questions asked. They have similarly sent me free parts for a variety of other plumbing related fixtures throughout the house. Sometimes it pays to look into product/manufacture warranties and guarantees, not just the product quality itself.
Posted by: Jeff | Tuesday, 31 October 2023 at 11:48 AM
I order from Amazon a lot. I used to try Used - Like New quite a bit. But I ended up getting too many "Used - Like Used" products in varying levels of used quality. So, it is not worth it at all to me. It is a crap shoot as to whether you will get a high-quality item at a bit of a discount.
When I order new items, I get products that have obviously been used. Or poorly packed items that come to me in a used state (banged up and so forth) but are supposed to be in new condition.
Posted by: Mark P Morris | Tuesday, 31 October 2023 at 01:01 PM
"I have a feeling I have just bought a present for the next owners of my house."
I am taking this to mean that you are moving to a location where it will be easier to come visit and have a chat.
There is an alternative interpretation which we will not consider.
Posted by: Nikhil Ramkarran | Tuesday, 31 October 2023 at 01:09 PM
Yeah, I learned decades ago that sprayers (separate ones, then) always broke long before the faucets they were associated with and hence have utterly refused to consider the sprayer-only faucets such as you just bought). I do see how they would be convenient, though. (And...I got a sprayer, separate, in my latest faucet upgrade. But if it dies, I can just cap off that connection, I don't lose access to the water in that sink entirely.)
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Tuesday, 31 October 2023 at 01:50 PM
Your small faucet seems to be dripping water. Not a huge problem unless you live during the days when people would fret over every drop lost. We used to place a small container underneath to collect every drop and not waste any.
Posted by: Dan Khong | Tuesday, 31 October 2023 at 05:16 PM
I've had good results with purchases from Amazon Warehouse, with one exception. A package that was supposed to be two wrenches had only one. That wrench was rusty and dirty.
Posted by: Gordon R. Brown | Tuesday, 31 October 2023 at 08:53 PM
I discovered "buying used" on Amazon several years ago. I was buying a LED desk lamp for $27, and noticed "buy used for $18" just below, so I ordered one of each. The used appeared to be an open package. And I always look for a used book first. Sometimes, there are no used offerings, and once I did get an item which was missing a bolt. Easy to replace.
Posted by: Phil | Wednesday, 01 November 2023 at 10:06 AM
I was hoping you would mention you bought a Moen faucet, in tribute to Vegar Moen, whom you mentioned a few days ago in your post.
Posted by: Phil | Wednesday, 01 November 2023 at 10:13 AM
I do not want to dampen your joy about the new faucet, but ... I had made the same mistake, due to bad advice in the design of the fitted kitchen.
Also my faucet has too steep a bend, is therefore too close to the horizontal plane behind it (and in my case, sideways also) and every time I use it, I have standing puddles of water behind it, which I always have to dry, over time many thousands of times with a rag always ready, completely insane.
I wish the crane had a bigger bend, more towards the center of the pool.
Ok, I do know the world has bigger problems ... but how many times do I have to do this cloth rag nonsense in the rest of my life?
As an aside, many people have a smaller refrigerator that sits way too low and they have to bend over a hundred thousand times in their life to get something in and out instead of putting the refrigerator on a higher rack ... ok, I'll stop ... (smile)
Posted by: Lothar Adler | Wednesday, 01 November 2023 at 06:46 PM
When I saw the kitchen sink photo in this post it reminded me of Margaret Watkin's "The Kitchen Sink" from 1919 (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Margaret_Watkins,The_Kitchen_Sink,_1919.jpg), a photograph I've always liked.
Enjoy the new tap/faucet!
Dave.
Posted by: Dave | Wednesday, 01 November 2023 at 08:40 PM
I've never bought anything from Amazon in the 'Used - Like New' category. I have, however, bought several things from Apple's 'Certified Refurbished' system, and they've been excellent - basically, as new (Apple completely refurbish them), with the normal warranty, and you can take out Apple Care on them (if you want to). Not as cheap as buying used Apple stuff from eBay, but guaranteed quality.
Posted by: Tom Burke | Sunday, 05 November 2023 at 08:12 AM