Plumbing Showroom Fixtures?

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redjr

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Are faucets and other plumbing fixtures made better 'enough' to justify the prices they command? As opposed to Home Depot, or Lowes quality.
 
The only way to compare prices is to match exact model numbers.

Generally speaking the showroom will sell the better products. It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it.
 
Mfrs general trend is to cheapen over time, so it is a moving target.
Plastic parts trend can make something that was good one year become crap the next without a model name change.
Since Grohe was bought by LIXIL, many of the new kitchen faucets are a sad joke.
In-house brands like Glacier Bay do tend to be a joke. But even there there may be exceptions. We would never install them so can't comment from first hand experience.
Even certain premier showroom brands are worth avoiding but I don't feel comfortable publicly posting for liability reasons.
 
A moen rep told me one time a few years back that the faucets for the box stores are made different than the
ones we buy at the whole sale supply houses.
 
I heard Glacier Bay was putting out a Breplum faucet model. Has his pic engraved on the handles.

Gold plated special edition model available for limited time only while supplies last.
 
Look up model names in big box stores, you wont find them in Moen’s professional catalogues.
 
Soviet style two hole stand-over toilets are pretty much trouble free as long as the worn-in foot holes are appropriately spaced. When I was in Moscow the only problem was finding any toilet paper.
 
When I remodeled 2 of my bathrooms, I wanted to use Delta shower valves for their quality, dependability and finish. I saw what I wanted at the orange big box store, and when I opened the package, I saw it was only $160, but it felt very light. Lots of plastic, including the shower hose, which was plastic, and it coiled really weird. I went to a custom bath shop, saw the same item, but this was $380. The box weighed about twice as much. There was no plastic in the assembly, and the hose was metal. There were no kinks in the hose, and it laid against the wall smoothly. I opted for the more expensive units.

Bottom line, in my opinion, go to both the big box stores and the custom bath shops, and see for yourself.
 
Most lavatory faucets at the box stores have those cheap plastic pop-up assemblies in them. At the supply
houses the lav faucets have the chrome over brass assemblies.
 
Again, to compare exact products be sure to match exact product numbers.

It the model numbers are different then it’s a different product.

Box stores have faucets with assigned product numbers for their store. This is so they don’t have to match prices.
 

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