I’m going to be honest with you. I didn’t
know what my kitchen sink was missing until I came across kitchen mixer taps.
Over the last three months, since we moved
into our new flat, I must’ve told my
wife 25 times that I hate doing the
washing up. The truth is that I don’t hate washing up. I hate boiling water
hurting my hands.
You see we have two
taps on the kitchen sink. One is hot, boiling when on for a few seconds. The
other is ice cold [It is winter after
all]. When doing the washing up I have both Taps on. One so that I am washing with hot water. The
other so I can cool my hands down when the water burns them.
I don’t like using
washing up gloves, and they don’t stop the boiling water anyway.
Ahh the Joys of Mixer Taps
Now I think about it I have never had this
problem before because every kitchen I have been in before had mixer taps.
Mixer taps of course mix the water to the ratio of hot and cold that you
desire. You simply slide them to the side, or use whichever functionality they
change the temperature with, and get exactly the water heat you want.
We are renting an apartment at the moment.
We will probably only be here for another three months or so as we have just
come back from overseas; where incidentally we didn’t have running water at all.
We
are settling back in the UK. I guessed that getting mixer taps in would not be
worth it. Looking online they are remarkably affordable. I think I’ll have a
word with the landlord. He probably hasn’t even thought about it either.
Different Types of Mixers
When looking at mixer taps it is important
to recognise that they don’t all fit every sink. They are generally compatible
but it is worth checking before purchase, especially if you have a weird sink.
You should also get a high or low-pressure mixer depending on the water
pressure to your kitchen. Getting this wrong can be very frustrating.
Some kitchen taps have a slider that you
turn to hot or cold, or somewhere in between. Others have two taps, hot and
cold, that you turn on in the proportion that you need. There are also
different styles of spout to choose from, in varying sizes. It really depends
on the look you want and how you will find it easiest to use.
I would certainly recommend one that
swivels and rotates over one that is fixed. Otherwise the spout can be in the
way if you want to put something larger in the sink (like the Christmas Turkey). The higher neck taps are easier to use, the very low ones are impossible to use to fill the kettle.
Bio
Phil Turner rebuilt his kitchen a few years ago as well as his bathroom. He chose a bathroom suite from his local bathroom supply store and recently had to replace the kitchen tap because his acidic water had dissolved the zinc in the brass.
