Franke: Choosing the Right Tap for your Kitchen

From washing the dishes to making multiple cups of tea and coffee while working from home, you probably use your tap more than any other item in your kitchen. So, choosing the right one is vital, whether you’re giving the hub of your home an instant refresh with a beautiful new model or looking for an eye-catching tap to take centre stage in your new kitchen. With so much to consider in terms of style and functionality, and some exciting new additions to our range, we’ve come up with a helpful guide to make choosing the perfect tap for your kitchen easier than ever.

Tapping into style – tap types explained

Instant Boiling water taps

Get 100°C boiling water in an instant with one of Franke’s boiling water taps. They’re ideal for making hot drinks, getting vegetables, pasta, and rice dishes on the go quickly as well as sterilising items. In addition to filtered boiling water, all-in-one models of the Zip HydroTap offer instant filtered boiling, chilled, ambient, and sparkling water. Enjoy tastier and healthier, crystal-clear and great tasting filtered drinking water, with the HydroTaps integrated new Zip 0.2-micron filtration system. It helps to remove dirt and contaminants up to 25 x better. Even the taste and odour of chlorine are removed but fluoride is retained. An ideal tap for any home, office or boardroom.

Filter taps

Delivering purer water, filter taps make drinking bottled water at home a thing of the past. Thanks to advanced filters, kitchen taps like our Neptune Clearwater Mixer will provide you and your family with drinking water that’s clean, refreshing, and free of impurities.

The Neptune Clearwater is available in Chrome as well as in a brand-new Matt Black version – featuring black powder coated finish with two upright paddle levers and two spout outlets in contrasting chrome. One handle operates as a normal hot and cold-water lever dispensing to an outlet while the second dispenses filtered water to its own outlet. Fitted with an activated carbon cartridge this tap is the health-conscious choice, providing 11,000 litres of filtered water per filter cartridge.

Professional Taps

Once the preserve of commercial kitchens, Semi-Pro and Professional taps with dual spray functions and spring hoses offer incredible flexibility and will help make light work of cleaning pots and pans as well as your sink area. They also add a professional touch to any kitchen. For example, our chrome-finished Pescara Semi-Pro 360 tap has a pull-out spray and allows you to control the two spray functions easily with one hand. Other Professional taps in our range of kitchen mixers include the Cascade Professional, Flexus Professional and Mirus Professional.

Swivel Spouts

Ideal if you want more manoeuvrability around your sink, swivel spout kitchen taps usually swivel 180° up to a full 360° allowing the user to quickly switch between bowls, making it easier to lift bulky pots and pans in and out. Kitchen mixers with swivel spouts include our Saturn Arc and Cube stainless steel swivel mixers, Active Plus coloured swivel mixers, Projectline, Lucido, Highrise. Brand new additions being the Highrise Matt Black, and new Active Plus 2.0 in Matt Black and White

Sensor taps or electronic taps

Hygiene has never been more important than it is now. We’re washing our hands more than ever while trying to reduce the number of surfaces we come into contact with. Our newly launched Atlas Neo Sensor Mixer is the first electronic kitchen mixer to be included our portfolio. Ideal for optimising hygiene in your home while helping you save water thanks to the start/stop -motion sensor. The sensor reacts instantly to your hand movement within a 5-10 cm detection range, reducing water consumption by easily 3 litres per hand wash since the water is not running all the time. That’s at least 50% reduction when compared to normal use!

Other important things to consider

Water pressure

Before buying your new kitchen tap, find out if your home has a high- or low-pressure water system – your plumber or installer can advise you if you’re not sure – as this will impact what sort of tap you should choose to ensure it performs at its best.

Finishes

Once you know what style of tap you want, take some time to look at the different finishes available. While polished chrome remains by far the most popular, there are now an array of other stunning finishes to choose from. From solid stainless steel, which combines beauty with durability to industrial Matt Black and Onyx, and Matt White, you really can find something to suit every style of kitchen. Take care to only clean Franke Sink Mixers with mild soap and a soft cloth. Ammonia-based products, or products containing vinegar, bleach, harsh antibacterial ingredients, or abrasives will damage the finish and may invalidate your warranty.

Measuring up

Most of Franke’s taps are designed to fit the industry standard cut out size of 35mm diameter. However, if you’re fitting your new tap onto your existing sink or worktop, it’s a good idea to measure the size of your tap hole to make sure you have a perfect fit. You’ll also need to consider the spout reach of your new tap to ensure it reaches the center of your sink for ultimate performance.

Guaranteed to last

Whichever style of kitchen tap you choose, it’s worth investing in a high-quality product that is built to withstand everyday use for many years to come. We would always recommend you look for models backed with a manufacturer’s guarantee for that extra peace of mind.