There are many choices when specifying bathroom faucets.  Some considerations are functionality, design aesthetic, finish availability, and availability of other plumbing components.   Here you are first thing in the morning and at the end of the evening, in your bathroom.

The 18th Street project is a contemporary design with multiple bathrooms, five to be exact.  I like to start with the lavatory faucet and work from there. The lavatory faucet is the most highly seen and used faucet in the bathroom, so it should be aesthetically pleasing to look at, especially the most highly used baths.  With choices from deck mount to wall mounted, and two handle to single control I chose to mix things up with a selections from each category.  I gravitate towards lever handles, as they are generally easier to use if we have gunk on our hands, or as we get older and our grasps are not as strong.  Because this house is a contemporary style home I chose to go with a satin/brushed nickel finish on the faucets.   I like the satin/brushed nickel finishes as they are not high shine so they don’t show fingerprints or water spots as noticeably.  Chrome, I’m told is the most durable finish, but the downside is the  reflective finish shows those water spots.  Some makers of contemporary faucet lines do not use any other finish than chrome, so I knew if I had to use a chrome faucet at some point it wouldn’t be the end of the world.  I also considered the other bath components required.

There are two bathtubs.  One is a tub/shower combo filled from the wall and the other is freestanding tub filled via a filler on risers through the floor.

There are three showers to consider with the many, many choices of components.  Those being pressure balance mixing valves, thermostatic mixing valves, shower heads from the wall, shower heads from the ceiling, hand held showers, and body sprays.  Most plumbing manufacturers have complete plumbing suites to make it nice and easy to select the other plumbing components.  The secondary bathrooms were straight forward.  In the master bath I went outside the plumbing suite on the  shower to a completely different manufacturer than on the lavatory faucets.  As long as the two makers have the same finish (I always see a sample of each finish to compare) I feel safe mixing manufacturers.  In the master bath the shower and the lavatory faucets are on complete opposite ends of the room, so if there is a slight difference it’s not noticeable.