Pot Filler Faucets - What Am I Missing?

[countryguy]

Just finished watching another House Hunters Renovation. Over the stove a pot filler faucet was added. I don't understand the concept. The claim is that the cook can just fill the pot at the stove and doesn't have to carry a heavy pot full of water from the sink to the stove....huh? Doesn't the cook have to carry the pot full of water from the stove to the sink afterwards? How does this help? What am I missing here?

Bewildered.

Gary

 

[rp2813]

Agreed.  Carrying a pot of cold water across the room makes a lot more sense than carrying one that just finished boiling. 

 

Maybe they should put a sink next to the stove instead of a spigot above it.

 

[ea56]

These shows are ridiculous! Anything to waste money on. I agree with both Gary and Ralph, I’d much rather carry a pot of cold water to the stove, than schleep a pot of boiling water to the sink, but that can’t be avoided, unless there is a sink next to the stove, which I wouldn’t want either

I like my small, townhouse kitchen, the sink is a convenient three steps from the stove, problem solved.

Anyway, I wonder just how much real cooking these show ponies really do in those tricked out kitchens.

Eddie

 

[petek]

No way would I want a faucet without a sink or drain directly below it.. Lovely time if it started dripping or leaking

 

[askolover]

Plus I only use filtered water for cooking!

 

[sfh074]

Old standing water

And how could it be fresh water at that if it never gets run except for the rare instance of a pot of water?? Yuck

 

[eronie]

I wouldn't want it dripping on my stove,totally unnecessary,in my opinion.

 

[mrboilwash]

In addition to what has already been pointed out, I wouldn`t want to use water that has been sitting in a pipe for a while, getting stale and picking up pollutants like copper or plasticizers for any cooking or drinking purposes.
I always run the water until there is a drop in temperature. How you`re gonna do this in such a stupid setup ?

 

[eronie]

I saw another builder show where they cut a big hole in the beautiful granite countertop next to the sink for a food waste bucket. No disposal!

 

[tolivac]

The food waste pail is going to attract roaches,ants,mice,and other pests-best to stick with a disposer!

 

[combo52]

I Completely Agree With All Above Posts

I have always though that this was the most useless item I have seen people installing in their kitchens, and possible problems could be serious if you ever have a leak [ If you want a PF faucet be sure there is a shut off valve under the sink so when either the faucet or the piping ever leak it can be shut off ]

 

This item should be added to Laundress's thread about useless kitchen appliances.

 

John L.

 

[tomturbomatic]

This is another tchotchke to make your home kitchen look like a commercial kitchen where you might have huge stockpots that need to be filled. I remember a woman writing into one of the domestic websites decades ago wondering if she should get a range with one of the round cast iron hot plates with a burner at the center so it is the hottest position and pans are moved further from the center to comparatively cooler portions of the plate for slower cooking. There were people wildly in favor of this feature of commercial ranges. I asked her if she ran a kitchen where cooking was done in very large pans all day and if she had air conditioning. I did not need to ask if she was an air head. These things take a good while to get hot and they stay hot for hours. I worked for a while in a hospital kitchen with one of these range tops. The heat given off by this plate is tremendous. Anything that spills or boils over onto it cooks on to it and then burns on to it and cannot be cleaned easily until the stove is shut down and the plate has a few hours to cool unless you use a brass brush or scrubber and even with those you have to wear heavy gloves to prevent steam burns, but as John said in the 1980s a Yuppie kitchen had a commercial gas range and unused Calphalon cookware hanging above it because most meals were eaten in restaurants. This faucet is a bauble on a bangle with very little practical use in a domestic kitchen.

 

[appnut]

In some ways it would be nice, like putting a pot on the stove and filling it there.  I have a big wooden cutting board I place in the seat of my walker, put filled pot in that, wheel to the stove, put pot  on burner and cook.  To drain hot pot, put back in cutting board-lined walker seat, wheel to sink, put pot on trivet on counter next to sink, drain in colander in sink, place hot pot on trivet on counter, and put contents back in the pot.   

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Just attach a hose to your sink and carry the end of it over to the stove and fill your pot...

— Dave

 

[twintubdexter]

just guessing here...

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">I can understand how these would make sense in a restaurant or professional kitchen since the busy and generally well-paid chef fills the pot. But like clean up, the kitchen help would probably have the task of emptying the water. They seem silly for the average home and are more of a status symbol.</span>

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Pot filler faucets:

I find them very useful in commercial kitchens for filling Steam Jacket Kettles,large stockpots or tilt braisers I find them useless in a home kitchen. Just as I would a stockpot range, Rotary rack oven, 60 quart mixer or conveyor dishwasher LOL.
WK78

 

[norgeway]

More junk

I don't need, if im boiling pasta, im not too lazy to carry a pot 3 steps, BUT IF im cooking something already, like beans , a roast etc, I would NEVER add cold water right out of a faucet anyway, I know enough not to ever add cold water to hot food, just as you don't mash hot potatoes with cold milk! its just one of those little cooking secrects that makes a big difference in the finished product.

 

[launderess]

"always run the water until there is a drop in temperatu

Now that the boilers are set higher due to heating it takes running cold taps for 1-2 minutes or longer before water turns "cold". That is fresh water what is coming from mains in street versus what has been sitting in pipes. Running taps that long just to flush out "stale" water for whatever reason represents an intolerable waste.

Water mains at least in America range from things put down hundreds of years ago (cast iron or wood), to modern PEX or whatever. Joining material ranged from lead to God only knows what else. Either way don't believe water sitting in mains at street is any fresher or cleaner that what is sitting in pipes inside a building.

 

[mrboilwash]

Maybe the situation in Germany is different to the USA, I don`t know.
Here the water at the entry of a building which is constantly in motion is assured to be safe. In Munich water does not need any chlorine or other treatment for most time of the year unless we had a flood or a similar event. So it "might" get stale when sitting for some time in in-house installations.
Then there is the problem with pollutants from pipework. There is no material known to mankind used for pipework that does not pose a problem at all, it`s only about that some might be worse than others. Copper or zinc for example are important trace elements, but can become a health problem when consumed in excess.
Anyway, per capita water use here is about one third compared to the US.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Launderess, have you thought about keeping a pitcher of water at room temperature or cooler to have on hand for your cool water needs?

 

[launderess]

Keep water in fridge

Will let cold tap run a bit, but during heating season don't wait for water to reach "cold" as coming from outside building.

Timed it once and the longest was > four minutes. Actually got up one morning and as per started the coffee, which naturally one wants cold and fresh water. Turned on the cold tap, went to powder room, washed face, brushed teeth, came back looked at timer and felt the water, it was still lukewarm. *LOL*

Water is so warm that when filling the kettle or water pitcher for fridge the containers actually feel warm, not cold at all.

All this comes from building using recirculating pumps for the hot water. This is great for "instant" hot water from the taps, but means pipes or anything next to hot water pipes warms up by close proximity.

During warmer months of year when boilers are set to "summer", and hot tap water is only around 130F, the cold isn't that bad. Indeed the waiting time for "cold" street tap water can be rather short. OTOH now tap hot water is >150F and sometimes nearly reaching 160F.

The AEG Lavamat doesn't like this "warm" tap cold water at all. Certain cycles only have cold as "30C". So incoming water that is easily near 90F if not above is just too warm. Machine responds to this not needing heater by shortening cycles to deduct the time would have been spent heating water.

@mrboilwash.

Tap water systems vary throughout the United States. What works for Boston may be different than Seattle.

Here in NYC our tap water comes from upstate and the system works entirely via gravity. Thanks to the distance travelled and pitch of tunnels water pressure out of the taps is quite forceful. Indeed building up to six or seven stories do not need pumps or roof water tanks because of this situation.

Many buildings both large and small install circulation pumps for the hot water system. This helps cut down on people running the hot water taps to bleed out cold water, and thus saves. As stated water comes out of our hot water tap *hot*. About a few moments later is reaches "very" hot, then a few moments more you've got near scalding hot coming straight from the boilers.

Our water is so good that lone among four other urban areas it isn't filtered.

https://www.amny.com/lifestyle/how-nyc-gets-its-water-1.9205765

 

[rolls_rapide]

Aerated tap water

Depending on the way cold water pipework is laid (i.e. running through the airing cupboard), I have experienced 'aerated cold tap water' - full of miniature air bubbles. The bubbles are finer than soda water or champagne.

I can sometimes get a similar effect from running the hot bath tap at a slow rate. The mains cold water is heated 'on demand' via the gas boiler, creating a slightly effervescent stream. The kitchen kettle sometimes does the same too, as it gets to a certain temperature.

 

[mrboilwash]

Same here. Water comes a long way from the Alps, part of it is well water and part of it is even spring water. It is not filtered or chlorinated and exceeds pollutants wise all minimum requirements for bottled water by far. So we are spoiled compared to other places in Germany.
Up to 4 minutes to get fresh water is indeed very wastefull, I usually only have to waste about 2 liters maybe 4 if the neighbors below are not at home. A pitcher in the fridge seems a reasonable solution.
Gerneral advice here is to at least run off what has been standing in the faucet or better wait for a drop in temperature if water has been sitting for longer than 4 hours.

I also wouldnt want to have a fridge connected to a water pipe even if I could have one for free. Maybe Im just too German...

 

[tomturbomatic]

When my mom was running hot water to the kitchen sink, she always caught the water and used it to water plants or something.

 

[ultralux88]

My mom loves watching those house shows, and she’s noticed the same thing about those pot fillers. I told her it would make sense to have it be a hot and cold faucet with that long articulated arm and a sink right next to the stove. She agreed that made sense, as one could ‘park’ the faucet over it as well as use this sink to pour the hot water down as you’re straining out whatever you just boiled, such as pasta. The sink could also be used as a prep sink as you rinse things off chop them up to cook. Also a disposal to eliminate trimmings and peels.

 

[circlew]

I sure wouldn't want a faucet that didn't have a sink under it. Would be especially problematic in a house with bad kids.

 

[earthling177]

I suppose those people who own a pot-filler faucet don't have any cats, right?

(I've heard of too many cases of cats jumping onto stovetops, sometimes turning on a burner or more and even setting themselves on fire and then running around the home in panic. Not fun.)

 

[mieleforever]

It's a matter of too much money and/credit going around and the "mommies at the tea club" or "book club" that wants to impress her girlfriends. By the way I really doubt that she will be using it as she will be buying food that's already prepared and she could just heat them and look all too grand.

 

[vacerator]

It really depends on

the kitchens needs and purposes. Our pull out faucet spray/head works fine for us.
Our stove is not so far away either, so I can set the stock pot on the counter next to the sink, fill it up, and two feet to the stove.
For those with lots of entertaining or a large family, or home canning, a wall mounted pot filler at the stove may be useful.
They are usually also in a higher end expensive kitchen, say in a celebrity, or prominent persons home who likely has a personal chef, and or caterers on site often. Boiling crabs, lobsters, or making pasta for 50 guests requires it.

 

[countryguy]

I don't get it. It doesn't matter whether the pot filler is in the average home or in an expensive kitchen, restaurant, etc. If the pot is filled at the stove, it still has to be carried to the sink to be emptied...so what is the advantage?

Gary