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Bathroom Fitting

How much better are big brand/price fittings?

Anonymous user 23/02/2024 - 2.56 PM

Hi, I'm refitting my bathroom at the moment and am tossing up taps and fittings. Obviously I'm keen to keep the costs as low as possible, but we want to do things properly - we're removing a wall, tanking the whole thing, installing shower/bath - so given I'm spending a fair bit already, I don't want to skimp on shoddy parts if it's worth spending the money on higher quality parts. But there is such a huge difference in price between, say, bath fillers that I'm not sure where to end up. For example, freestanding bath filler with hand shower, on amazon - around £150 - £200. Very similar looking unit from Fired Earth - comes in around £1800, once you buy the legs separately. And plenty of others I've looked at are well over £1k. Does anyone have any advice on just how much better the big brand items are? Is there a sweet spot in the middle somewhere, where the quality is good enough but the price not ridiculous? I'm almost tempted just to get the cheap one to see how it goes - it's a floor mounted bath filler so if it turns out to be really crap it can easily be replaced. And given the difference in price, this might be a risk worth taking? Any advice appreciated. thanks James

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1 Answer

Anonymous user

Look at fittings like you would look at fashion. The more you pay the better quality you will get but you will pay a big premium for exclusivity and brand names. See it like this, you can buy a shirt for £20, will look ok when you put it on, wears fine, will last a few washes then start to look like a cheap shirt. You can buy a shirt for £50 with no label, looks great,nice quality, nice cut, washes great and lasts for years. Buy one for £100+ will have a label,looks fantastic, nice quality, nice cut and all the rest but hardly any different to the £50 one as far as lasting is concerned, still looks fantastic though. We are coming across fittings bought at bargain prices on ebay/amazon more and more often these days and they are ok, do what they say on the tin but they are the equivalent of the £20 shirt if you get my drift? Paul

Answered18 March 2015