Nice Faucet. How Do I Turn It On?
Tapping a Love of High Tech

The most memorable part of a dinner-party invitation to Darryl Haysbert's Atlanta home can be the food, ambience or conversation. More recently, though, it's been watching other guests trying to operate a high-tech bathroom faucet.

The confounding feature: a doughnut-shaped loop that controls water flow by sliding up and down, and temperature by sliding left and right. When the bathroom door is left open, "Sometimes we'll watch the person to see if they can figure it out," says the real-estate investor. The record: "five... or 10 minutes."

Kohler 'Purist'

Tapping into consumers' love affair with technology, faucet makers are taking the gizmo approach to bathroom fittings, introducing models featuring joysticks, motion sensors and water streams illuminated by LEDs. A popular new model at Expo Design Center is designer Marco Mammoliti's $560 "Dante," the one Mr. Haysbert bought, that comes in black, blue and matte. One of Kohler's latest entries, part of its "Purist bathroom suite," boasts a tap embedded in a 2-by-3-foot mirror -- and a $1,200 price tag. Water Decor's entry: the $988 "Bridge." Its nozzles are shaped like two pipes glued together in an X form; there's no handle, and the water flow is controlled by an electromagnetic field activated by moving hands.

The high-style taps are largely being promoted as complements to the above-the-counter "vessel" sinks that have gained popularity in the last five years. But with prices ranging from $300 to several thousand dollars, the faucets also represent a way for fixture makers to nudge up bathroom-renovation bills -- which totaled $7.8 billion in 2003, up 6% from 2001, according to the Harvard Center for Joint Housing Studies. Another factor: developments in sealants. Because of new ceramic disks that have replaced rubber ones, manufacturers say they can experiment with shapes that would have been impossible to plumb even five years ago.

The innovations have made faucets the most frequently replaced item during major bathroom renovations, with flooring and showers close behind, according to the National Kitchen and Bath Association. In 2004, Americans bought over 39 million faucets, up 5% from 2002.

Marco Mammoliti 'Dante'

This year, Wisconsin-based Kohler launched five styles of faucets to match vessel sinks first introduced in 1996; five years ago it offered only one such style. Kohler says it expanded its faucet offerings because it believed faucets where the faucet and knobs are attached as a single unit would be easier to sell than standard models with separate knobs and spout.

Some of the newfangled taps involve more than just an affinity for technology. Bill Fidler, a coffee-shop-chain owner in Windham, N.H., recently bought a polished nickel bathroom faucet by the maker Rohl that has a design inspired by a bridge. Mr. Fidler likes the offbeat look of the style -- "It looks like a pitchfork stuck into the wall," he says -- and doesn't mind the fact the faucet cost him $300. The drawback: It can be cleaned only with soapy water or nickel polish, because other household cleaners could destroy the finish. Mr. Fidler says he held a meeting with the family that cleans his house to explain the appropriate cleaning procedure.

Some of the new faucets' bells and whistles may present more serious problems, say consumers and contractors. Among the concerns: child safety and installation. Parents, for example, worry that joystick faucets, where water is controlled by a vertical rather than horizontal lever, can scald children because just hitting the lever turns it on. Meanwhile, some store owners say they're fielding customer complaints about complicated installations. Problems include wall-mounted fixtures placed too high (or too low) and improperly connected water lines that reroute hot water to the toilet instead of the faucet. Bath & Beyond, a bath showroom in San Francisco, for example, has had so many problems with improper installations that it has started referring customers to a specialized plumber for trouble-shooting.

"Sometimes the $2,000 faucets are not as good as the $200 ones," says Jeff Burton, owner of Bath & Beyond.

What's more, with so many moving -- or hidden -- parts, many of the new faucets can be hard to maintain and clean. Larry Kaluzna -- the owner of Waterware, a plumbing store in Chicago -- says waterfall faucets, where unfiltered water gushes from a wide spout, are among the most difficult. The main problem is that they can be marred by sediment that lodges in the spout and disrupts the sheetlike flow stream. Though the buildup can be removed with pipe cleaners, it's a time-consuming process, says Mr. Kaluzna. "That's the one [type of] faucet that I try and get people to stay away from," he says.

Hands-Free Appeal

Water Decor 'Bridge'

In many cases, manufacturers are marketing the upsides of the high-tech features that are being criticized. German maker Hansgrohe and American Standard brands are pushing joystick faucets by emphasizing that their ergonomic handles are easier for the elderly to use. (Jado, a division of American Standard, even notes in its marketing materials that its new $500 chrome "Glance" model is compliant with the American Disabilities Act. )

Water Decor, whose Bridge faucet is one of the first hands-free fittings intended for residential use, is pitching it as ideal for small children and the wheelchair-bound who have trouble accessing conventional spigots. Dornbracht and Kohler, which both have hands-free models for commercial and home use, say they hope to appeal to consumers who think that hands-free faucets are more sanitary.

When Kevin Quinn bought his cutting-edge Aeri joystick faucet, all he wanted was to complete his Naples, Fla., home before an appointment with a local inspector. But because the faucet was so new, the sales representative had to rush the part overnight from Atlanta. "There was a lot of stress," says Mr. Quinn. "My wife was really fuming."

Email your comments to rjeditor@dowjones.com.