The mighty kitchen faucet - provider of water, filterer of particles, surrogate family member. While it's not the most glamourous part of a kitchen, your sink faucet is an important consideration when you're doing a kitchen renovation. Your options range from very basic, cost-effective solutions to design pieces that can actually become a kitchen attraction. This guide will run through some options for kitchen faucets.

Kitchen Faucet Basics

The obvious starting point is - what kind of faucet do you want? Will it be fixed, or will it swivel? A popular choice is a faucet with an extendable hose attached - these allow greater flexibility in terms of washing and rinsing.

You also need to choose what types of taps you want.  Single-handle pull models are very popular in kitchens at the moment. But you can always go for a separate hot and cold water tap. And while it's not fashionable (or even particularly practical), perhaps you'd like to keep your hot and cold water faucets separate?

If you've got more than one basin, you'll almost certainly need a long faucet which you can swivel between them. It doesn't make much sense to have a faucet on each sink! The spout should be able to swivel at least 180 degrees.

You'll also want to consider the type of finish on your faucet. Most people opt for chrome - it's simple to clean and hard wearing. In fact, only a very small number of people opt for other materials, such as polished-brash finishes and satin-nickel finishes.

Fancy Options for Kitchen Sink Faucets

One item that's been gaining popularity in recent years is the pot filler, a long-armed faucet on a pivot that is situated near your cooktop. These allow you to fill up a heavy pot or pan, without the need to drag the pot of water over from the sink. They're not particularly cheap and you'll need to install a new water line to run one, but they're certainly a good choice for the serious cook.

You can also get a faucet with a water filter built in, although if you're working to a budget, these are quite a lot more expensive than regular faucets. Another feature found in some faucets is washerless operation - there are several types of these, but all are likely to operate trouble-free for much longer than a faucet that uses a washer.