If you've been through a plumbing showroom or a large home center lately, you've noticed the proliferation of new colors, shapes, features and finishes available in plumbing faucets and fixtures. The recent emphasis has been on expanded options and improved styling, but quality is also up and lifetime warranties are common. And thankfully, the best of the old standbys are still on the shelf.

Is there a downside? It's said that a man with one watch always knows what time it is, while a man with two watches never does. Some of that idea is at work here. Quality still varies quite a bit, and with so many choices, how do you determine which products are best for your situation? What distinguishes the good from the merely good-looking? And what price points signal quality?

Popular Mechanics

A Changing Marketplace
Shopping for faucets and fixtures used to be fairly simple. The most durable faucets were chrome (nickel chromium) plated. Other finishes were available, but they didn't hold up well. Similarly, most fixtures were white and shaped for utility. You could customize with color, but the darker tones were hard to keep clean and were almost prohibitively expensive. So, even when we had other options, the attending facts drove us back to the shelter of chrome and white.

That's changed now, for a variety of reasons. Most significantly, evolving technologies have made alternative materials more attractive and durable. Consumer tastes also have changed. There's now an enthusiastic market for upscale, designer faucets and fixtures.

Consider that bath faucets range between $29 and $600, or that we saw $500 home-center faucets with tags announcing no payments or interest until next year. Some of us clearly view faucets differently these days. In the end, whether you see the fashion influence as more cultural noise or a welcome respite from the noise, it's good to have a choice.

And finally, the DIY market is definitely changing things. Plumbers and builders used to be the showroom gatekeepers. You needed them to get to the best stuff. That's not always the case today. The large home centers, with their incredible buying power, give us all more options, and usually at better prices.

Toilets
In 1994, the EPA banned the manufacture of all toilets using more than 1.6 gal. of water per flush. Manufacturers responded in unison with two distinctly different designs. The first was just a miserly version of a standard, gravity-flush toilet. The second was a radically new design, which added compressed air to the flush.

Most manufacturers equip their pressure-assist models with tank components made by the Sloan Valve Co. The Sloan Flushmate uses line pressure from the incoming water to compress the air in a sealed tank. With each flush, the tank releases a blast of air and water, which clears the bowl instantly.

After nearly a decade, how do the two compare? Pressure-assist toilets work very well, and their tank-within-a-tank design eliminates tank sweat. The disadvantages are that they're noisy--each flush starts with a small "explosion"--and they're mechanically complex, which makes them harder to troubleshoot and repair. Moreover, few hardware stores carry the parts.

Nothing beats simplicity, so most homeowners prefer gravity-flush toilets. The early 1.6-gal. models were sluggish, often requiring two flushes to clear the bowl, but manufacturers kept tweaking their designs and most of these toilets now perform quite well.

Which toilet type is best? It depends on the household. If your old 3.5-gal. toilet clogs frequently, a pressure-assist model is a good idea. If not, a gravity-flush model is a better choice. You'll save $75 to $100 and the toilet will be easier and cheaper to service.

Toilet prices vary widely. We saw a row of white toilets at a home center priced between $34 and $380. All but the $34 store-brand import were made by old-line American fixture companies. The first of these, priced at $60, seemed deliberately clunky, as if designed to stimulate the up-sell. Quality is not always apparent, but the difference can be an unglazed trap or one vitreous layer instead of three. Unglazed traps can slow the out-rush of water, and porous glazing can make the toilet harder to keep clean. Good quality in the gravity-flush category starts around $120. Expect to pay more for colors, better styling, elongated bowls and 1-piece construction.

Faucets
There's a lot happening in the world of faucets, including lifetime warranties, better cartridges, mix-and-match trim, improved styling and some impressive new finishes.

Almost all faucets these days use cartridge mechanisms in one form or another. The advantage a cartridge has over a compression-faucet mechanism is that it can't be overtightened. That is, it subtracts the user's bad habits from the longevity picture.

The most basic cartridges--used in most 2-handle faucets--are made of nylon plastic. This type of cartridge turns on fully in a quarter-turn, which adds convenience, but quality can vary. Faucet price is the best predictor of value.

Moen's single-handle stem cartridge and Delta's ball mechanism are unique to these popular brands. Most other lines, including the high-end European imports, use ceramic-disc cartridges, which are considered to be better. Ceramic is hard enough to pulverize mineral grit, so it's also a good choice in rural water systems.

Building and safety codes require scald-control faucets in bathing units, so every manufacturer now sells affordable (starting around $90) tub/shower faucets with scald control. These typically have a temperature-limit stop in the handle and a pressure-balance spool in the cartridge or faucet body. You set the limit stop, but the balance spool works automatically, compensating for pressure drops in water lines.

Body-massage nozzles on shower faucets are another popular feature. The nozzles usually are mounted through an oversize handle-trim plate.

But the new faucet finishes are the most interesting development, especially when compared to traditional brass. Polished brass has always been the most popular alternative finish, but it's soft. To keep it from corroding or popping loose, manufacturers gave it a clear lacquer coating. Lacquer holds up well on broad surfaces, but not on hard edges. Before long--usually within five years--the plating starts to come loose. The pop-up drain, hapless victim of the scouring pad, usually fails first.

So, it's encouraging that the new brass-colored coatings are as durable as chrome. In fact, they're hard enough to be used for kitchen faucets, which generally take a beating. Just what are these coatings? The process used to make them is known as physical vapor deposition (PVD), and it produces a finish that's more like a ceramic coating than an electroplated metal. Even though this process is high science, it adds surprisingly little to the price of a faucet. The process is also more environmentally friendly than traditional cyanide-brass electroplating. All major manufacturers now have this technology, but they're not all up to speed yet.

Another fairly new faucet finish is called antique or living finish. These are heavier metallic platings without the protective lacquer. The idea here is that tarnish confers character, which some consumers find appealing. Powder-coated plastic finishes are also available. They're attractive, but generally less durable.

Lastly, most faucets now come with a lifetime warranty, which in most cases means free repair parts for as long as you own your home. Interestingly, we found one budget faucet with a lifetime warranty that required you to send the faucet back for repair. In this case, the warranty must be purely theoretical.

Kitchen Sinks
Traditional kitchen sinks were made of porcelain-coated steel, stainless steel and enameled cast iron, but in the past 10 to 15 years, plastics have made real inroads.

Porcelain-steel sinks ($50) earn their keep in starter homes and budget remodels. They chip more easily than other sinks, and they always have shallow basins, but they hold water, they don't stain and they're easy to keep clean.

A real improvement in the porcelain-steel category was made by American Standard a few years ago. Sold under the trade name Americast, the product line's defining feature is a thick layer of insulating plastic between the steel and porcelain. The plastic deadens sound, reduces heat loss and makes the porcelain glaze more chip resistant. Americast sinks and bathtubs are priced midway between steel and cast iron.

Quality in stainless steel is all about finish, which is directly related to price. If you want a bright finish that stays bright, expect to pay around $120. If you want deep basins, a cutting board or a dedicated disposer compartment, you'll pay up to $250. Any stainless steel sink will be very durable.

Cast iron continues to be popular, mainly because it's so substantial. It's durable, holds a shine for decades, comes in colors, and the fixtures have deep basins. Prices range between $130 and $400.

With the advent of solid-surface plastic resin countertops (Corian, Avonite, Swanstone, etc.) and the growing appeal of natural stone, solid-surface sinks have become very popular in both top-mount and under-mount forms. Plastic resins allow a lot of different looks, from quartz white, to layered colors, to speckled colors that complement polished-granite counters.

Under-mount sinks are epoxied to the bottom side of solid-surface counters and polished-stone slabs. Because everything is custom-finished, under-mount sinks run $700 to $900, installed. The latest top-mount versions run $200 to $300. They're sold everywhere and can be used with any counter material. You just caulk them down.

In bathroom basins, the options start with thermal plastics, then porcelain steel, press-molded plastics, vitreous china and enameled cast iron. Prices range from $20 to $150. At about $50, vitreous china is the best value.

Combination vanity top/basins are also popular, in both solid-surface resins and cultured stone. Solid-surface units are custom-made and, like their kitchen counterparts, are expensive. Cultured stone is a step down, but it offers good utility.

Cultured marble, around for a generation now, is ground limestone mixed with a polyester-resin binder. This slurry is poured into a heavily waxed form and allowed to cure.

The result is a top with a richer, luminous appearance that is slightly more heat tolerant (think curling irons). Countertops made of cultured stone run $40 to $400, depending on size, color and profile.

Bathtubs And Showers
For decades, the two choices in bathtubs were porcelain-coated steel and cast iron. Steel was used in budget installations and cast iron was used in everything else. Steel chips more easily and, more important to bathers, it loses heat quickly. Steel tubs sell for around $130.

Cast iron is much more durable and does retain heat. Interestingly, both types are now in decline, replaced by Americast-like hybrids ($250) and acrylic plastics. Cast iron is widely available, but some companies have stopped making it. Standard cast-iron tubs run $200 to $400.

Three things influenced the move away from cast iron. First, 350-pound tubs are hard on installers, especially when they have to be carried upstairs. Given good alternatives, plumbers usually will recommend one. Secondly, homeowners looking for better quality set their sights on jetted tubs, which are usually plastic. And finally, the low maintenance of plastic tub/shower units is appealing to today's consumers.

So in basic tubs, we have porcelain-coated steel and gelcoat fiberglass claiming the entry level, Americast and a few acrylic tubs claiming the broad middle, and cast iron claiming the dwindling high end. If you really love soaking, there is a separate category: acrylic-over-fiberglass replicas of claw-footed tubs, costing $800 to $1600.

Most tubs installed today are 1-piece or multipiece plastic tub/showers. One-piece units are for new construction and multipiece units are generally for remodeling projects. (The same applies to free-standing shower units.) In new construction, the most popular is the 1-piece, gelcoat fiberglass tub/shower. These are strong and economical ($300 to $400), they don't leak, mold doesn't grow on them, and they're easy and inexpensive to repair if they're damaged. This makes them almost irresistible to builders. The downsides are that they're uncomfortable for bathing and they add little to the decor.

If you want the low maintenance of fiberglass with a little more comfort and style, your best bet is acrylic-over-fiberglass. These are built on the same reinforced foundations as gelcoat tub/showers, but the heavy top layer is acrylic plastic. Acrylic holds a shine, is more impact resistant than gelcoat--it's eight times as thick--and it comes in many colors. Tub/shower units run about $750 for white and $1300 for the darker colors. Showers start around $600.

If you don't want an integral shower unit, you have two choices. You can build a custom shower base in masonry and tile or, space allowing, you can install a press-molded fiberglass shower pan ($100), then finish the walls in tile.

The least expensive panels are made of thermal plastics, either ABS or PVC ($100 to $200). These panels are flimsy, but once glued in place, they work reasonably well. Some are so thin and shiny, however, they mirror the beads of adhesive underneath.

A nice step up is press-molded fiberglass ($300 to $400). Fiberglass panels are heavier, better finished and easier to install than thermal plastics. They're available in 3- and 5-panel kits. Five-panel kits are better at accommodating out-of-plumb walls.