Quooker taps

HungryHippos · 15 Sep 2019 at 15:12

I am getting the kitchen re-done at the end of October, and I'm considering spending far too much money on a Quooker tap.

Has anyone got one? if so what is your opinion on it?

I live in a hard water area, how does this handle limescale for the tank?

Any reasonably cheap places to get it from? (comparatively, anyway).

I drink a lot of tea, so this type of tap would replace my kettle + my one cup hot water dispenser, freeing up more worktop space.

LuckyBenski · 15 Sep 2019 at 15:14

Girlfriend's parents have a boiled water tap. They're serious tea drinkers (as are we) and it's mental now. Every time anyone gets up when visiting it's a round of tea. No waiting, no faff. No ritual either but that's OK when the kitchen is open plan so we're all sat nearby.

I looked into one for us, seems filters need replacing every 6 or 12 months so the initial investment is matched by cost of filters in 4-5 years.

Still want one though.

HungryHippos · 15 Sep 2019 at 15:16

LuckyBenski said:
Girlfriend's parents have a boiled water tap. They're serious tea drinkers (as are we) and it's mental now. Every time anyone gets up when visiting it's a round of tea. No waiting, no faff. No ritual either but that's OK when the kitchen is open plan so we're all sat nearby.

I looked into one for us, seems filters need replacing every 6 or 12 months so the initial investment is matched by cost of filters in 4-5 years.

Still want one though.

Does theirs do filtered water as well?

I use a water filter for my kettle filling jug, but it's a standard brita one and you can get a number of those filters for very little cash.

I suppose if it doesn't filter somehow, it will quickly have limescale problems in my area!

LuckyBenski · 15 Sep 2019 at 15:20

HungryHippos said:
Does theirs do filtered water as well?

I use a water filter for my kettle filling jug, but it's a standard brita one and you can get a number of those filters for very little cash.

I suppose if it doesn't filter somehow, it will quickly have limescale problems in my area!

They're in Bromley so not the best water and it hasn't broken down yet (~4 years I'd say). I should ask if they've been replacing the filters.

I can only assume it filters it on the way into the heater. They don't have cold filtered water though.

As a kid we always used Brita but left the filters in for ages!

robj20 · 15 Sep 2019 at 15:26

We have a Franke one at work that does filtered water as well.

I'd not have one at home because we only drink coffee.
They seem a waste of money unless you drink serious amounts of tea.
For commercial use they're great someone is using it every few minutes in work.

HungryHippos · 15 Sep 2019 at 15:26

I checked the Quooker website, it looks like I'd need extra filters and things if I wanted my water filtered, but if I just wanted boiling water I think I'd get away without that.

Probably interested in something like the flex:

https://www.quooker.co.uk/flex-flex.html

In the various options, the PRO3 tank would be fine as I don't use that much water in one go, but I reckon I'd have to get the scale control thing. Not sure how often that would need replacing, it says 42000L so presumably not time based, instead volume of water based. Should be possible to predict that if I work out roughly what one person would put through a normal kitchen sink in a year.

HungryHippos · 15 Sep 2019 at 15:34

robj20 said:
We have a Franke one at work that does filtered water as well.

I'd not have one at home because we only drink coffee.
They seem a waste of money unless you drink serious amounts of tea.
For commercial use they're great someone is using it every few minutes in work.

Oh yes, it's a total luxury item no doubt about it.

Still I can see the appeal as long as it's not breaking the proverbial bank.

Dr House · 15 Sep 2019 at 19:23

So when I built my house I must have spent 60k on the kitchen and this has to be the best gadget in the house. Absolutely love the tap.

HungryHippos · 15 Sep 2019 at 19:27

Dr House said:
So when I built my house I must have spent 60k on the kitchen and this has to be the best gadget in the house. Absolutely love the tap.

What model/extras did you get?

Dr House · 15 Sep 2019 at 21:23

It was the combi one. So only needs a cold water feed

https://www.quooker.co.uk/fusion

HungryHippos · 15 Sep 2019 at 21:39

Dr House said:
It was the combi one. So only needs a cold water feed

https://www.quooker.co.uk/fusion

Did you bother with any of the extra things like the scale thing, or any filter things?

jpaul · 16 Sep 2019 at 08:14

apart from electric running costs ... earlier discussion in kitchen build thread,

.. revised my position - not convinced they would meet tea and instant coffee needs .. instant coffee wants off the boil, equally, although usually have black tea where boiling is ok'ish.. for green need a lower temp ... so had been looking/posted on a variable temp kettle... because I thought I was ruining tea.
from a safety aspect kettle is light-weight ... our china 1.5L teapot less so, so taking kettle to teapot safer.

if you have an induction top these are efficient, anyway, for water heating for cooking/steaming veg.

hadn't looked before but this video of them scaling up ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogN56ZC830Y
they says that's 7 years, but if my espresso machine boiler is anything to go buy you need 2-3 times a year ... usually hear the crackling noise of the caco3 as it warmsup.

Dr House · 16 Sep 2019 at 08:44

HungryHippos said:
Did you bother with any of the extra things like the scale thing, or any filter things?

No. Did not think I needed it.

Fuzzb3k · 16 Sep 2019 at 21:59

We've had a Quooker tap for about 6 years now and it's been fantastic. We use it for most things in the kitchen requiring hot / boiling water - tea, coffee, preparing baby formula at 3am, cooking vegetables, pasta etc.

We have a carbon filter fitted inbetween the mains cold water supply and the Quooker tank to improve the taste of the water. The tank itself does have a carbon filter fitted inside it, but I didn't know that when I originally fitted the other filter. Had I known I probably wouldn't have bothered.

I have to descale it every year because it does build up quite a lot, due to us living in a hard water area.

Here are some photos of the scale that had built up in a year.

HungryHippos · 16 Sep 2019 at 22:10

Fuzzb3k said:
We've had a Quooker tap for about 6 years now and it's been fantastic. We use it for most things in the kitchen requiring hot / boiling water - tea, coffee, preparing baby formula at 3am, cooking vegetables, pasta etc.

We have a carbon filter fitted inbetween the mains cold water supply and the Quooker tank to improve the taste of the water. The tank itself does have a carbon filter fitted inside it, but I didn't know that when I originally fitted the other filter. Had I known I probably wouldn't have bothered.

I have to descale it every year because it does build up quite a lot, due to us living in a hard water area.

Here are some photos of the scale that had built up in a year.

Yum!

They do the scale device that should prevent that problem as I also live in a hard water area.

The problem I have right now is largely down to cost. My kitchen fitter says that if I buy my own one then they have to charge me a lot for the fitting, but I save a bit on the kit.

If I buy through them then I pay the cost as per the Quooker website, but they throw in the install for free.

But sitting down and working out where my budget stretches to at the moment, I may need to ask the kitchen fitter to leave me space to install this in the near future when funds allow as a lot of other things are adding up cost wise.

The Grohe Red Duo 2.0 is potentially worth a look too, and it costs a fair bit less. https://www.appliancehouse.co.uk/shop/Grohe-RED-DUO-2-C-Spout-Kettle-Hot-Tap.html

Looks pretty similar in terms of function/design.

jpaul · 17 Sep 2019 at 09:43

Fuzzb3k said:
I have to descale it every year because it does build up quite a lot, due to us living in a hard water area.

how hard ? looks as though it's easy to clean though, and not attached to vessel ?

[

jpaul said:
and we are in a high 300mg/L hardness

we use a Brita atm exclusively for tea/coffee to stop the hardness/scum
]

branddaly · 17 Sep 2019 at 20:43

I just had the Flex with a pro3 tank installed. Absolutely love it, but it’s hard to justify the cost. I did look at the Grohe version but I’m lazy and the filters had to be changed too often. On the Quooker they last 3-5 years.

HungryHippos · 17 Sep 2019 at 20:44

branddaly said:
I just had the Flex with a pro3 tank installed. Absolutely love it, but it’s hard to justify the cost. I did look at the Grohe version but I’m lazy and the filters had to be changed too often. On the Quooker they last 3-5 years.

What was your cost of doing this? I'm wavering back and forth, if I get the Quooker Flex with pro 3 installed I am saving zero cash out of my salary this month!

branddaly · 17 Sep 2019 at 20:48

I had it done as part of a kitchen refurb, so I don’t have an individual cost for the installation. The Quooker itself was £1300, because I wanted stainless steel.

HungryHippos · 17 Sep 2019 at 21:04

branddaly said:
I had it done as part of a kitchen refurb, so I don’t have an individual cost for the installation. The Quooker itself was £1300, because I wanted stainless steel.

Ah yes, haha forgot about that. The stainless steel vs chrome thing. Stainless steel definitely seems to be the more premium finish, but ups the cost by another £150.