DeltaLeland Brushed Nickel Touch Kitchen Faucet with Pull Down Sprayer, Traditional Single Hole Touch On Kitchen Sink Faucet, Single Handle, SpotShield Stainless 9178T-SP-DST

I bought this faucet four months ago (04APR15) to replace an older Delta that came with my house. With the exception of three minor details, my wife and I both think it's outstanding. Originally I wanted to replace the previous faucet with an identical model as I found it very satisfactory, but it was discontinued and I didn't have time to rebuild it. After spending hours going through reviews I discovered that kitchen faucet assessments are extremely subjective and overall weren't that helpful - I purchased and installed three other faucets that were cheaper but got good reviews. After installing and trying each of them out, I removed and returned them. Finally, I bit the bullet and purchased this one and have been extremely pleased.Pros:- Very solid construction. The weight of it really surprised me when I took it out of the box. It easily weighs three times what the cheaper faucets weighed. Fit and finish is great.- Very easy and quick to install. Came with good instructions. I took my time and still had it in and running within 30 minutes.- Good positive control with the lever. Took a little getting used to having a lever that moves forward and back, rather than left and right, but had the hang of it within a day or two.- Magnet on the goose-neck maintains a solid connection when the hose is retracted.I could keep going, but it would take forever to list all the things I like about it.Cons:- Expensive. I couldn't believe how much was being charged for kitchen faucets. In Delta's defense, at this quality level all of the other brands' prices were comparable or higher. Wow! Just ... wow!- Finish. The Arctic Stainless looks good, but I wish they had one in brushed nickel. This has a sort of blue-ish hue to it which doesn't really match other stainless fixtures. Having said that, nobody else that's seen it has commented on it, so maybe it's just me. After owning it this long, it doesn't really register anymore anyways.- The optional escutcheon (the long plate that you can install between the sink surface and the faucet itself) lays perfectly flat on my sink. If water splashes up on it, it won't run off. It just sits there on the plate until you wipe it off or it evaporates, which can leave spots. Not critical, just annoying.Additional notes regarding comments I've read in the other reviews:It's too tall. - Yes, it is tall. I was concerned about this before I bought it but it's actually one of the things I like best about it now. My previous faucet was much shorter which I thought I liked until I tried this one. I find hand-washing and rinsing dishes (especially large pots) much easier with the tall neck - I can just shift stuff from one side to the other without having to lift stuff over or around the neck.You can't adjust it to a specific temperature, then turn it off and back on to the same temp without adjusting it again. - Seriously? Personally, I've never seen a faucet that you can do this with. I'm sure one must exist somewhere, just not sure why you'd want it. Not only do I not see much value in it during normal usage, but I also think this would be a serious safety concern, especially if you have small children (or inattentive adults) in your house.I read an awful lot of comments in the 1- and 2-star ratings in regards to water pressure (spray is too strong/weak) and problems adjusting the water temp to the perfect spot. My recommendation to these folks is to check their household water pressure and water-heater settings. Many of their problems I'm pretty sure have nothing to do with the faucet itself. Just sayin'...UPDATE 01/13/2017:Ended up moving and had to leave this beauty behind. For the 2 years I had it, it worked perfectly. I just renovated the countertops and sink in my new home and replaced the old faucet with another Delta Leland. This time I got the plain stainless steel instead of the Arctic Stainless since it was a better match for the rest of the appliances. It's an awesome faucet and I highly recommend it.

First, for context: I am not a plumber; before this product, I had never installed a faucet before (kitchen or otherwise); and no one would ever mistake me for having any kind of experience that would qualify me as anything other than a total and complete novice at installing faucets. That said, for the reasons below, I would recommend this faucet AND recommend a DIY installation.I did a LOT of research and reading reviews before purchasing this Delta faucet (SpotShield Stainless). Our old kitchen sink faucet was another well-known and expensive brand (starts with "M"), but after just four years it kept coming loose from the countertop and then started leaking profusely. I was determined not to repeat that with a new faucet. I was a little hesitant about getting a "touch" faucet given the wide range of reviews on point, but after digging into things, I decided to go with this Delta "touch" faucet. A month into using it, here are my thoughts on the DIY installation and product itself:1. DECIDING TO DO A DIY INSTALLATIONI decided to install the faucet myself for several reasons. Nothing against plumbers, but some reviewers suggested that installing this faucet yourself may result in the "touch" feature working better, as you may pay greater attention to detail during the installation. I don’t know how true that is, but so far so good. Also, I wasn’t keen on paying someone else to install it, and while I had never done this before, I like a challenge. And a number of reviewers recommended watching a video that Delta made on installing this specific faucet (available on Youtube), so I figured I had at least a decent chance of not messing it up.2. SKIP THE WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS, WATCH THE VIDEO(!!!)I tried reading through the instructions first, but they might as well have been written in Greek (spoiler alert, I don’t know Greek). So I watched the Delta DIY video all the way through and felt WAY better about deciding to do it myself. I do recommend watching the entire video BEFORE you start installation, so you know what to expect. It’s pretty short (I think less than 15 minutes) and worth that additional watch. I then set up my laptop by the sink and paused the video after each installation step so I could complete the step and get ready for the next one.3. DIY INSTALLATION WAS SMOOTH AND TOOK LESS THAN 2 HRS (INCLUDING BEER BREAK)Based on some of the reviews I read, I was prepared for the DIY installation to take all afternoon. As it turns out, even taking my time, installation took less than two hours, including 25-30 minutes to remove the old faucet, a beer break to celebrate removing the old faucet, and testing the new faucet to make sure it didn’t leak, etc. Especially with the video, each step was pretty straight forward. And I was particularly careful on the steps that related to the “touch” feature. At some points it would have helped to have longer arms, but I managed. (For reference, I am a 5’6” female with normal-length arms.)4. ONE PERSON CAN DO FULL INSTALLATIONThe video notes in a couple of places that having a second person can be helpful for certain steps, but also shows how to do them with one person. At the time I decided to do the installation, I was the only one home. While I can see where having a second would have helped for some steps, I was definitely able to manage pretty well on my own.5. MINIMAL TOOLS NEEDEDI only needed a screwdriver and a wrench, as well as a monkey wrench to help hold pipes still while tightening parts. Most people probably won’t need the monkey wrench, but it was helpful in my case because of limited space to maneuver under our sink.6. DELTA FAUCET APPEARS TO HAVE HIGHER-QUALITY PARTSAs I am not a professional, I’m not sure how much weight anyone should give this observation, but it appeared to me that this Delta faucet has higher-quality parts than our old “M”-brand faucet. This was especially apparent with respect to the “anchor” part that secures the base of the faucet to the countertop (it seemed much more substantial).7. “TOUCH” FEATURE WORKS GREAT (SO FAR)As noted above, I read a range of reviews regarding the “touch” feature. Some people said that the feature stopped working after just a couple of weeks or months. One month in, we have not had any issues with the “touch” feature. As our faucet gets A LOT of use, and we use the “touch” feature almost exclusively, I think this a fairly good point of reference.Note that the faucet comes packaged with a battery pack to power this feature, but you can purchase an add-on that will allow you to plug into an electrical outlet. We are using the battery pack and will see how long the first set of batteries lasts (reviews varied a lot on this point as well).I will note that it took me a day or two to get a hang of the “touch” feature, but once I did, things were great. Everyone else in family (kids and adults) got the hang of it right away.8. WE LOVE THE “TOUCH” FEATUREWe do a lot of cooking and baking and thus spend a lot of time in the kitchen and using the sink. We all love the “touch” feature and never want to go back to a fully “manual” faucet.* * *If anything changes, I will update this review. But so far, so good!