Faucets with attached supply lines

[rmc115]

For you experts out there... What is your opinion of kitchen faucets with factory-attached supplies? How about pex (i.e. the Delta attached supplies), vs. a braided flex line? Is one superior to the other, or would it be better to just go with a faucet that can be hard piped? (unfortunately not easy to find one that I like that can be installed this way!) I'm interested to hear your comments. Thanks!!

[jadnashua]

Pex has a service life longer than you're likely to care about, but it could be abraided in some situations. The braided supply lines tend to be more flexible, but if you are neat about the routing of the pex, it should be out of the way and not an issue. IMHO, neither is a problem, and I wouldn't hesitate to use either or have it as a determining factor on what I chose.

[hj]

It is basically a question of WHICH faucet you like as far as operation and appearance, and once that decision is made, HOW it connects depends on what the manufacturer gives you. Kohler and several others use braided stainless steel hoses, Delta uses plastic ones, and others still have the 1/2" ips male thread. As long as the factory "hose" is long enough to reach the shut off valve, and has the proper "connector" on it, they are adequate.

[jimbo]

One criticism of the factory installed hoses is that some are not repairable. If you were to damage it, the faucet may be toast.

From what I have seen, the ss braided hoses are detachable, some of the pex hoses are not. You could repair a pex with a 'bite type fitting, unless it was damaged up near the base .

And of course, the flex hose has a 3/8 compression nut on it, so you need an adapter if your valve is another size