Other day I was in a bath showroom where they had a $50K bath suite
on display, with Grohe fixtures with gold plating. I went to the bathtub faucet
and the handle came away loose in my hand—it was chrome plated plastic.
On close inspection, a good part of the high end Grohe fixtures in this
bathroom were plated plastic. I thought Grohe was supposed to be high end.
Now, I think it’s obscene to charge somebody $700 for a faucet that
has a plastic handle, and Grohe isn’t the only one that does it. In fact,
lately that’s all I seem to find in showrooms—plastic.
So my question is, is there any maker still offering stuff that is made
out of solid metal? Or is that too much to ask?
Replies
This is all one huge continuum of the signs of your age. Mine started when I answered the door bell and the salesman called me "sir." After that, I gradually started to notice that the quality of workmanship got worse and worse. The problem is it's me, because I remember when they use to make them with quality. When your young, you don't have the past to compare it to so you don't know that the quality if gradually going down hill, you just think that's the way it's always been.
The next thing your going to start doing is saving old faucets and door hinges. You laugh now but just watch!
you da man wood, you da man!
the older i get the better i was!
Quality has had its ups and downs. I think the Demming-inspired
quality control regime in manufacturing has resulted in much
higher overall quality in terms of numbers of defects. I guess
this is the workmanship aspect. With materials it's another
story, though, as they figure out how to make intrinsically
cheaper materials suffice.But as for these plastic plumbing fixtures. I don't understand
the necessity to go to plastic. Is it because plastic is a better
insulator against heat and thus a better material for handles. This
is the only idea I can come up with.My main objection with plastic is that it's soft so with the
passage of time and cleaning it's naturally going to start losing
its finish and look worn. That just ain't right in a $700
plumbing fixture.
Perhaps they weighed product quality and customer requirements, in light of ISO 9000, and decided that the customer didn't need the higher quality metal handle to turn the plastic stem in the faucet.