Kartell K-VIT Buckingham Traditional Kitchen Sink Mixer – Chrome (KST015)

Kartell K-VIT Buckingham Traditional Kitchen Sink Mixer – Chrome (KST015)

A kitchen tap works harder than anything else in the house — hand washing, filling the kettle, washing up, rinsing vegetables. Kartell put it plainly: “by far one of the most used fixtures within the home”. That is the thing to keep in mind when choosing one.

The Buckingham is the traditional one: a tall curved gooseneck with white ceramic lever handles on a cross-shaped body — the classic country-kitchen tap.

Where it suits

This is the tap for a shaker or in-frame kitchen, a period property, or anywhere a modern single-lever mixer would look wrong. It pairs naturally with a Belfast or fireclay sink, and with painted cabinetry.

The white ceramic levers are the detail that does the work. They are also the part to think about practically: ceramic is easy to wipe clean but shows tea and turmeric stains more than chrome would, so they want wiping rather than leaving.

Two levers give you a dedicated cold for the kettle, which suits the way most people actually use a kitchen tap.

Before you order

This is a single tap hole deck-mounted tap, the standard arrangement on a modern kitchen sink. If your sink has two tap holes you need a pair of pillar taps instead.

No waste is included. Kitchen sinks come with their own waste and overflow, so that is normally not a problem — but worth knowing if you are replacing the sink too.

Measure the height available if there is a window sill or a wall cupboard over the sink. A tall gooseneck that fouls a window that has to open is the most common reason a kitchen tap goes back.

Living with it

Ceramic disc cartridge with quarter-turn operation — a small movement of the lever gives full flow, and ceramic discs do not perish the way rubber washers do, so a tap that gets used twenty times a day should not start dripping.

Polished chrome wipes clean with a soft damp cloth. In a kitchen it shows water spots and fingerprints more than most places, so a quick wipe after washing up keeps it bright. Avoid abrasive cleaners and limescale removers left to soak — both cut through the plating, and dull chrome cannot be brought back.

Guarantee

Kartell give the kitchen tap range a 5 year guarantee, with moving parts and working components covered for 12 months. That is shorter than the lifetime cover on their bathroom brassware, which is fair enough given how much harder a kitchen tap gets worked.

Other kitchen taps

The Kartell kitchen range runs to eleven taps. The nearest alternatives to this one are the square-spouted Lisso, the two-lever Bond and the Plan, a plain single-lever gooseneck.

Specification

• Code: KST015
• Polished chrome, gloss finish
• Solid brass construction
• White ceramic lever handles
• Traditional cross-body with curved gooseneck spout
• Ceramic disc cartridges, quarter turn operation
• Deck mounted, one tap hole
• Length 244mm
• Weight 1.19kg
• Fixings supplied
• Waste not included
• 5 year guarantee (1 year on moving parts)
• Barcode 5055681438913

Downloads

Download the technical data sheet