Kartell K-VIT Flair Freestanding Bath Shower Mixer – Chrome (TAP120FL)

Kartell K-VIT Flair Freestanding Bath Shower Mixer – Chrome (TAP120FL)

The Kartell K-VIT Flair range is built around one idea: a square-set chrome body with a wide, open curved spout, so the water arrives as a broad flat sheet rather than a round jet. Kartell describe it as a collection that "gives a totally chic finishing touch to a trendy interior", and the open spout is what people notice — it is the whole point of the design.

This is the freestanding bath shower mixer — a floor-mounted tap on a tall square column, designed to stand beside a freestanding bath rather than sit on its rim. It is the centrepiece of the range.

This needs planning before the floor goes down

A freestanding bath usually has no tap holes at all, so the tap has to come from somewhere else. This one rises from the floor on a single column, with the open spout reaching over the rim and a shower handset on a hose.

The important part: it is plumbed up through the floor, so the pipework has to be run and the position fixed before you tile or board. Getting it wrong is not a matter of moving the tap a few inches later — it means lifting the floor. Measure carefully from the bath, and if the bath has not been chosen yet, choose it first.

It is much the heaviest piece in the range, and it gets leaned on and pulled at by the handset, so it needs solid fixing into the floor structure rather than just into a board.

Water pressure

Kartell rate this tap for pressures between 1 and 5 bar. The 1 bar minimum is the point to watch: a gravity-fed tank and cylinder will rarely reach it without a pump, so this one is for mains, combi or unvented systems.

That 1 bar minimum is worth taking seriously on this one in particular: the water has a long way to climb up the column, so a system that is already marginal will disappoint.

Before you order

The waste is sold separately. Freestanding baths usually need a specific waste and often a floor-routed trap, so factor that in.

Living with it

The ceramic disc cartridge with quarter-turn operation gives full flow from a small movement of the lever, and is far less prone to dripping than a washer tap.

Chrome is the easiest finish to live with and the easiest to spoil. A wipe with a soft damp cloth is all it needs, though it shows water spots and fingerprints more readily than a brushed finish, so in a hard water area it pays to dry it off. What it will not tolerate is abrasives: cream cleaners, scouring pads and strong limescale removers cut through the plating, and once chrome has gone dull and cloudy it cannot be brought back.

The rest of the Flair range

The range also includes a mono basin mixer with click waste, a hi-rise mono basin mixer for countertop bowls, a wall mounted basin mixer, a mono bidet mixer, a bath filler, a bath shower mixer and a 4 hole bath shower mixer.

Specification

• Code: TAP120FL
• Chrome finish
• Solid brass construction
• Floor mounted freestanding column
• Ceramic disc cartridge, quarter turn operation
• Integrated diverter, shower handset and hose included
• Open waterfall spout
• 1/2" BSP flexi hose connections
• Suitable for pressures between 1 and 5 bar
• Length 275mm, weight 3.96kg
• Fixings supplied
• Waste sold separately
• Lifetime guarantee (1 year on moving parts)
• Barcode 5055681470302

Downloads

Download the technical data sheet · Download the fitting instructions