Delta Faucet Leland Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet in Chrome - Magnetic Docking Spray Head, High-Arc Design for Easy Washing - Perfect for Large Pots & Modern Kitchen Sinks (Model 9178-DST)

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!I have a limited space for a gooseneck faucet as there are cabinets above my sink. Therefore, this faucet couldn't be too tall. I measured and the the specifications were accurate. I've never had a "smart" faucet in the house before. I despise the motion detecting faucets found in hotels and stores. I spend a bunch of time just waving my hands under them before they start running and then they shut off before I'm done. This Delta faucet requires but the slightest touch on it for it to begin running and the same to turn it off. It's genius! Why? Because if I've got gunk on my hands from doing the dishes or from prepping a meal, I don't want it on the faucet - I don't want to have to continuously clean the faucet. I can use any clean part of my hand or arm to activate the faucet. I can preset the temperature that I want to achieve and it works marvelously. I love that the extension sprayer operates with the use of a weighted donut under the sink - low tech where low tech is all that is needed. It also is heavy enough that the sprayer actually goes back in without being forced - it does it through gravity. Finally, I like the no-splash spray function on the faucet.I would definitely recommend this faucet to anyone looking for one. The materials and build are definitely worth the money.New, Follow-Up Review:So it has been almost 1.5 years since I wrote the negative review on the Delta Leland Faucet (below) and much has changed since then. Shortly after my review, I was contacted by Ben Carter in customer service at Delta and he was VERY helpful. After several discussions on the problems, he sent me a new, updated version of the solenoid and battery system and after working out a few kinks, the system finally worked as it should and as expected. It was operating reliably FINALLY! And though I was very skeptical, after a few more months of using it, I finally liked it and trusted it to work. That was about 6 months ago now and I am still very pleased. I did have to change the batteries once as it was acting funny again, but changing the batteries DID fix the inconsistencies this time. Woohoo! So it did take a long time for my wife and I to fully get used to the system and operation. We're a bit old-school and the turning on and shutting off by touch just didn't come naturally to us (I am 62 and my wife is a few years younger). It did take some getting used to it, but when that finally sunk in for us, it was a good thing. I like to cook a lot and am always rinsing my hands and other tools. The touch feature became my good friend. I also used to run the water a lot. Too much, according to my frustrated wife - but now it was easy to turn on and off with just a quick tap. I've even used my forehead a few times when both hands were full! We find we are saving a lot of otherwise wasted water and here in California we are often in drought conditions. This faucet was the right choice for us.So what happened to make things different? Well, Mr. Carter explained that this was a product that was still in development when I bought my faucet in late 2018 or early 2019. Since that time Delta had gone through several upgrades to the touch system. I think he said "5 upgrades" since the product came out. That 5th upgrade was the magic bullet and fixed almost all the problems I have with the faucet and the fix has held now for a good 6 months and I feel it will continue to do so. The old problems were flaky and inconsistent. Very frustrating. The newer version of the software for the device is much, much better and I have confidence in it. And I truly like it now. The engineers did a great job and should be commended.Ok, so I did say "almost all the problems". The two remaining issues are minor to me, though one of them might be fixable in the 6th Gen product and that one is: It is difficult to adjust to a low stream flow on the faucet. There just isn't a wide enough range of Off-to low stream, to medium stream, to high stream and variability in-between. I can get a low stream from the faucet, but it often takes several attempts to get the right flow. This bugs my wife, more than me, but hey - people have different needs. Yet, she is right - this should be addressed at some point.The second issue is more subtle. This faucet does take some getting used to. You and your family will eventually adjust to it just fine and some even more quickly than we did. But guests to your home, especially older guests I suppose, will be a little mystified at first at how to get it to work for them - and that will mostly be an issue in their heads (and hands). We are just so haptic of a tribe! This might not be an issue for many people, but it could be for those with lots of guests or perhaps a short-term rental property.So, with those two minor issues, I gave it 4-stars instead of 5-stars. I'll leave it to Ben and his great team to bring this all the way up to a 5*.-------Old Review: I was really looking forward to the touch feature, but it only worked for a short while. Then I ordered replacement parts from Delta and it did the same thing, only working well for a few weeks before becoming a frustration. It would work sometimes, then it wouldn't work for a while - until I'd touch it in various funny ways - which would get it working again for maybe a day. The worst part is when it isn't working, the whole faucet won't turn on in any way!! Ridiculous! I think it may be related to the way the product is grounded. I had a new kitchen though and everything was professionally grounded, etc. This is an immature product that shouldn't be purchased for the touch feature. I should have listened to the many reviews online to that effect. I only hope Delta gets its sh-- together and offers a real solid robust working model that we can use. Hey, WHEN it works, its pretty good. It just doesn't work most of the time after a few weeks. I do like the different sprayer features - so that is the one star.I bought this faucet back in mid-2018 and no issues. I noticed the water was coming out a little slower than normal recently and I looked up the maintenance instructions, cleaned the inline filter, and back to normal. I definitely recommend this faucet.Since I've had this faucet so long, I often find myself trying to turn on other people's faucet with touch. It usually takes a few tries before I realize their faucet is not touch. And of course I then try to convince them that they need a touch faucet in their lives.Update:Despite originally liking this faucet, I now have to strongly recommend against getting it. We had it installed by a plumber in our city and when he did it he commented that the installation was technically easy enough but that the location of the mounting nut made it awkward and usually a company would include a specific piece in the kit with which to do this. He also said that the faucet didn’t seem to have mounting tabs where he expected but that that was just a design quirk.Since that time (one year ago) I have had to have the plumber back twice to reseat the faucet as it shifts from it’s fully aligned position to one where the main body is moved about 7-9mm away from the seat on the sink. The plumber said “oh yeah, this is where there would usually be those tabs that I mentioned when I installed it.”DESPITE the advertised warranty by Delta, I have not been able to get any satisfaction from the company. I keep getting bounced from the US team to the Canadian team and then dropped. They have dodged my emails and calls and finally came back with a discount for a new faucet — not a replacement or a fix or a retro fix or anything actually useful. I’m also out almost $500 for plumber’s fees for the install and subsequent returns to fix it. Very annoying and really poor customer service.I like it. I wish I knew before hand that the handle has to be returned to exactly the right spot to shut off the flow of water. As it is, you need to ensure that the handle is centred relatively precisely in line with the body of the faucet when turning it off or you will get drips. This is a pain although my cats consider it a feature because they get access to fun and tasty water drops.I purchased the product May 13,2020 and had it installed by a professional 4 mos later. At the beginning , the product performed really well as advertised. However, earlier this year the sprayer and hose stopped retracting automatically. It only retracts by pushing it back inside the faucet tube manually. Now, there’s something protruding at the edge of the faucet tube which causes a gap between its edge and the sprayer. Also, there’s always rust found around the hose on top of the sprayer whenever I pull it down to spray. I emailed the Delta Company product support last month, on Sep 15th at 10:20 pm to be exact, requesting for a replacement. So far, I have not received any response. Considering how expensive the product is and the 5 year warranty the product has, I am asking Amazon to intercede in my behalf. CDAs a professional home renovator, I have installed and used many different faucets over the years, and this is my favorite out of all that I've tried. I used to consider Delta a budget brand but this is a very high quality unit. I've had it in my own kitchen for over 2 years and have not had any of the issues that other reviewers have mentioned. I find it superbly well designed, the water control is easy and intuitive, the magnetic catch for the pulldown is a great feature, and the stream/spray switch is positive and stays where you leave it when you turn the water off and on again. Any faucet will have the occasional manufacturing defect, and if you are unlucky enough to have that experience I would encourage you to get it repaired under warranty rather than return it.I wish I had listened to the negative reviews before purchasing. It was installed by a plumber so this is not an installation issue. The issue is the fraudulent touch technology. I have had it for a month, and cannot tell you how many times I could not get the water to turn on, no matter where I touched it, held it, hit it, etc. And I also can’t tell you how many times I could not shut the water off by touch, and had to resort to the turning off the tap. While this works to shut the water, there is no alternate way to turn it back on. Very very frustrating to have to wash your hands from the filtered water tap! I have always used Delta products and like them, but this is unusable technology, they have known for many years it seems about the problems, but continue to sell it to suckers like me who don’t believe the negative reviews. DO NOT BUY, unless you want endless aggravation. I am now going to have to look into buypassing the bad tech now and probably have to pay the plumber again. BAD DELTA, very very BAD!I love the design, the colour, the easy to use pull down sprayer, and the quality of the faucet in general and it would be a 5 star BUT the button that switches from spray to even flow sticks and needs to be pressed firmly to prevent dribbling out of the back of the faucet head when using. When I do get it flowing without dribbling and I turn it off, the dribbling is back when I turn it back on... especially annoying as it soaks the side of the kettle and small pans when filling. I had this installed by a master plumber and after months of kitchen renovations the idea of having to replace the faucet is not something I am looking forward to, but this issue is just too annoying to keep it. The only problem is that we purchased the faucet well ahead of time so that it was here ready when the kitchen was being installed, so I cannot return it to Amazon. My husband is going to have a quick look at it and call Delta fro help. I will update and review my star rating when we resolve this issue.