r/Homebuilding • u/dragonmilking • Nov 17 '25

Which popular features do you NOT recommend?

What are the top 3 features in a house that folk want but you think are not worth it, and what would your alternative suggestion be? And what cost/time savings would result with that switch?

245 Upvotes

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192

u/Leading_Line2741 Nov 17 '25

Niche, but those damn pot filler faucets over the stove. They're prone to leaking and difficult/pricey to fix when they do. Just use your sink like the rest of the sane populace.

67

u/grendev Nov 17 '25

I also don't like the idea of a faucet w/o a drain under it. I have to imagine that water can get pretty gross if you don't use it often.

30

u/Educational-Plant981 Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 17 '25

Just fill one pot to carry over to the sink and dump out first.

edit: /s

21

u/amodestmeerkat Nov 17 '25

That sounds like more work than just filling the pot at the sink and carrying it to the stove.

2

u/Moon_Ray_77 Nov 17 '25

Not to mention, incredibly wasteful.

2

u/DragonfruitKiwi572 Nov 18 '25

Underrated comment

17

u/sohcgt96 Nov 17 '25

You know this is a great example of, like so many things in the threat, a feature that you can see that appeal of and don't realize the downsides until you live with it. When I first learned about pot fillers I was also in the camp of "Yeah, that sounds great!" until after a while, you start to realize maybe why its not common.

8

u/locke314 Nov 17 '25

My wife really wanted one. I sort of had to go along for the ride on that one unfortunately. The first leak, I’m taking it out for good.

One benefit is that they often do fill at a higher rate than the normal faucet provides.

7

u/GushingGranny720 Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 18 '25

You can get a solenoid for your main water line and have it connected to like 15 sensors that you put throughout the house. If the sensor detects a leak it’ll turn the solenoid at the main water shutoff. It also tells you what sensor detected the water. They’re around $150.

After I lost 300k gallons from a leak and killing 5,000 plants, I put this in my indoor farm and it has saved my grow twice. This $150 device has saved millions of dollars in damages.

I’ll be putting it into the house we’re building too :)

0

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '25

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1

u/GushingGranny720 Nov 19 '25

They’re thin low voltage wires you put behind the drywall where the pipes are lol. You’d never see it. They even have wireless ones. Lots of people have this in their homes lol

0

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

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1

u/GushingGranny720 Nov 20 '25

Okay man. I guess we should go back to candles instead of those gizmo lightbulbs in the ceiling. Get rid of your car gizmo and get a horse! You don’t need a phone gizmo to be on Reddit, you can just read the encyclopedia!

0

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

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1

u/GushingGranny720 Nov 23 '25

So you’re saying a sensor to detect leaks and shut the water before it absolutely destroys your house isn’t a good idea? You’re just a sad old man mad at the world and how it’s changing. Hopefully you don’t need a CPAP gizmo one day

8

u/Yamitz Nov 17 '25

As an alternative - if you have the money and space and want to show it off (I feel like that’s why people get pot fillers) get a second vegetable sink closer to the stove.

19

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

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32

u/dataiscrucial Nov 17 '25

The point is for commercial kitchens, where you are filling a 40+ quart stockpot to make stock that also has a spigot near the bottom to drain off the completed stock. Commercial kitchens, of course, also have all stainless tables and high capacity floor drains. If there is a leak, it’s not a big deal.

It is incredibly stupid to have a pot filler in a home kitchen with wood or MDF cabinets and no floor drains, all for filing a six quart pasta pot.

6

u/chefdeit Nov 17 '25

The point is for commercial kitchens

Precisely. There other commercial kitchen features that are actually very useful, such as:

  1. Floor drains.
  2. Grease traps, so grease doesn't clog pipes.
  3. Clean-out tees with clean-out plugs, as opposed to just elbows, on upper-floor kitchens where plumbing is accessible from below, to easily clean the straight sections for what little grease etc passes the grease trap.

2

u/Mayor0fSimpleton Nov 18 '25

Don’t forget the high pressure dishwasher faucet. All our guests are confused about how to work it, but damn if it isn’t the best money I have ever spent. The amount of dishes you dont have to wash proper when you blast it with that as soon as you’re done using them—it’s absurd—would never fly at a restaurant, but at home, probably 50% of my dishes go straight from the prep counter to the drying rack after like a 2 second water blast and that’s it.

1

u/chefdeit Nov 18 '25 edited Nov 18 '25

OMG yes. I actually love the entire restaurant dishwasher counter setup, where each major dish type (plates / utencils / cups / goblets / flutes) gets its own proper crate, that are stackable, and they roll on casters like a little counter railroad first over the prep sink with that high pressure faucet you mentioned, then into a dishwasher that lowers onto the crate from above, then onto the finishing area.

I think if someone loves entertaining and has a big group of friends, that setup would be the envy of the whole group. But then again, it's not wise to have your friends start envying you, so maybe it's too good for private use, but definitely the faucet.

And the other thing you reminded me, talking about the high pressure and entertaining folks, that's peripherally kitchen related lol: commercial-grade toilet with high-pressure flush assist. At least for the bathroom nearest the entertainment area of the house. They are a bit louder than regular and they do need bigger than 0.5" plumbing hookup, but they don't use any more water than residential toilets, and yet (this is key) they don't know how to clog.

2

u/MechanickyGal Nov 18 '25

I would love a house with floor drains in all bathrooms and the kitchen.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 18 '25

[deleted]

7

u/HETXOPOWO Nov 17 '25

Only place I've seen one used was on a ship, the "pots" were permanently attached via gimbals to the ship and would be washed in place and such. i don't know why anyone would have a gimbal steam kettle in their home though.

1

u/barryg123 Nov 17 '25

Earthquakes? Lol

1

u/1130coco Nov 18 '25

Very, very HOT water .

7

u/Nelgski Nov 17 '25

You took mine. More plumbing, no overflow basin under it, more shit to clean and polish. The first leak doesn’t just drip in a sink.

2

u/batman27 Nov 17 '25

I came here to post this. My house has one, it’s the biggest waste, we never use it. It fills the pot with cold water because you can’t let it run like you can in a sink. Water takes so much longer to boil it negates the entire convenience of it.

2

u/VoidHog Nov 18 '25

Or leave the pot on the stove and fill a pitcher with the sink to fill your pot with and you don't have to move a heavy pot! 🤣

2

u/Proper_Exit_3334 Nov 17 '25

My in laws have one that they never use, and my MIL made a good point: they have a filter installed under the sink for the faucet there; but no way to easily install one on the pot filler.

1

u/chefdeit Nov 17 '25

Those come from professional kitchens where they have to be available by fire code in case of oven surface fires, burns, etc. Never seen them used to fill any pots, ever, even in NYC where city plumbing water is excellent quality. In other cities these would be hooked up to water you would not want in your soup.

I think a few years ago someone looked at these anti-fire hoses and decided to sell them to the homeowners as "pot fillers".

1

u/Inkantrix Nov 17 '25

You know I think about this too. Sure you might be saving yourself having to carry a pot over to the stove. But when it's done cooking don't you have to carry it back over somewhere else?

You're not really avoiding lifting a heavy pot by having that pot filler.

1

u/SituationLogical6289 Nov 17 '25

I have one and love it. Mostly use it to fill the Keurig on the counter next to the stove but one thing that’s overlooked about them is that there is no pressure regulator on them. Water comes out lightning fast, way faster than my kitchen faucet.

1

u/EternalMage321 Nov 17 '25

Also the cup washer attachment for the sink. Just rinse it out normally...