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Picking a new faucet or bathroom appliance is a big decision! They’re expensive and the last thing you’ll want to do is replace it in 2 years.
Finding the right faucet starts with finding the right brand. Each major brand will have different pros and cons.
Today I’ll be comparing Kohler vs Grohe faucets so that you can pick the one right for you.
The good news is that you can’t go wrong. Kohler and Grohe are both fantastic brands and make high quality faucets that are durable, beautiful, and perform well.
I’ll tell you up front that Kohler is the winner in this showdown. They’re higher quality, have more finishes, and are the most durable faucets on the market. Their also more affordable than Grohe!
Both brands are high quality, but they have different strengths and weaknesses.
Quick Summary: Which Brand is the Right Pick for You?
Kohler is best for…
- Families with kids – Kohler products are some of the most durable on the market so they can hold up to the hard daily use of whole families.
- Paying for quality – Kohler faucets aren’t cheap, but they are known for being some of the highest quality you can get. Buy Kohler if you’re willing to pay for quality.
Grohe is best for…
- High-end kitchens and bathrooms – If you are trying to outfit your bathroom and kitchen with high-end products for future resale or to fit in a certain neighborhood, Grohe faucets are a great choice.
- Hard water environments – Grohe does intensive testing with hard water to make sure their faucets will be durable in the harshest conditions.
- Environmentally friendly consumers – Grohe is committed to going zero with carbon emissions. They have reworked their manufacturing to produce as little C02 emissions as possible and they have two initiatives to offset these minimal outputs.
| Kohler | Grohe | |
| Price | $$$ | $$$$ |
| Technology | Average technology options | Environmentally friendly |
| Design | Wide variety | Sleek modern |
| Finishes | Bathroom: 12 Kitchen: 11 | Bathroom: 7 Kitchen: 7 |
| Models | Bathroom: 97 Kitchen: 95 | Bathroom: 82 Kitchen: 38 |
| Warranty | Limited lifetime warranty | Limited lifetime warranty |
Kohler Overview
I grew up using Kohler products. Everything in our house was Kohler: Sinks, faucets, toilets, showerheads.
I’m pretty sure my childhood home still has the same Kohler products that it came with when it was built in 1997.
Kohler is known for durable and high quality products.
Kohler is one of the oldest and largest plumbing companies in the world. They’re one of the best American made faucet brands in the country. When it comes to bathroom and kitchen faucets, they’re widely considered to be top of the line.
The company was founded by John Kohler in 1873. They were the first company to create a one-piece bathtub for everyday use. These days they offer absolutely every plumbing product you could ever need.
They are best known for their touchless technology in kitchen and bathroom faucets. That’s one of the reasons they are super popular in commercial spaces. They also produce one of the most durable toilets.
Kohler is also one of the most innovative companies when it comes to being environmentally-friendly. They are working hard to create more products that use less water and energy while remaining effective.
Pros and Cons of Kohler
Pros
- American Made – Kohler faucets are one of the few faucet brands made in the USA guaranteeing a higher quality faucet.
- Environmentally friendly – Many Kohler faucets are designed with an option to utilize less water making it better for the environment.
- Variety – Kohler has a huge lineup of different faucet options from type of finish to design and installation type to handle type.
Cons
- Less specialized – Kohler has one of the widest product offerings with plumbing products. They are less specialized on faucets compared to a company like Delta.
- More expensive – Compared to other brands like Moen and Delta, Kohler is on the pricey side.
Grohe Overview
Grohe is a luxury, high-end faucet brand. I’ve never personally used any of their products, which is a shame because they are incredibly sleek looking.
I’m a big fan of using American made faucets and products, but we aren’t the only country with elite manufacturing. Grohe is a German brand that is known for incredibly high quality. They’ve been around since the early 1900’s and are one of the most reputable brands in Europe.
In just the past ten years, Grohe has been awarded more than 240 design and innovation awards as well as a top three placement among “Germany’s most sustainable major companies of 2015”.
This company used to be part of Hansgrohe, but the son, Friedrich Grohe, broke away from his father’s company to start his own product line.
The brand positions itself as an innovative, modern bathroom and kitchen fixtures brand with a specific emphasis on being the best bathroom fixtures brand.
In 2014, the Grohe faucet brand was bought by LIXIL who owns a number of other leading brands like American Standard. They are incredibly innovative when it comes to water technology.
Pros and Cons of Grohe
Pros
- German made – Germany is known for elite manufacturing and attention to detail that produces high quality products.
- Environmentally friendly – Grohe is one of the leading companies in water conservation and environmental efforts. Buying Grohe product is supporting environmentally-friendly manufacturing.
- Design – Grohe products are simply beautiful. If you like minimalistic and sleek designs, these are for you.
Cons
- Expensive – Grohe faucets are at the high-end of the market. The majority of their faucets are $400-600 range.
- Limited finish options – Grohe only offers seven different finishes for their bathroom and kitchen faucets.
Kohler vs Grohe: Feature Comparisons
We’ve done a deep dive on Kohler vs Grohe features to compare for you. You can also check out our comparison of Moen vs Grohe faucets for more information!
1. Price
When it comes to price, Kohler is the winner. They’re not exactly cheap, but Grohe is a high-end faucet brand and that comes with a steep price. If you want something more affordable you can try Pfister or Glacier Bay.
Kohler
Kohler faucets tend to be on the more expensive side. Most of their bathroom faucets tend to range between $250-500 with most of those in the $300-400 range.
Grohe
Grohe is a luxury brand and their products are priced accordingly. They have two main price tiers on their website ($100-$499 and $500-1000). We did a deep dive and found that the majority of their faucets are right in the middle, $400-600.
This is significantly higher than most other faucet brands we’ve reviewed like Moen or Delta.
2. Design
Grohe puts a huge emphasis on the aesthetic and appearance of their faucets while Moen has more variety of faucet designs.
Moen has more faucets to pick from so they are likely to have more options that are right for you. That being said, Grohe has some of the sleekest faucets I’ve ever used.
Kohler
When it comes to design, Kohler has a number of options. You can pick from six different mount options for their bathroom faucets. The most popular ones are their widespread, centerset, deck-mount, and single-hole. The vast majority of their faucets are lever faucets.
Most of their kitchen faucets are single-hole set ups with one handle. Their most popular spout types are pull-down, pull-out, or a standard faucet with side sprayer.
Grohe
Design might be the #1 quality of Grohe faucets. They spend more money and effort into faucet design than most other brands.
Grohe has a unique design philosophy with three elements that can immediately help a consumer identify their products. The products always include a ring that highlights the functional area, faucets with a seven-degree angle that is said to improve the user experience. They would call their design style “sensual minimalism.”
They are so obsessed with product design that they tested the optimal angle of a faucet and determined it to be 7 degrees instead of a straight 0 degree angle like most other brands.
The style of Grohe products is classic and sleek. If you have a modern home and want a modern, ergonomic design in kitchen and bathroom fixtures, this is the best choice.
3. Technology
When it comes to technology, Grohe is the winner. They have utilized technology to become more environmentally friendly and to be a net neutral climate contributor.
Kohler isn’t known for their technology, but they do offer touchless tech in both their bathroom and kitchen faucets.
Kohler
When it comes to bathroom faucets, Kohler has been surprisingly un-innovative. They really don’t have any fancy features or even touchless options for bathroom faucets.
In the kitchen though, Kohler has introduced a number of high tech features and faucet functions over the years.
The most popular features are…
- Touchless faucet technology
- 2 or 3 function sprayheads
- Innovative docking technology so that your sprayer or pulldown faucet will actually stay connected
- Their ProMotion technology is available for their pulldown and pullout faucets.
Grohe
Grohe is one of the leading companies in faucet technology. Since their merger with LIXIL, they’ve become even more advanced.
Here are some of their technological features:
- Blue technology – Grohe offers a “Blue Technology” for some faucets which has the ability to filter out and create extremely clean water and it can even be sparkling.
- Thermostat mixers – Help get the temperature you want in less than 3 seconds
- SpeedClean – Grohe faucets also require minimal cleaning and maintenance for longer use, because of their speed cleaning technology.
- Touchless – They offer touchless technology for only their kitchen faucets.
- Sense tech – Ensures waters is not leaking where it shouldn’t be, and there is less risk of a pipe bursting.
4. Finishes and colors
Kohler has more finishes than most other faucet brands! If you want more variety or color, go with Kohler. Grohe only offers 7 different finishes for both kitchen and bath while Kohler has almost twice as many.
Kohler
Kohler has 12 different finish or color options for their kitchen faucets and 11 to pick from for their bathroom faucets.
Grohe
Grohe offers a somewhat limited variety of finish options, but that’s somewhat normal for high-end brands. They usually specialize in a few finishes. Grohe offers 7 different bathroom faucet finishes to pick from and 7 finishes for their kitchen faucets.
5. Models
Neither of these brands have the widest selection of models to pick from.
When it comes to the number of models available, it’s fairly close but Kohler is the winner. They offer around 200 total faucets while Grohe only offers around 120.
While it may sound like a lot, Moen offers almost 1000 different faucets to pick from.
Kohler
Kohler has a pretty great variety of faucets with 97 different kitchen faucet models and 95 different bathroom faucets to pick from.
Grohe
Grohe is fairly limited in their selections to pick from. They have 82 different bathroom faucets to pick from and only 38 different kitchen faucet options. Compared to most brands, this is very little. The big American brands usually have several hundred models.
6. Warranty
All of the warranties we’ve seen offered by different faucet companies are the exact same.
Kohler
Kohler faucets come with a lifetime warranty on their faucets for leaking, dripping, or other issues. This guarantee is only good for the first owner of the faucet. Improper care or cleaning can nullify the warranty.
Grohe
Grohe offers a limited lifetime warranty on mechanical parts and a five-year warranty on electronic faucets and valves. This doesn’t cover normal “wear and tear” that you’d expect to see. This warranty also only covers the original owner of the faucet.
Common Questions about Kohler and Grohe Faucets
Grohe is not a brand of Kohler. Kohler and Grohe are actually competitors with each other in the faucet and bathroom products industry.
Final Verdict: Kohler vs Grohe Faucets
Kohler and Grohe both create amazing faucets and shower heads with modern styles, technology, and design. Their products are also durable and perform well over time. I’m confident that if you purchase a faucet from either brand, you’ll be satisfied.
If we had to pick one brand to go with, we’d go with Kohler as the better option. Grohe is incredibly nice and the better option if you can afford it. Kohler is just better value in my opinion. But it really depends on what you’re looking for.
- Kohler – Great for high-end models and classic finishes like polished chrome. Super durable products.
- Grohe – Best for high-end, luxury homes and people who are passionate about the environment.
I hope this Kohler vs Grohe comparison helped you decide which brand is right for you!
If you’re interested to see how Pfister stacks up, look at our comparison of Pfister vs Kohler faucets.
