Stainless-steel sinks and pull-out sprays were a couple of the big winners in our recent survey of what the average PM reader installs in kitchen plumbing projects.

We sent a survey to 1,500 PM subscribers in January and received a 27 percent response rate, with 95 percent of those respondents indicating that they were the point person for kitchen plumbing product decisions.

Stainless steel was top choice for sinks, used 76 percent of the time. In a related question, double-bowl sinks were installed more than 79 percent of the time.

More than 61 percent said they prefer to sell and install pull-out spray faucets, with spray-mount faucets a close second. Hot water dispensers and soap dispensers are a common combination sale for a complete kitchen plumbing package.

What's under the sink? Well, at least when it comes to garbage disposals, our respondents are likely to install models with 3/4 horsepower motors.

On average, respondents said they installed 47 kitchen sinks, 106 kitchen faucets and 41 garbage disposals annually. Almost 40 percent of the respondents believed that their overall kitchen plumbing work (new construction and replacement) was more than the kitchen plumbing work five years ago. A third expected to perform more overall kitchen plumbing work over the next 12 months.

Despite the growing retail presence, our survey indicates plumbers are very much in charge of the recommendations consumers make:

Who chooses the brand?

On a service call in which you, the plumbing contractor, are recommending replacing an existing faucet/sink/garbage disposal, who chooses which brand of faucet/sink/garbage disposal gets installed?

I recommend a brand and the homeowner usually accepts my recommendations
70.5%

Where do consumers view product?

Where do your customers generally view and select kitchen plumbing products?

Plumbing wholesaler showrooms 65.5%
Catalogs 57.6%
Home center 55.2%

A complete copy of the survey, including more information on product decisions, price points and purchasing venues, can be purchased for $95. For more information, contact Cory Maxwell at 248/244-6415 or maxwellc@bnpmedia.com.