Kitchen Taps.

[Wingedharpy]

Looking for some knowledgable folk to advise me here please.
I need new kitchen taps as the old ones leak from the base of the tap (they were bought on line and were v cheap).
Looking at the price of taps, they vary enormously from the reasonably cheap through to eye-wateringly expensive.
Can anyone recommend a make of tap that would be good for a hard water area?
Are ceramic discs a good thing?
Anyone have experience with bristan taps or would you recommend another make?
Many thanks.

Bristan is a good make.

Important question

Do you have a hot water cylinder, and a cold tank in the loft, or a combi boiler?

Fill a bucket at the cold tap, time it. How many litres per minute? And how many from the hot?

Ceramic disks are more troublesome when they get worn. If you buy a major british brand, you have more chance of finding spares.

No water tanks - a fairly new combi-boiler.
Are you asking about water buckets to find out about high or low pressure system?

If ceramic discs are a problem, would you advise going for standard thingies? (whatever they are called if they're not ceramic discs).
I don't understand the big price differences eg 1 set of Bristan taps £84 - another set that look quite similar to my untrained eye, £180. Why is this?

the bucket is to measure the amount of flow (litres per minute) you get.

Sometimes Bristal has clearance taps on their website. More fashionable ones are usually more expensive, as are the ones that are more complicated to make. IMO that doesn't make them better.

the ones that aren't ceramic are I suppose traditional taps with washers.

Anything with a quarter-turn lever will have a ceramic cartridge

the simplest, most reliable taps, with the best flow, that are easiest to maintain, are "Pillar Taps." These are the ones that aren't mixers. Good flow is especially important when filling a bath, otherwise it takes a long time. If you don't get good flow in the kitchen, it is unlikely to be better in the bathroom as you will be limited (mostly by the pipe size) by your incoming main, and the maximum rated flow of your boiler.

also try here they also have Grohe taps which are good but rather hi-tech

for example this one looks like a bargain, but a replacement ceramic cartridge will cost about £45.

Tap washers are about 10p

Replacement cartridges for some imports may be unobtainable, or very difficult.

Thank you PigletJohn for your helpful input.
Water flow is not a problem in kitchen so will stick with mixer type so that new taps can be fitted over existing single tap hole.
The links you've provided are useful.
I appreciate your help.

Again - the taps I really like are the 1901 Bristan single hole monobloc mixer.
On the Tap outlet site that you linked they are priced at £88.28p.
On the Bristan website, to my untrained eye, the exact same taps are £171!!!! - or am I missing something crucial?

It's quite common for plumbing things to be discounted - the trade places buy them in for a lot less than RRP.

I have a Bristan mono tap (Revolve) it's a nice tap. Bit of a pig to fit on Ikea ceramic sink but I think that was the fault of the sink hole being uneven.

I would personally go for a quarter turn lever tap for the kitchen because if you have dirty hands or hands full you can turn it on easily just by pushing it with the side of your hand. e.g. some version of this. You can find traditional-styled ones if you hunt around.

avoid cheap mixer taps as the seal on the swivel heads tend to have a short life and in many cases is not replaceable, best to stick to a pair of separate taps for ease of use and service if possible and avoid those horrible monoblock types.