Is Your Kitchen Tap Keeping Up With the Way You Live?

Boiling, chilled, filtered or sparkling water at the touch of a button — today’s kitchen tap can do considerably more than simply deliver hot and cold water. But which system is right for you?

The way we use our kitchens has changed.

They are no longer simply somewhere to prepare meals. For many of us, the kitchen is where the day begins, where we work, entertain, make coffee, fill water bottles, prepare family meals and gather with friends.

Quooker for Cooking, Not just for drinking!

So perhaps it is time we expected a little more from one of the most frequently used features in the room: the kitchen tap.

At Thomas Vaughan, we design, supply and install complete kitchens, and that means considering the details that make the finished space work beautifully in everyday life.

That includes instant boiling and filtered water systems.

Two of the leading options we can incorporate into a Thomas Vaughan kitchen are Quooker and Zip HydroTap.

And rather than asking “Which brand is best?”, we think there is a much more useful question:

Which system is best for the way you live?

There isn't necessarily one answer.

A couple renovating their forever home may have very different priorities from a busy family. Someone who regularly entertains may value chilled and sparkling water, while another client may simply want to remove the kettle from the worktop.

For an accessible kitchen, ease of operation and the positioning of controls may be particularly important.

That's why we look at the whole kitchen and the people using it before recommending a solution.

What could you replace?

For many households, the worktop gradually becomes home to a collection of appliances and bottles:

• The kettle

• Filter jugs

• Bottled water

• Sparkling water bottles or makers

• Water coolers

An integrated water system can potentially bring several of these functions together, freeing valuable worktop space and making everyday tasks more convenient.

Quooker

Quooker is perhaps best known for delivering 100°C boiling water directly from the tap.

Depending on the Quooker configuration selected, the system can provide regular hot and cold water alongside boiling water. Add the Quooker CUBE and the system can also dispense filtered chilled and sparkling water.

For many of our residential kitchen clients, its combination of simplicity, design and everyday convenience makes Quooker an attractive option.

Morning coffee, cooking pasta, blanching vegetables or making a pot of tea can all become part of a much more streamlined kitchen routine.

Zip HydroTap

Zip Water takes the concept in another direction.

Depending on the HydroTap model and configuration, Zip can provide combinations of filtered boiling, chilled and sparkling water, with all-in-one models also capable of providing conventional hot and cold water.

For clients particularly interested in chilled filtered drinking water, sparkling water or more specialised requirements, it gives us another excellent option to consider.

Zip also offers HydroTap models specifically designed with accessibility in mind, including remote controllers with large convex controls, illuminated buttons and positioning options intended to make operation easier for wheelchair users and people with limited dexterity or visual impairment.

ZIP - HydroTap delivers the ultimate drinking water experience, so you can always experience water at its best, right from the comfort of your home.

Accessibility should be considered from the beginning

This is particularly important to us at Thomas Vaughan.

A beautiful kitchen isn't successful if it doesn't work comfortably for the people who use it.

When designing an accessible or future-ready kitchen, we can consider much more than the appearance of the tap itself.

Its position, reach, controls, worktop height, sink location and the abilities of the person using the kitchen can all influence the specification.

This is also where having a choice of systems becomes valuable.

Rather than automatically specifying a particular brand, we can look at what the client actually needs and incorporate the most appropriate solution into the wider kitchen design.

What about sustainability?

Convenience shouldn't automatically mean greater waste.

One of the everyday advantages of instant systems is being able to dispense the water you need rather than routinely filling and boiling a kettle.

Filtered chilled water at the tap may also help households reduce their reliance on bottled drinking water.

Both manufacturers have developed technologies intended to improve the efficiency of their systems, but the right specification will depend on how the household uses water and which functions are genuinely required.

Our approach is therefore simple: don't specify technology simply because it is available. Specify it because it makes the kitchen work better.

Quooker or Zip — which would we recommend?

Potentially either.

And that's important.

Thomas Vaughan isn't designing a kitchen around a tap manufacturer.

We're designing it around you.

You might prioritise:

100°C boiling water

Quooker may immediately appeal.

Boiling, chilled and sparkling filtered water

Both brands have solutions worth considering.

Accessible controls

Certain Zip HydroTap configurations introduce some particularly interesting possibilities.

A minimalist kitchen

Either system could help reduce the number of appliances and bottles sitting on your worktops.

A particular finish or aesthetic

We can consider the tap alongside handles, worktops, sinks, appliances and the rest of the kitchen specification.

The decision becomes part of the complete design rather than an isolated product purchase.

It's the little things that change how a kitchen feels

A beautifully designed kitchen isn't only about cabinetry, worktops and appliances.

Often, it is the small decisions that you appreciate every single day.

Making a cup of tea without waiting for the kettle.

Filling a pan directly from the tap.

Pouring a glass of chilled filtered water.

Having sparkling water ready when friends arrive.

Or simply removing another appliance from the worktop.

These are relatively small details individually. Together, they can make a kitchen feel considerably easier and more enjoyable to use.

Discover the right solution for your kitchen

At Thomas Vaughan, we provide a complete design, supply and installation service.

Quooker and Zip systems can be considered as part of your overall kitchen design, allowing us to look at the tap, sink, cabinetry, worktops, electrics and plumbing together rather than treating them as separate decisions.

So the question isn't simply:

“Should I choose Quooker or Zip?”

It's:

“What do I want my kitchen to do for me?”

Once we know that, we can help design the right solution.

Design. Supply. Install.