What Kind of Taps Are Good for Laundry Troughs?

Handles

• Because you’re immersing your hands in slippery, soapy water, you need a way of gripping the handles without your fingers slipping. A good grip gets that quickly shuts off water prevents waste. Laundry trough taps often have flaps sticking out from the center that resemble handles or levers.

Low Faucet Spout

• Sink faucets with high-arching spouts can bump into low shelving hanging over the laundry trough. This not only damages the shelving and faucet surface, but also can make moving the faucet difficult if the shelves stick out far enough. Laundry trough faucets usually have a low spout that doesn’t arch up very high.

Long Faucet Spout

• In addition to a low spout arch, the spout must be long enough so that you aren’t crammed into the corner of the tub when rinsing something under running water. A regular sink faucet that extends out only a few inches would mean anything you wanted to rinse must be balled up in the corner, and the extra space in the tub is wasted.

Matching Entry Point

• Laundry trough faucets come in different attachment styles. Aubuchon Hardware notes one sits on top of the sink’s back, while another attaches to the wall. This is similar to the older kitchen faucets found in homes from the 1920s or 1930s. It’s not unusual to misread an item description or neglect checking how the faucet attaches, so check that the one you choose matches the trough style you’re installing. Most companies include or sell matching faucets, but if you are picking up a used sink, you might not get a faucet with it.