BathVerdict compares basin, kitchen and shower taps, shower systems and heads, toilet seats and flush valves, basins, wastes and traps, mirrors, cabinets and vanity units — and the angle valves, hoses, silicone and spares bought a week later — across forty-seven categories and five language editions. We are a small independent editorial operation, not a retailer, not a brand, and not a media group.
We write about what carries and drains water in a bathroom or on a sink, and only about that. We do not cover baths, shower trays, enclosures or complete toilets, because those references are national: the same model sells on separate catalogues country by country, and a link that works in one market is dead in three others. We also leave out water heaters and electric towel rails, whose power and wiring make them regulated installation work, along with pressure washers and steam cleaners, ventilation, and grab rails and accessibility fittings, where a bad recommendation has physical consequences. What is left is the fitting you can change yourself in an afternoon.
One claim runs through this subject more sharply than any other, so we state it outright. A flow rate without a pressure is not a figure. The same shower head is honestly 9 l/min at 3 bar and about 5 l/min at 1 bar, and a listing prints the first one. We write the pressure exactly as the maker publishes it, we say when the maker does not publish it, and we never convert one into the other. The same restraint applies to a "water saving" claim, which describes a restrictor rather than a saving; to the 38 °C stop on a thermostatic mixer, which is a detent and not a safety device; and to the word "chrome", which describes a plating and says nothing about the metal underneath.
Every figure here is reported from the manufacturer that published it, named on the page where it appears, and never worked out by us. We are not a testing laboratory. And two things on this site are stated flatly rather than softened: the 38 °C stop on a thermostatic mixer is a mechanical detent you can push past, not a scald-prevention device; and a water softener treats limescale and is not a health product. Every page that touches either says so and sends you to the maker's instructions and to the rules that apply where you live.
How the site is funded
Every "Check price" button on this site is an affiliate link to Amazon. If you buy something after following one, Amazon pays us a commission. The price you pay is identical either way.
We think you should know the shape of that incentive rather than just its existence. Amazon pays a percentage of the sale, so in principle we earn more when you buy something expensive. Three things push against that:
- Nothing is ordered by what it pays. No shelf here is ordered by commission: we never look up which reference pays best, and a shelf runs by price tier and by nothing else. Where a cheap accessory is the right answer, it goes first.
- Price and usefulness are not the same thing. Some of the things we recommend most firmly cost under twenty euros — a pair of angle valves with a filter, a two-euro aerator that restores a tap everyone thought was finished, a deeper trap in a bathroom that smells. And unscrewing a trap clears more blockages than any bottle of drain opener does.
- Nobody pays us for placement. We have never accepted payment, product or otherwise, in exchange for a position in a ranking. If that ever changes, it will be labelled on the page, not in a footer.
What we do not do
We do not run sponsored posts. We do not publish "top 10" lists assembled from other people's reviews. We do not rank by commission value, by conversion rate, or by what is in stock this week.
We also do not sell by specification. A bigger number makes effective copy and poor advice, and a page built on the figure printed largest tends to close by recommending the most expensive thing on it. Every verdict here names what it rests on: the specifications and manuals, the standards a format actually defines, and the weight of what long-term owners consistently report. Where a judgement leans on one of those more than the others, the review says which.
Corrections
Prices move, models get replaced, ranges are renamed, and manufacturers quietly change a cartridge, a seal or the finish on a range. If something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it and say what changed. Every page carries the date it was last reviewed.
Last reviewed 4 September 2026