Today's faucets are designed to survive very harsh conditions, including thousands of on-off cycles every year and hard water mineral build-up, and still give year after year of flawless service. And, if it does break, a faucet is usually designed to be serviced by simply replacing the defective parts — typically a screwdriver operation — without first having to uninstall the faucet.

Modern finishes are unlikely to flake or tarnish. Modern faucet plating and coating processes, including elec­tron beam physical vapor deposition — a process that is almost science fiction — can imitate anything: brass, nickel, pewter, even silver and gold. Epoxy coatings can keep that new finish looking new for a long time, with proper care.

Faucet valves rarely leak. Ceramic cartridge technologies have almost entirely banished the midnight drip, drip, drip. But, some of the best faucets still use older, tried and true, technologies that are proven to work well. These may require periodic maintenance, not an onerous or difficult task. For the old house purists, these are often the favored technologies. But, for the rest of us, the newer almost-no-maintenance ceramic technology is a better choice.