GROHE 31608002 Blue Professional Kitchen Faucet Starter Kit, Starlight Chrome

As a custom home builder, we often get requests for sparkling water faucets. Despite the internet being plagued with negative reviews for this product, our client really wanted this unit. After installing the first unit and it not working, we spent hrs. with tech support. I finally returned for a replacement, direct through Amazon, as Grohe support was completely useless. We finally got the replacement up and running, and it worked for roughly a year. The unit began leaking and we started the whole process over again. Tech support is no good, warranty support is nonexistent, and worst of all, they will tell you one thing and then something else the next. The last we heard is they will send a replacement over 2 weeks ago and no response to 3 emails since then. This is after 9 emails, and 7 phone calls, each time with a different person on the phone and different excuse as to why it's not working. Their Tech support is reading a script, there is no knowledge of product. Clearly punting the issue for their plagued line. The units can't be serviced onsite by anyone, they only work half the time, when they break don't expect a replacement or any kind of knowledgeable, thoughtful support. My company will NEVER install another Grohe product.

1st unit came in a slightly damaged box and the chiller/carbonator panels were popping off. Popped it all back together installed by watching Grohe youtube video because of useless included directions. Lack of filter in the kit is puzzling given it seems to be requisite. Let it fill and drained well and then left it alone for hours. Got a few glasses of barely sparkling water and then it threw an E1 error code that I couldn't clear. Disconnected the outflow line from the filter and water was flowing freely and all the lines fine. Tried to setup exchange on web site with no luck but got into a web chat and although it took about 1/2 hr it got done and had the new machine in 2 days. Setup return with UPS on line and they charged me $9.90 for a home pickup, but compared to the other challenges I had no time to worry about that. Hoping it was just the chiller so started with that until piece by piece I installed all the new parts. Still seems a little finicky if I move the box at all it goes to E1 red light flashing in handle but water is heavy on the bubbles, cold and 8 hrs after install hasn't thrown an error code in a while. Connecting to app is a joke as it says the # on the blue wifi is the password but it wouldn't let me in. Annoying but not much of a loss as I find connected appliances to be an interesting gimmick but other than my connected thermostats pretty useless as the thrill is gone quickly. General comment, all the hoses are far too long which if one is not careful could certainly lead to kinks. I can't find the info on the settings on the filter housing so I guessed. Also, nowhere does it say what the CO2 pressure to the unit should be set at. Because we like highly carbonated water I turned it up high as the lower pressures didn't get the job done. That seems not to be a problem. Overall not really worth the money for the quality and complexity of the system but after all the time I have into the install I'm committed. It will probably take a few months to years to establish whether the real rating is a 5 or a 1. Certainly a conversation piece if we ever get to have friends over again and it is better than schlepping bottles from the store as long as it keeps working.Update:Installed replacement and been operating for 1 week. Already complained about the useless install manual. Once you watch YouTube video you will be relieved that install is easier than the manual makes it seem. 2 things lacking—no where could I find what the correct CO2 our line pressure. This is relevant because we like heavily carbonated water. If it’s set too high it throws the E1 error code. I slowly dropped the pressure to 60 lbs and it works great. Lastly, it boggles the mind that the filter holder is included in the kit but not the filter. Kind of ridiculous given it is necessary and the products price point. I would give a 4-5 now that it is finally functioning but the difficulties getting to this point requires deductions. Given the state of the world this item doesn’t make the top 100 priority list. This is just a friendly buyer beware review.

General Impressions: This was quite a splurge for me and my plan was to return it if I did not think it worth the money. This faucet has exceeded my expectations! I love it. Hands down the best thing I'd done to the house since I moved in. My worry that the seltzer was not going to meet my high expectations were unfounded. The chilled filtered water both still and sparkling taste great. I am constantly filling up my water bottle and drinking way more water than I ever did before. Great for entertaining and making cocktails too. I did the install myself as I am pretty handy and love these kinds of challenges. The plan was to give it a try and if I run into any problems I would call in a professional. For the most part if you look at the install videos on line and follow the instructions it's pretty straight forward but I did run into a few things I had to trouble shoot. Luckily I read one of the other reviews and saw that the cleaning step was not needed on install so I skipped that as I was unable to source the cleaning cartridge. I bought a filled 10lb CO2 tank which was a bit of an over kill, if I had to do it again I would have bought a 5lb one. Actually if I would have I would have bought the 2Lt cylinder that that Grohe recommends but could not source the one they make so had to make due with what I could buy at the local brewery supply store.Now to the Install: Everything went fine until installing the CO2 tank, The instructions gave no guidance on how to set the regulator and what the step down pressure should be. After some searching on line and scrutinizing the manual I found that the max pressure that the chiller can accept is 69.5psi so I set the step down pressure between 60 and 65 psi. You can dial it back but I wanted to make sure I had big bubbles in my sparkling water. The other thing that is still a mystery is during the set up process they ask for pipe length but do not specify anywhere what pipe they are referring to. I suspect it is the "pipe" from the chiller unit to where the water comes out of the faucet. This seems odd to me as it is a set length but I guess some installs might adjust the "pipe" length. I also suspect that the reason to specify is the unit flushes the line after one dispenses sparkling water and this is how it sets the flush time. All told it was fun project and I was able to install myself. They provide the needed fittings and pressure regulator in the kit so I did not have to go to the hardware store for anything.Operating: It took a little getting used to but operating this faucet is really easy. The only thing I was surprised by was the flush sequence after dispensing sparkling water. When you shut off the flow pull the glass out of the way so the flush is not into your glass of you will get diluted sparkling water. If that does not bother you and you don't want to wast water know that there will be a little more water that comes out into the glass once you hit stop.Overall I highly recommend this product. For me since I don't have filtered chilled water as part of my fridge and was in a market for a soda stream when I stumbled upon this it was worth it, especially as it comes in a compact form factor and does not take any more space on the counter than my old faucet did!

Machine for MacGyvers only. If you're intimidated by woodwork or plumbing or fiddling this is not for you.The reviews of this item from others were critical to getting the system to work. The directions from Grohe are super poor and incomplete. I would give this item a very low rating except for the fact that after many days of fiddling and several trips to hardware stores and reading reviews and more Amazon, it's an amazing game changing device to finally have working. I love it despite the hateful setup.Setting up requires craftsmanship. I used a skill saw and jigsaw and a drill to build the required platform. Why they put the heat exhaust in the bottom of the unit is mind boggling. The standard instructions require cutting into your cabinetry with the drill and jigsaw which didn't work for my cabinet's configuration. You've got to be comfortable with some cabinetry modification to use this machine.The Grohe filter is required in the basic setup but not included. I have an RO system in front of the Grohe so I skipped the Grohe filter. This was not easy because most under sink faucets have 3/8" compression fittings. The Grohe's hot water inlet takes the standard 3/8" compression fitting. The Grohe's cold water inlet takes what I think is 1/2" compression with a provided splitter from 3/8" to force you to use their filter. It took me some time in the hardware store to find fittings to get from my 1/4 John Guest RO outlet to the 1/2" compression inlet on the Grohe. Not easy. Most helpful was a universal dishwasher adapter kit at Lowe's. And plenty of teflon tape.RO water cannot hold any bubbles because all of the minerals have been removed. I had to add TWO remineralization filters to get decent bubbles. With zero filters I got zero bubbles. I actually thought I had nitrogen until I double checked. One filter helped a lot and I'm waiting on the second which other reviewers have said does the trick. Grohe helps with none of this in their instructions.The CO2 tank pressure is working for me at the max 69lbs pressure. The Grohe instructions say nothing about this critical setting.The unit makes some modest noise when its cooling unit runs but it's not horrible.It's a blessing to no longer be filling water bottles from the SodaStream, no longer trying to find a welding store to fill paintball cans, and to have bubbly water on tap 24/7. The bigger 5lb CO2 bottles are easy and cheap to exchange at any welding supply store. Don't be put off by the welding store, they give you the same CO2 they use for beer systems.Don't forget to use the easy to miss seal between the CO2 bottle and the CO2 regulator.

I love this machine when it's working, but there are two main issues I have with it.The first is the quality control. I'm on my third chiller unit already - Grohe has done two free replacements for me (their support has been great). Both of the first two units had an issue where they'd give a red blinking error light. The display would show E3 or E1. Sometimes rebooting the chiller fixed it (temporarily) and sometimes I'd have to keep it unplugged for a few days before it would work again. Possibly the CO2 pressure was too high (I had it set to around 90 at the high end and 60 on the low end), and in my experience some of the units can withstand higher pressure than others, which again points to uneven quality control. But with the defective units, turning the pressure down didn't resolve the red error problem. I saw somewhere on the internet that you shouldn't set it higher than 80psi but I saw no such documentation in the actual materials included with the unit.The second issue is the inconsistency of the level of carbonation. I live in a place with very soft water, which makes it more difficult to hold carbonation. I have never gotten the level of carbonation you'd get out of a bottle or can, which is expected, but it's also not consistent. Sometimes it's pretty bubbly and sometimes it's like a faint whisper of carbonation.This machine is a great concept but it needs a bit more fine-tuning. Maybe they'll work out the kinks with the next version.