Received this product from Amazon, and, as usual, shipping & packaging were excellent. The stream function squirted water willy-nilly which, after a while, drove me crazy. (screens were clean) I did not want to contact Amazon to return the item after I had installed it so I chose to call Kohler for recommendations. They immediately sent me a new head – no muss, no fuss!! Works great. I love the style of this faucet and the way the head is so easy to move around. Resolve was wonderful and this faucet works great.
Rating: 5 / 5

We have an old cast iron sink with a high backsplash and narrow, beveled deck. This limits us to a faucet with a thin base and forward-facing controls, so the 647 was a good fit. There are actually two versions of this faucet, the 647 here and the smaller 649.

Now, I had originally purchased the 649. It was very easy to install and the control works great. However, when I decided to clean it, my sponge started catching on little burrs. I then ran my bare hand over the surface and found little nicks on the neck, and for a closer visual inspection I found a divot where the chrome had not fully plated. Perhaps this is a natural feature of chrome plating? Well, I found it bothersome that I could actually catch my nail on the burrs, so I set to return the 649. Since it was installed already, and I didn’t have another faucet to hold its place, I ordered another in the meantime, but the bigger 647 instead.

I figured, OK, big brother version should be better quality because it’s more common. The first thing I did after opening the box was run my hand over the arch and, horrors, it was worse than the first one. A LOT worse, like someone sprinkled small metal shavings on it. This one goes straight back and I decide to give it one more go. The third faucet was the worst of all. Not only did it have the burr issue, it had the appearance of rough handling. There were lacerations on the arch, odd rectangular dents on the base, the threaded post that holds it to the deck was partly crimped, and there were fingerprints. The box had a Kohler seal on it, but it sure had the appearance of a customer return.

Anyway, at this point I lost all faith, and I sent the second 647 back and decided to just deal with the blemished, though MUCH less so, 649. Another curiosity is that the 649 (smaller) faucet still had lubricant at the ball joint for the sprayer, whereas the 647s were dry.

So, the 649 is installed and staying, and we like it a lot. There are a couple of design items I might change:

- The interior rim of the neck where the spray hose rubs against should be smoother/rounder. It feels a little abrasive when pulling the hose out any length.
- The tubular O-ring of the faucet’s base-to-deck is small, barely higher than the rectangular groove it seats in, and much less wide. A fair amount of water will get trapped in there, leading of course to grime. Some goop might be the answer.

Rating: 3 / 5