Shaker Thumbs

Shaker Thumbs is your opportunity to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to a product or service you have used and that you'd recommend to other Shakers or warn them away from.

Today, I'm going to give a big ol' thumbs-up to Moen's MotionSense Touchless Faucets!

We had to replace our old kitchen faucet at the beginning of this year, and I really wanted to get a hands-free faucet, with all the cooking and baking we do, because: 1. I wash my hands a million times while I'm cooking, especially if I'm handling raw meat, so I was constantly contaminating and compulsively washing the faucet handle; and 2. Iain was leaving bits of dough behind on the faucet, just inadvertently missing them when he cleaned after he baked, which had often hardened and become more difficult to clean later.

And it was a lot easier to just get a hands-free faucet than for either one of us to change our habits, lol! So when I found one on a great sale at Costco, we grabbed it.

I loved it immediately, but I wanted to use it for a good long while before I recommended it, since our plumber told us when he was installing it that hands-free faucets can be kinda crappy. So, we've been using it for about six months now, and I still love it!

It works with a battery pack under the sink, and there are two sensors: On the front, at the base, there is a sensor that turns on the water, and keeps it on, as long as your hands (or a pot, or whatever) are in front of it, and when you move away, the water goes off. On the top, there is a sensor over which you can wave your hand, and the water just stays on until you wave your hand over it again. (Or until it senses no activity and then turns itself off after a minute or so.) Plus there's the regular old handle mechanism, which turns the water on and off and adjusts pressure and temperature.

[Content Note: Image of creepy-crawly] The sensors are very sensitive, lol.

My only complaint about it is that it's spoiled me, so now I just hold my hands under every damn faucet like a doofus expecting it to come on!

Actually, I do have one real complaint: The hose extension is a little shorter than I'd prefer.

If you're someone who does a lot of cooking or baking, it's a real godsend. For doughy hands especially! And I expect it might be very useful if you've got any little hands in the house that belong to little people who have trouble reaching the faucet — or trouble remembering to turn off the faucet.

It's pricier than a basic faucet for sure, but it's cheaper than replacing your entire kitchen floor because someone forgot to turn off the water and flooded the kitchen, which happened to a coworker of mine many years ago. It still haunts me! LOL.

Anyway! Give us your thumbs-up or thumbs-down in comments!

(As always, I'm not affiliated in any way with any of the companies whose products I mention, nor am I getting anything in exchange for my recommendations. I just like the products!)