You may have seen recently with our kitchen renovation/extension that we’ve finally had all of our appliances and mod cons fitted; one of which is an “all the rage” hot tap.
Despite us increasing our worktop space, most of this is made up of the island and we really don’t want to clutter it up more than we need to and the other worktop space is purely for the essentials and not unnecessary appliances – in this case, the kettle.
When Jamie’s parents installed their kitchen a few years ago, I remember it was the first time I’d seen a hot tap. I didn’t even know they actually existed and I was in awe. It was so simple but without a doubt an absolutely stylish and convenient appliance, and these days a lot of millennials are all about style, convenience and minimalism.
So, I think it goes without saying that when designing the kitchen and coming on to the conversation about appliances, one of the things we had both agreed on really early was that we’d like a hot tap. They’re perfect for busy households and with three children, one who would be a newborn when the work started, it seemed like a great idea to have tea on tap as it were.
I’d like to say it was easy choosing which one we’d go for but after a lot of research and deliberation we opted to go for the Abode Pronteau 3-in-1 Prostream. We were very lucky that after having conversations with Abode that we were gifted the tap in exchange for a review of the product and why we chose to go with this particular one. I’ve also asked on my Instagram stories for any questions people might have about the hot tap and hopefully I’ll cover everything here. It’s probably easier for me to break it down into sections, so here goes!
Why We Chose A Hot Tap
I think I’ve kind of answered this one above but I think the main reason is its versatility. Obviously, they’re not just used to make hot drinks. They’re great for when you don’t want to wait for a saucepan of water to heat up and they’re equally as brilliant when you need to sterilise a dummy quickly (speaking from a parent point of view here). The whole point of us doing this extension was so that we would have it as the ‘hub’ of the home which means having people round, and just being able to get the cuppas in without waiting for a kettle to boil is pretty nifty.
The tap has a 3-in-1 function which means it does the usual hot and cold water, as well as ‘close to boiling’ water. We also chose this over a kettle due to the safety features, which I’ll speak about a bit more below.
Does The Water Taste Different?
I think it’s important to know that it probably won’t taste like the water out of your kettle, especially if you’re using it a lot for tea and if you live in a hard water area like me. The water from the Pronteau Prostream is filtered and I’ll be honest and tell you the first cup of tea I had out of the hot tap was the most awful I’d ever tasted.
This was speedily rectified by tipping said cup of tea away and realising that we needed to flush the water through the filter first – so we ran it constantly for a couple of minutes (handy tip, you’re welcome) and it was instantly better!
Unlike water out of a kettle, when the water is poured over a teabag the strongest tends to sit at the bottom of the cup so make sure you give it a good stir.
When we’ve used it for cooking and sterilising we haven’t found that it affects the taste of the food whatsoever. It’s been incredibly helpful when we’ve needed to get food to plate quickly, especially for Milo who seems to really love pesto pasta!
How Efficient Is A Hot Tap?
I’ve had a lot of questions about this, and whether a hot tap is as cost efficient as they say and personally I think this is really subjective. It depends how much you’re going to use it and what you’re going to use it for. If you’re going to use it for one mug of tea a day, I’d probably not bother.
There’s the initial outlay of the tap, as well as installation. The cost of maintenance; if you’re going to spend out on something like a hot tap you really want to get the full life out of it. You’ll also need to change the filters and descale to keep the water at its best.
What Are The Safety Features?
Our whole kitchen has been designed around family life and making sure the boys are involved in as much as possible – whether that’s cooking, baking, washing up or just general pottering about. We want them to feel safe, as well as comfortable, and we’d like to be able to teach them independence in the kitchen without feeling like they always need an adult to do basic tasks.
We won’t be doing our kitchen again for quite a number of years so lots of little details have gone into the longevity of it, but with family in mind.
The first and most obvious safety feature on the tap is the hot tap handle. You have to push the handle in and quarter turn before any hot water is released. This is particularly handy if the children are at or around the sink – whether they’re helping to cook, wash up or you’ve popped them in for a sink bath. The handle otherwise won’t move.
The Pronteau 3-in-1 tap comes with an end of spout aerator meaning that the flow is splash free, which is again ideal if the children are around the sink and you’re using it. It also means you don’t get scalded when the hot water starts to flow.
The spout on this particular model is insulated which means it remains cool to the touch even after the hot water has been going through it. Ideal for grabby hands as we all know how fascinating spouts can be!
What Were The Alternative Options?
Other than a kettle there aren’t really other alternative options on the market that I can work out. There are other types of tap, such as the Pronteau 4-in-1 tap which also offers cold filtered water.
How Much Room Does The Boiler Take Up?
Much, much less than you think! My cleaning hub lives under the sink and there’s plenty of room for both all of my cleaning products and the boiler.
I was expecting it to be monstrous and to take up a lot of space but the Proboil 2 can either sit on the bottom of the shelf or it can be mounted if you wanted to keep it slightly up and out of the way.
What Colours/Designs Are There?
The Pronteau 3-in-1 comes in 3 styles and 5 finishes. We opted to go for the ProStream Monobloc in graphite. I felt that it would complement our kitchen nicely, and it would really set off the sink area. I did consider the copper as we have that featured in the kitchen but as the tap wasn’t going on the island, I thought it would stand out a bit too much with the rest of the colour scheme.
Is There Anything Else We Should Know?
There are a couple of things I’ve not mentioned yet. The first is that installation is probably best done by a plumber unless you’re particularly confident with sink waste and connecting everything up. An electrical socket is required for the boiler so you may well need to get something installed under your sink if you don’t have the facility already.
The second is that on this particular model of Proboil (2) you do need to calibrate the boiler and tap, and it can take a few goes to get it right. If the temperature is too high then water is pushed up and out of the spout and it drips momentarily. The temperature of the boiler is easily adjusted. In contrast the Proboil 3 self calibrates, and the Proboil 2 will follow suit when it’s upgraded next year.
Without a doubt we’ve made the best choice over a kettle. Don’t get me wrong, there’s always going to be something about putting the kettle on as telling the other half to “put the hot tap on” doesn’t have the same ring to it. Having said that, the form and function of this one fits perfectly into our life and is a very welcome addition.
On that note… I’m off to grab a cuppa. How do you have yours?
*I received this tap in return for this review. All views and opinions are my own. This collaboration was not paid.