7 Best Touchless Kitchen Faucets for a Stylish Smart Faucet Upgrade
By Mikael Short
April 6, 2022
A touchless kitchen faucet needs the least amount of handholding of all the faucets. Literally.
A touchless kitchen faucet—also known as a sensor kitchen faucet—creates an efficient, convenient, and hygienic sink experience where all you have to do is wave your hand or give a voice command for water to pour through. Your touchless faucet can even let you change temperature and pour specific water amounts from a distance!
Ready for this smart kitchen faucet upgrade? Here are some of the best touchless kitchen faucets on the market from trusted brands like Delta, Kohler, and more:
Best Overall
✅ Batteries and Outlet Required
✅ Touch and voice-activation
✅ DIAMOND Seal leak protection
✅ Sleek Modern Design
Runner-Up
✅ Batteries and Outlet Required
✅ Touch and voice-activation
✅ DIAMOND Seal leak protection
✅ LED light temperature warning
Most Budget-Friendly
✅ Battery or AC operated
✅ Motion sensor
✅ Never leak guarantee Pforever Seal
✅ 3 function sprayhead
Best Modern
✅ AC-powered - No batteries needed
✅ Motion sensor
✅ Efficient Sweep Spray technology
✅ Magnetic docking
Best Eco-Friendly
✅ AC-powered - no batteries needed
✅ Motion sensor
✅ 3 spray settings
✅ Magnetic docking
Most Versatile
✅ Batteries and Outlet Required
✅ Touch and voice-activated
✅ Magnetic docking
✅ Mess-free SheildSpray Technology
Best Traditional
✅ Batteries and Outlet Required
✅ Touch and voice-activation
✅ DIAMOND Seal leak protection
✅ Sleek Modern Design
Touchless Kitchen Faucets: FAQ
What is a touchless kitchen faucet?
A touchless kitchen faucet is much like the name suggests: you can start the flow of water without physically touching the faucet or handles at all. They’re also known as motion sensor kitchen faucets or hands-free kitchen faucets.
Standard kitchen faucets require handling to turn on the water, sometimes from two handles, to manage flow and temperature. Faucets turned on with a single touch anywhere on the spout (touch-on faucets) create more efficiency in the kitchen. And the touchless kitchen faucet requires no touch at all to get water flowing!
For touchless or motion sensor kitchen faucets, you may have to set the single lever or handle to your ideal temperature, and then you can wave your hand or object in front of a sensor to trigger the flow mechanism.
How do touchless or hands-free kitchen faucets work?
Within touchless faucets are sensors that pick up when something moves directly in front of it. Different technologies achieve this, from infrared light beams, ultrasonic field sensors, and others to trip the activation mechanism and make water flow.
These sensors aren’t designed to pick up touch, though some models may also have touch sensors within the spout too.
Each brand of faucet likely has their own version of this technology to ensure accidental activations don’t occur as often, as well as other benefits.
(Note that many touchless faucets can also be used in manual mode like a traditional faucet.)
How long do touchless faucets last?
Touchless faucets are built to work with batteries or A/C electricity. Batteries may need to be replaced or recharged over time, on average every 3-5 years, whereas A/C adaptors will keep your touchless faucet operating for a long time so long as the power is on.
Some models will have an LED light to indicate when the battery needs to be changed, so you know when the battery is low.
Are touchless faucets worth it?
Touchless faucets tend to run more expensive than traditional faucets, which could turn people off from purchasing them.
Here are a few things that make touchless faucets a worthy investment for your kitchen sink:
✅ More Hygienic & Sanitary
To wash your hands, you have to use your dirty hands to turn the knobs to wash up. Imagine handling eggs or raw meat and then having to use those same hands to turn the knobs to turn on the sink to wash your hands… That contamination could lead to illness in another person.
Touchless faucets are much more hygienic and minimize cross-contamination between users since no one has to touch the faucet to use it. It lessens the spread of germs and grime, which also means your faucet will stay cleaner longer and require less frequent cleaning overall—In order words, the faucet can maintain itself for a long time.
✅ Water Conservation
Touchless faucets are built with low flow rates and often prevent leaks with quality materials. Many touchless faucets also have a built-in auto-off feature after 2-4 minutes, depending on the model, which can help save water.
With the manual temperature lever, the temperature can be set to your preference, so you don’t have to worry about water warming up or cooling down, which also saves water from running while you wait for the desired temperature. Plus, when you save water, you also save money on your water bill.
✅ Convenience & Accessibility
Touchless faucets are incredibly convenient to use by minimizing the amount of movement and time needed to turn the water on. It’s also easier to avoid scalding or freezing temperatures since you can preset a chosen temperature, or look at a “smart” LED light that indicates where the temperature is set.
Plus, it’s easy for everyone to use, from grandpa down to the little kids who wouldn’t be able to reach the handles. They are also ADA compliant and beneficial for folks with physical challenges.
So, what kind of hands-free faucets do we recommend? See below!
Top 7 Touchless Kitchen Faucets
1. Best Touchless Kitchen Faucet: Delta Trinsic Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet in Arctic Stainless with Touch and Voice Control
Model Number: 9159TV-AR-DST
The Delta Trinsic’s smooth sophistication makes it a beautiful “smart” addition to your kitchen. Featuring both Delta’s VoiceIQ and Touch20 tech, the Trinsic touchless pull-down kitchen faucet is the best of both worlds where you can voice command your sink or touch anywhere on the spout to operate.
The VoiceIQ tech links to your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant for voice commands to your kitchen faucet. With voice activation, you can turn the water on and off, pour specific amounts, and warm up the water. A handy hand-washing feature provides the correct timing for lathering, scrubbing, or rinsing for optimal hygiene and cleanliness. So there are no surprises, the TempSense LED light on the side will indicate what the water temperature is.
The DIAMOND Seal Technology ensures no leaks, easier installation, and a longer lifespan. It’s also easy to clean the Touch-Spray spray holes with just a swipe of your finger!
Installation Requirements: 6AA/6C batteries or A/C electricity adaptor (included). For insulation and continued operation of VoiceIQ Technology, a wall outlet underneath the sink that is not controlled by a switch is required.
Available Finishes: Matte Black, Champagne Bronze, Chrome
Model Number: 9113TV-AR-DST
The Delta Essa is comparable in nearly every way to the Delta Trinsic when it comes to sophisticated touchless voice activation and touch control. But where the Delta Trinsic has a sleek, seamless silhouette, the Essa offers a softer profile with a thicker base and spout.
Like Delta’s other voice control kitchen faucets, this Delta Essa model can integrate with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant so you can turn on your faucet from a distance and even ask your faucet to change the temperature or pour a specific amount of water.
The Delta Essa also includes Touch20 tech, allowing you to turn on your faucet by tapping the spout. Though this technology isn’t “touchless” per se, Delta’s Touch20 still offers a more convenient, hygienic kitchen faucet experience. Paired with Delta’s TempSense LED light—which indicates the water’s temperature so there are no surprises!—and your kitchen is that much smarter with just one faucet upgrade!
Installation Requirements: 6AA/6C batteries or A/C electricity adaptor (included). For insulation and continued operation of VoiceIQ Technology, a wall outlet underneath the sink that is not controlled by a switch is required.
Available Finishes: Arctic Stainless
3. Most Budget-Friendly Touchless Faucet: Pfister Stellen Touchless Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet in Polished Chrome
Model Number: LG529-ESAC
A modern and ADA-accessible stainless steel faucet is meant to mold to your modern and contemporary kitchen designs with ease. The elegant forward handle design provides ergonomic function and is handy where space behind the faucet might be limited. It’s also on the more moderately priced scale compared to other hands-free faucets.
Built with a Pforever Seal, an advanced ceramic disk valve that has a never-leak guarantee. With three settings in the spray head, you can handle any task in your kitchen sink.
Installation Requirements: Battery or A/C plug
Available Finishes: Polished Chrome, Stainless Steel, Matte Black
Model Number: K-72218-CP
The beautifully streamlined profile of the Kohler Sensate, befitting any modern design, makes this intuitive faucet even “smarter.” Kohler’s Response® technology makes it easier than ever to wave your hand or a utensil to get the water going—just look at the LED light to know you’re good to go touch-free!
This Kohler touchless kitchen faucet also features two spray options, including Kohler’s new sweep spray to make clean up easier while the DockNetik magnetic docking system holds the spout head in place.
Installation Requirements: A/C electricity
Available Finishes: Polished Chrome, Vibrant Stainless, Oil-rubbed Bronze
5. Best Eco-Friendly Touchless Faucet: Kohler Crue Touchless Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet in Polished Chrome
Model Number: K-22974-CP
Featuring a simple and sophisticated silhouette, the Kohler Crue touchless kitchen faucet fits a contemporary style that can easily transition in any kitchen design. Its high-arch spout offers plenty of vertical clearance for tall cookware and pitchers. It is one of the more water-efficient touchless faucets with a 1.5 gpm flow rate. Just a wave of your hand, object, or utensil, and the state-of-the-art Response® motion sensor provides reliable touchless activation.
With added Boost technology, you can increase the flow rate by 30% with the press of a button for enhanced ring spray or more powerful cleaning. DockNetic’s magnetic docking system also securely locks the spray head into place when not in use.
The pull-down spray head is also super easy to use thanks to ProMotion technology’s light, quiet braided hose and swivel ball joint. This faucet also features MasterClean sprayface, an easy-to-clean surface that resists mineral buildup.
Installation Requirements: AC electricity
Available Finishes: Polished Chrome (in touchless or voice-activated)
6. Most Versatile Touchless Faucet: Delta Leland Voice-Activated Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet in Arctic Stainless
Model Number: 9113TV-AR-DST
This sleek touchless faucet isn’t just beautiful, it’s the ultimate smart faucet.
The Delta VoiceIQ technology connects the faucet to your connected home device assistant (Alexa, Google, etc.) to perform any water task, from filling the coffee pot or dog dish to dispensing exactly two cups of water and more to make your life easier at the kitchen sink.
It also has a handwashing feature that provides the perfect time to clean your hands. Another smart feature is the TempSense LED light to indicate the temperature of the water so there are no surprises (cold blue, to magenta, to red hot).
The faucet spout also has touch activation available as well. Touch anywhere on the spout with your wrist or forearm to start and stop the flow of water, or use the single handle manually. The intuitive Touch20 technology can sense the difference between a touch and a grab, reducing the chances of false activation. When you’re done, the MagnaTite Docking snaps and locks your faucet spray head in place securely without drooping over time.
The variety of finishes makes this a versatile and fun faucet to style in your kitchen.
Installation Requirements: 6AA/6C batteries, or A/C Adapter (6AA & A/C adaptor included). For insulation and continued operation of VoiceIQ Technology, a wall outlet underneath the sink that is not controlled by a switch is required.
Available Finishes: Arctic Stainless, Spotshield Stainless, Venetian Bronze, Chrome
Model Number: K-29709-VS
For those with a more traditional style, this gorgeous touchless Kohler kitchen faucet can hit the right notes while not sacrificing functionality or convenience. It combines the vintage style with state-of-the-art Response® technology for an easy, reliable, and hygienic sink experience with just a wave of your hand or an object for touch-free activation.
The three-function pull-down spray head has you covered for a range of tasks: BerrySoft spray for easy food prep, an aerated stream for filling pots, and a powerful sweep spray for cleaning.
Installation Requirements: A/C electricity
Available Finishes: Vibrant Stainless, Polished Chrome (With Voice & Touchless)
Conclusion
You can go hands free when it comes to taking care of business in your kitchen sink by investing in a touchless kitchen faucet. Whether voice-activated or motion censored, a touch-free faucet will guarantee a cleaner, convenient, and more efficient sink for your home.