#Sensate: Kohler s Touchless Kitchen Faucet

Take a moment and think about how many times a day you touch the kitchen faucet. Then think about how often your hands are messy or dirty when you do: you've got chicken juice dripping from your fingers, your hands are covered in flour from a vigorous bread kneading, or maybe your kids just came in from playing outside. If you've ever thought how convenient it would be to have a touchless faucet in the kitchen, then you should know. they do exist!

I recently heard about Sensate, Kohler's new touchless kitchen faucet, and while I haven't tried it out in person, I'm intrigued. To be honest, my associations with anything touchless have always involved a little bit of annoyance and lots of hand waving and re-positioning. (Case in point: airport bathroom faucets! I swear they only come on when I walk away.) So if that's the case with this faucet, I'm a little eh on the whole thing.

But apparently the technology on this thing is far superior to your average touchless gizmo. The sensor is built to respond in 20 milliseconds for a "truly touchless and intuitive use" that doesn't require hand waving or tapping. Just pass your hand through the activation area underneath the spout to start the water flowing.

See a video of Sensate in action here

As you can see in the video above, the activation area is strategically placed to make it easy to access when you want, but not so easy that you're likely to accidentally set it off. The faucet also features a pull-down spray-head, while the single lever you see is for adjusting the water temperature (which the faucet will remember the next time you turn it on).

All in all, I could see myself being convinced. (The $675 price tag, though, is another matter altogether.) What about you? Have you tried the Sensate, or another touchless faucet in the kitchen? What do you think about it?

(Images: Kohler)