Asklemmy

Very very little. Some will have vaguely nice functional upgrades, like the spray hose being integrated into the faucet opening, a button to temporarily change the flow limiter for more power, integrated soap dispenser or things like that, but you're almost always paying mostly for particular aesthetics.

Oh, and some come with under sink hardware. A normal faucet that comes with a nice water filter or a near-boiling water dispenser can reasonably cost a fair bit more, assuming you want those things.

At one point in my life I designed bathrooms and kitchens. I've sold thousands of faucets. Here's a few points on regular retail faucets in the US.

Expensive faucets, you are paying for the design (Grohe), or for quality parts (Kohler).

Cheap faucets are made with cheap parts and are often old designs from major brands. These knock-offs are sold under store brand names usually (Aquasource/Lowes, Glacier Bay/Home Depot) and are made of cheap plastic. Avoid these unless you plan on replacing (rentals).

If you buy Grohe, don't buy a US made model. Another company paid to use the name and 'style' in the US but the interior parts are cheap plastic bits and some things are modified to reduce the cost of manufacturing. Not worth the extra money they charge.

For most people I recommend sticking to the big names. Moen, Delta, Kohler, etc. They come with good warranties and parts are available everywhere.

You can still find really neat old faucets and repair them. Chicago, Price Pfister, Eljer had some good stuff back in the day and you can get new parts from Danco.

Cause what are you going to do; not have a faucet?

Because that is what people are willing to pay for them.

A lot of those types of goods are priced extremely high compared to the actual cost to manufacture. Lighting is another example of this. You are paying for the design and brand in many cases even though they aren't built better or with better materials compared to a more moderately priced faucet. High end faucets do have some more expensive components in them than cheaper ones. For example, orings are replaced by ceramic cartridges that feel better. Those changes maybe account for a couple dollars of manufacturing cost though.

It can be frustrating knowing how much stuff costs to manufacture, so often I look at items like this and get frustrated because I know the manufacturer is selling for >10x what it cost to make.

The brand name is the only difference. Much like slapping nike and gucci 10xes the price of clothes.

The industry is highly monopolized. The cheap stuff is accordingly worse and the okay stuff can set high prices.

Fashion. Same reason we don't have standardized flashlights, knives, shoes, toilets, etc.

As with most of these things it is pricing based on value.

• Contractor is often fixing or building and cares a lot about the price.
• Most other purchases are during renovations so a luxury expense and relatively speaking the faucet will be a small part of that, so it is easy to milk these people for money.

domestic water pressure varies around 30-80 PSI. Faucet has to deal with smoothly managing that pressure at all times (on 2 lines) while allowing selective amounts out daily for years.

The $12 ones on Ali Express will leak and break within a year. That $60 Kohler faucet may go 10 years before you need to replace a washer and 20 years with no issues before it gets replaced. Kohler faucets also have a limited lifetime warranty against leaks. I assume other higher end manufacturers offer something similar.

When measured against the expected use it's a pretty good bargain unless you get one that's super fancy with unnecessary add ons.

"Good enough", Demand, and Scale.

The contractor grade stuff is designed to be durable and good enough. Most people will find it attractive and suitable for their esthetic. Seasonal re-designs are safe by following design trends established at trade shows. Contractors can rely on the product not failing so they continue to buy it for all their projects.

The fancy stuff is often made for different countries and can have different parts and specifications. If more (assuming we're talking about America here) people wanted this stuff, the manufacturing would increase and the costs would come down. However, a lot of times the reason people buy the expensive stuff is specifically because it's bespoke and "hand crafted". If a Gucci bag cost $50, it wouldn't be worth the name.

You need demand to bring down costs. This increases the scale required and ability to afford better technology to make more.

The tools needed to manufacturer something at large scale are expensive. If you house your own tools, how are you going to buy those tools if you don't have money to buy them? If you're going to contract manufacturing, why would a manufacturer make you something for little money when they can use their facility to make exponentially more widgets for another company? Just swapping out a die on a machine costs money. They're not going to disrupt existing manufacturing for a few hundred widgets.