Quooker Fusion Round: should you buy this great looking boiling water tap?

The Quooker Fusion Round review in a sentence: a brilliant design, quality components and impressive performance that dispenses lots of true 100ºC boiling water.

A boiling water tap is just that, an all-in-one design that can deliver instant hot water effortlessly. There’s no need to boil the kettle and, if you’re cooking, you can speed up the process by filling a pan with as much of the hot stuff as you need. The boiling water tap therefore makes a lot of sense, but they can be expensive to buy and in many cases require specialist installation in your kitchen.

Quooker is known for producing some of the best boiling water taps on the market. These premium boiling water taps are brilliantly convenient because you can get as much or as little hot water as you need, which can reduce wastage over time. The big difference with Quooker is that they use their own vacuum flask tank design, which means you get 'proper' hot water, served at 100ºC boiling point. Rivals often only provide water in the 95-98ºC range, which is not quite the same, especially if you want a proper cup of tea.

Quooker Fusion Round review: price and availability

The Quooker Fusion Round is not cheap, as such. It's £1,000 in the UK, plus installation costs. Once you’ve got the tap and it’s in situ, Quooker reckons it costs just 3 pence a day to keep the tap on standby. A replacement filter currently costs around £30 in the UK, although you can get your tap serviced by Quooker for £150 when they'll also check over the other component parts in the system. 

As far as we can see it is not available to consumers in the USA or Australia.

Choosing the best boiling water tap is much the same as picking a conventional kitchen tap. In other words, you’ll need to purchase it and then plumb it in, but there’s more to it than simply unbolting the old one and making the switch. 

Therefore, you might find it easier to have a professional install it for you – that’s something to factor in when you’re looking at costs. On top of that, the tap will need to have its filter replaced, which is between three and five years depending on usage and whether or not it's subjected to hard water.

Quooker Fusion Round review: design

The Quooker Fusion Round is manufactured in the Netherlands and the design is simple, stylish and classic. It’s certainly well made and, along with looking the business, boasts a reassuringly heavyweight feel prior to installation. If you live in an area of hard water, where limescale is prevalent, then you’ll know just how robust taps have to be in order to stave off the debilitating effects of that white crustiness. Having a tap made from quality materials helps and the Quooker looks like a capable piece of kit.

Quooker also builds its products with sensible Dutch practicality in mind, so you can select a tank size that suits your requirements. There are other options too, which add to the appeal with added extras like a soap dispenser or, in our case, the much-needed scale control being two essentials. A mounting bracket is also likely to be required, although it very much depends on your kitchen and how you expect to use the tap.

Boiling water taps often use a small boiler that is mounted under your countertop, or in the direct vicinity of the outlet. Quooker takes a slightly different tack with a vacuum flask tank design. This is unique to the brand and keeps your water in pressurized conditions inside a concealed tank. The extra benefit of this design is that water is kept at 110°C, which means once you dispense the hot water for your cup of tea or whatever it might be, it’s 100°C on the nose.

Considering this boiling water tap is aimed at the style-conscious it also comes in a range of other colours aside from standard chrome. Lookout for the brushed chrome edition, a stainless steel number, or black and gold variants if you’ve got a kitchen that can do them justice. Quooker does also produce a square edition of this tap too, if you need a more angular design to compliment the surroundings.

Quooker Fusion Round review: set up

Buying the Quooker Fusion Round is one thing, but you’ll need to spend some time installing it, or ideally get a professional to do it for you. Someone who specializes in boiling water tap installations can probably get the job done faster and more efficiently than a plumber who has never clapped eyes on one before. It’s as simple as that really.

You’ll need to give it some thought beforehand too as the Quooker setup requires that there’s space for the tank, which will need to go under your worktop and remain close to the tap. It also needs a 13-amp power socket, plus access to your waste pipe. A cold water supply is also required, and that needs to be within 500mm of the tap itself. One other essential is the incoming cold water pressure has to be a minimum of 2 bar.

Usefully, Quooker has published fitting requirement details on its website, which means you can crosscheck the space you have with their dimensions. You definitely don't want to start installing one and then realize it's not going to fit, especially if you’re going to be drilling holes in prized kitchen units, worktops and other surfaces.

According to the company, the Quooker PRO3 tank requires 400mm of height space and is 150mm in diameter. The Quooker PRO3E tank requires 450mm of height space and is 150mm in diameter. The Quooker PRO7 and Combi 2.2 tanks require 470mm of height space and are 200mm in diameter. The Quooker PRO7E and Combi 2.2E tanks require 520mm of height space and are 200mm in diameter. Which one you choose depends on how much use you expect to get from the tap.

Quooker Fusion Round review: online reviews

There’s no doubt that the Quooker Fusion Round is one of the best boiling water taps on the market. You just need to look at its user reviews. At Appliance House it has an average rating of 4.9 out of 5, with users applauding its looks and performance.

Appliance House's customers are not the most loquacious of critics, bless them, but one user seems to sum Quooker up well by saying, "Expensive but well made. Instructions for installation a little vague but we got there in the end." Other users praised the quiet operation, and everyone naturally likes the fact that water is dispensed at boiling point.

Over at Amazon, people also seem to have few words to say about Quooker's tap, but 83% of them rate it 5 stars. The sole note of warning is the enigmatic line "The hot and cold water dispensed could be better." But even that user gives it 3 stars and calls it a, "great, time saving tap."

The hot water is dispensed in an aerated spray fashion. Given the heat of the water this makes a lot of sense as it minimises the chances of being scalded. Adding to the safety factor is the childproof double push and turn-style switch. This means it can’t be inadvertently triggered by a youngster who might be intrigued by the clever chrome gadget you’ve just had installed.

Thankfully this doesn't affect the excellent performance of the tap at all either. On another practical note, there’s a red warning light ring above the tap lever, which shows when the water is getting hot. And, as for the consistency of the Fusion’s performance, this is a very able design that can cope with providing lots of luurvly hot water. Little wonder it’s become such a popular choice for so many.

So, should you buy Quooker Fusion Round?

The Quooker Fusion Round has to be one of the best true 100°C hot water taps there is. Quooker has other variations on the theme in its portfolio of products, but the Fusion Round is a good, er, all-rounder. Sure, there’s some effort involved in getting one, having the installation done and then making sure everything’s working as expected.

However, once it’s in position the tap looks blindingly good, plus you can pick a finish that blends in perfectly with your existing kitchen design. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the tap is its ability to keep the hot stuff coming too. You’ll want to ensure you pick the right specification, including a tank that matches your needs, but get that side of things right and if online reviews are any guide, the Quooker Fusion Round should fit the bill perfectly.