Delta Leland 9178-SP-DST Single Handle Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet with MagnaTite Docking and ShieldSpray Technology, Spotshield Stainless

I’ve had this faucet for almost a year (purchased Dec 20th, 2013), and it’s been performing exceptionally well. The reason I had to take off one star is for its Achilles heal – the plastic retainer for its extension hose. The first time I turned on the faucet and tested all the components, the retainer snapped off and sent water spraying all over my cabinet. Thankfully, I was prepared for this after reading the one star rated review on here. I remedied that fault by using two zip ties to keep the retainer in place, and I highly recommend that you do the same. See the photo attached.

Other than that, everything is very well built, and has a great feel to it. I was a bit turned off by the plastic water lines, but from what I’ve read, all new faucets are like that. The material is much safer for drinking water and just as strong as copper pipes.

Purchase from Amazon Jan. 2012.
Had one issue (see below), but otherwise an outstanding faucet. We’ve had the Venetian Bronze finish version for 2 1/2 years, and performance and finish of the faucet has been outstanding. The bronze finish is a really nice look, and the picture is mostly accurate. (have a picture, sorry not the best quality) We paid $238 at the time. It’s a very nice looking faucet; good size, craftsmanship, features, handle.

Both the spray and the regular flow work very well; nice, consistent, and well designed flow types. The rocker switch is a hard plastic, which is much more durable than the soft rubber types. The bronze finish we have has lasted really well so far. It cleans easily and shows no signs of chipping, scratching, fading, etc. The magnetic dock/latch feature still works great, just as great as the day I installed it. As far as installation goes, it’s just a normal faucet install, quite simple for most people.

Issue: at 2 1/2 years, we started noticing black specs in the water. (see picture) I didn’t know if this was something with our city water, our house, or this particular faucet. Turns out, it was this faucet. I called Delta and they were really helpful; it’s a known problem and supposedly not a safety/health concern. It is, indeed, the rubber. It was no hassle, and a replacement hose/wand is on the way. I would assume this has been fixed in production, but I don’t know. And the other question is whether the same type of hose was used across different products. But at least the customer support was great. I would buy this product again, but can’t do 5 stars because of that issue.

Edit: With having kids, our hot water is not set very hot, so it’s not like we exposed the hose to extreme temps. I don’t know the temp, but it’s quite low. The black specs were mostly noticeable when we used hot water, not so much the cold.

Update 9/10/15: Replacement hose came. A side by side picture of the two are uploaded, new one on the right. The new wand assembly doesn’t dock as well, and the changes are evident. The hose braiding and connection near the head are totally different, and I suspect the slight increase in the height of the fitting is what keeps the back side from sticking as well as before. It still docks okay, but it takes more intention in doing so. I suppose only time will tell if this hose holds up.

Update 9/28/16: Faucet and hose continue to perform great. The replacement hose from a year ago is still functioning okay.

We replaced a leaky old (2007) Moen single handle pull out with this Delta “Leland” 9178-AR-DST
last week.

This was a DIY install, so I was quite grateful for much of the thoughtful sharing of experience and lessons learned by many other reviewers here, particularly Mr Mojo.

I wasn’t sure whether to give this 3 or 4 stars because we do like it, but there are significant shortcomings. It seems that mid-range plumbing fixtures like this tend to have serious design and quality issues affecting reliability and durability. We would have been willing to buy a significantly more expensive fixture, but I saw too many bad experiences with much more expensive faucets, so the higher price point would only have been more infuriating had there been issues.

It really is a nice looking fixture, and will certainly complement a kitchen with stainless appliances, etc. Be aware that though the hub and spout arm seem to be metal, the rest seems to be plastic. Arctic Stainless is a color/finish, not a descriptor for stainless steel.

We installed the faucet with the handle on the left, and had no problems. If you are attentive to the installation instructions and the space limitations in your kitchen, you should be able to install this unit with the handle on the left, right, front, or back with no problem. We like the fact that the sprayer magnetically attaches to the arm so you can pull it off or turn slightly and remove it even more easily by exposing opposite poles of the magnets.

The sprayer toggles with a switch on the spout from stream to spray, as we expected, and the sprayer turns freely, so you can keep the toggle switch hidden on the back, in full view in the front, etc. As of this writing, the listing info above for this faucet shows a third “Multi-Flow” feature with “a higher flow for quick fills” – that is not correct. Low flow stream, low flow spray, that’s it. If I REALLY need a quick, high volume fill for something, I’ll probably go to the laundry tub anyway – lots of room and no flow governor there.

Some have mentioned that the retractable hose for the spout can bind after some time. A few suggested silicone grease, which I would be concerned may collect dirt and gunk up on the hose and within the faucet arm (where you can’t easily clean) after some time. So, I used “B’Laster Silicone Spray Lubricant”, similar to this one https://smile.amazon.com/Blaster-16-SL-Silicone-Lube-11-Ounces/dp/B0019LV3GO , instead. The sprayer hose slides like butter on a griddle! To lubricate, I laid the fixture assembly in our laundry tub to catch overspray, pulled the hose ALMOST all the way through the fixture assembly, sprayed it on the exposed hose and wiped it around with my hand, let it dry/soak in for a while, and gently wiped with a paper towel to remove any excess. Then I pulled the hose ALMOST all the way back through the other side, and repeated the procedure. I’ve also used this silicone spray with shower rods in the baths. I’ve also installed plastic shower rod covers over our wood hanger rods in our closets, coating with the silicone spray, air drying for some time, and wiping them prior to install. CLEAN, extremely smooth, almost disarmingly easy movement on these rods years after application.

One thing that concerns me about the sprayer hose is that there is no brake to keep the hose from being pulled out so far that it would stress the rigid plastic junction where the vulnerable rigid plastic clip is installed. The weight that comes with this unit slides freely along the hose, and is not designed to be clamped on. We have some extra weights around here from other fixtures such as the Moen I just removed, and on those fixtures they were affixed to an appropriate point along the hose in order to prevent excessive hose withdrawal. I may try putting one of them on our new Delta 9178 hose. Or, since my kids are pretty much grown, maybe we’ll just hope no one gets too enthusiastic with the sprayer.

The main thing that concerns me about the sprayer hose is the precarious way that the hose assembly attaches to the faucet assembly, held in place by a rigid plastic clip. This is a serious, unnecessary risk resulting from stunningly bad design. Before buying this faucet, I called Delta to see if they have redesigned this junction – unbelievably, they have not. However, the customer service lady said that if the clip breaks or comes off, they will provide another clip free under the warranty, but that won’t do much for the water damage. I almost didn’t buy the 9178 because of this design danger, but other products I looked at all had their own reliability and durability issues. Reviewer Mr. Mojo thoughtfully articulated a solution, complete with photo, so I thought I would give the 9178 a chance. I saw first hand how easy it would be to dislodge that clip – accidentally bumping it knocked it off rather easily. In fact, in attempting to replicate Mr. Mojo’s solution, the zip ties, when installed per his photo, actually dislodged the clip from the hose junction as I tightened the zip ties at the specified locations– the clip was left hanging in place but the junction was no longer secured. To solve that problem, I relocated the zip ties per the photos attached to this review, and they are situated so that the clip can not come off so long as the ties are in place and the clip remains unbroken. Just don’t overtighten the ties, or the rigid clip may eventually break from that pressure.

Its inner parts is made of soft plastic, it can’t last longer, it is broken in 1 and half year.

It worked reasonably well for a short while, but then slowly over time, the position of the handle where it would turn off started to shift, so that if you moved the handle to where you’d think it would turn off, it will drip, and you have to hunt for the spot where it will fully turn off. Now it has got to the point where it is really sloppy, and you have to wiggle the handle back and forth to get it to turn off – and its not always in the same spot. Most of the time, someone just leaves it dripping. And there is so much play in the handle that getting water somewhere between fully hot and fully cold requires taking a bunch of baby steps.

All in all, a product that did not deliver on the lifetime warranty promise.