"widespread" kitchen faucets terminology

[AndrewP]

I've got this stainless steel (or possibly Monel) kitchen sink that I am trying to find a faucet for. Problem is the existing holes are on 7" centers. It looks very similar to this:

https://retrorenovation.com/2013/07/01/monel-sink-counter-top/

I'm in the UK and our options are very limited, for example here bathroom sinks often just have a hot and cold tap, no mixer. One thing I see a lot of on US sinks is what I think are called widespread faucets. Two handles/valves + one spout, plumbed together underneath the sink. There is no base plate connecting them together and so they can be moved to accommodate unusual spacing's.

AFAIK you use NPT? connections, we use a British standard. As far as I can tell I can plumb a US faucet to UK pipes if keep it US spec back to the shutoff valves, which can be compression fittings, that should fit standard UK 1/2" pipe. Technically its now 15mm pipe, but well that's something we often have to deal with in the UK. British compression fittings usually have enough slack to work with 1/2" or 15mm.

I'm a bit confused with the terminology of "widespread" when applied to kitchen faucets. Going through eBay I keep finding faucets with a base plate called "widespread". is this just miss-identification? Or have I got the terminology wrong.

Is there a magic term that will just show me these:

Thanks.

 

[Terry]

In the UK I've heard that water goes to the hot side of a faucet by gravity. The water heater is in the attic, and drains down without pressure to the hot side. Cold is under pressure therefore they use two handle faucets to prevent the mixing of the two streams. I think you will need to look on a UK catalog for faucets that work in that situation. The US and Canada faucets expect even pressure from both hot and cold.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

NOrmally, the U.K. cold water to the kitchen sink is the only one under pressure. Everything else is gravity from the cistern in the attic.

 

[AndrewP]

Thanks. Yes the traditional system for hot water is based on gravity. We now have a 'combi boiler' that are becoming more and more common here.

I'm not sure if combi boilers are known by a different name in the US. Its a combination hot water and radiator boiler. The hot water is continuous, though usually it can't handle a very high flow rate (e.g all hot faucets on at the same time). The pressure AFAIK is equal.