Plumbed Elegance

There’s a punch line to all of this about Plumbed Elegance and the Bettencourts. .. they were helpful, as I said, but the best news of all is that once the house was finished and we moved in ALL THE PLUMBING FIXTURES WORKED AS PROMISED!
No problems. .. NONE. What else can I say but «Thank you Julia and John!»

We had purchased our kitchen fixtures from Plumbed Elegance a few years ago. We had great service, fair pricing and wonderful ideas (granite sill sink and body glove water filter). When we had some issue with our Grohe sink dispenser pump, they replaced it on the spot. Did not ask for a receipt or charge me. This is the kind of old world service you will not get from a big box store. Thank you Plumbed Elegance.

Back for a second time. John and Julie helped us remodel half our house a few years ago — 3 baths and they came out amazing. We just finished the other half including our kitchen and half bath. We had a great time going through options, they are so knowledgable and great about balancing price, quality and style. Would highly recommend, great service, great choices, great people. Worth coming over the hill to get it right.

I have been in the construction business for over 30 years. In that time I have dealt with every type of supplier. The good, bad and indifferent.
Without any reservations I think that Plumbed Elegance and the team of John & Julia offer the best all around service I have ever seen.
Julia is a ray is sunshine.
They clearly love what they do. Even when there are minor problems the response is just as dedicated and focused as during the sales process.
I will never purchase a plumbing fixture from anyone else.

They were great! Came in, got my order placed in 5 minutes. Very welcoming and friendly! Much better than my experience at Bay Plumbing.

Julia knows her stuff. And she is not going to let you buy some inferior product with low water flow and poor inner workings. This might mean you pay a little more, but you will be happy. Moreover, she will work with you to give you solutions to match your budget and price save where you can. But she will not sell you junk.
And, she will follow through to make sure you are happy. What more could you want. You will not be disappointed if you buy from Plumbed Elegance. We bought all the fixtures and sinks for our kitchen remodel and we are super happy. Thanks Julia.

John and Julia are a few of the most helpful and genuinely sincere people I’ve come across working in the design business. I’m a designer at Talmadge Construction, a design/​build company, and am always busy working on multiple projects. I highly value all the support and help that John and Julia give to me and our clients.
Instead of me spending hours of my time searching for fixtures, I can easily ask one of them to find and price items for me by describing what I need, what style and what price range I’m looking for. Within 24 hours they will get me a variety of options to choose from with comments about each item. As a busy designer, this is a HUGE help. With their extensive knowledge I’m able to give our clients the best product for their budget while saving them charges of my design time. John and Julia provide such a valuable service because of this.
I also love bringing clients to their showroom. They both have such positive attitudes and a great energy about them. They get clients excited about their products and are willing to spend as much time as it takes to find the perfect fixtures.
Plumbed Elegance is a great resource for any design professional. They are also great for homeowners who need a helping hand in their remodel. They will give you the most current information and guide you towards the right products, you can’t get service like that from a website!

We went to Plumbed Elegance after visiting two other stores — one that said we needed appointments (even when the place was pretty much empty — and another that had mark ups that were unreal…)
John and Julia were great to work with and pushed us when they believed strongly in our decisions on items such as a pressure valve inside the wall. As a first time remodeler, this was quite the education but my contractors were impressed with their consultation.
Julia and John are courteous, fair and will go out of there way to help. It was a «no brainer» to goto them when we remodeled our second bathroom.
I highly recommend using them!

My contractor recommended Plumbed Elegance to help me outfit my entire house. I did not expect the level of expertise and obsessive attention to detail shown by Julia and John. The follow-​up and «after-​sale» support has been excellent.
As an engineer, I really appreciated the quality of the fixtures they recommended, as well as their depth of knowledge for the brands they carry. The fit and finish of their products are amazing.
(It’s hard to explain in a review what it’s like to grab a milled brass shower handle that’s perfectly machined and mated to its valve stem. Precisely machined parts mean that the handles aren’t loose, or made of chrome plated plastic. They respond to your touch with just enough friction to make them easy to control. Precisely machined parts are also a good indicator of overall quality, in my humble opinion.)
Don’t go in expecting Home Depot pricing, because they will refuse to sell you a low quality product with a short lifespan.
And yes, while I’m standing on my review soapbox, the Delta or Moen brands you get at Home Depot won’t be milled brass with a ceramic valve mechanism, or have the highly engineered multilayered plating ready to withstand years of anal-​retentive scrubbing by their future owners. (Before I started my project, I zipped over the hill to Home Depot and opened up the boxes of their «high-​end» fixtures. Their high-​end fixtures used to be what passed for low-​end fixtures in my childhood.)
Four years in, I’m very happy with how it all turned out.
If I could, I’d give them an extra star for being dog friendly. :-)

When my husband and I started a whole house remodel 2 years, I went to Julia for most of my fixtures and to this day regret not going to her for EVERYTHING. Yes, I thought I could save money but cheaper products e.g. the lower end Toto toilet has caused me grief and after 1.5 years — what warranty. Julia made sure that I avoided plastic parts in the fixtures. We purchased from Plumbed Elegance all of the fixtures for the master bathroom (Hans Grohe), all the cabinet hardware and door hardware –these products have no issues and still look great. And since we are finishing the last dribbles of the remodel, we are still purchasing door hardware.
However, the biggest reason for recommending Julia, is that she made a great suggestion for my curbless walk in shower — keep the valve on the opposite side of the shower head — this way one does not get wet when adjusting the temperature. Note, the architect never said anything nor did my contractor or the plumbing contractor. This one suggestion made the difference between something usable and something gracious.

Julia was great helping me buy all the things I needed for a bathroom remodel. I know nothing about plumbing. She discussed cheaper alternatives, helped me choose coordinating pieces, and fought with suppliers when they did not deliver on time. Yes, I probably paid more than buying for myself online, but because I had no idea what I needed, would no doubt have made mistakes. I appreciated her help and my bathroom looks great.

This place is the bomb. I’m an architect here in Santa Cruz and can tell you that the the folks at Plumed Elegance have it together, best selection and the attention to detail is unsurpassed. Totally elated with the service and will never go anywhere else when I need Plumbing fixtures. I couldn’t express just how much these people have it going on. A+++++++++++++

I found Plumbed Elegance by chance.
I was having a sandwich (Upper Crust, it’s good too), across the street contemplating a renovation on a luxury beach home. Some renovation experience on my part. For this home, I wanted a certain look, away from the Delta-​Moen-​Kohler, which is fine stuff but I wanted to get away from the common but not go crazy on price.
Both John and Julia gave me an education on several variables. I enjoyed the explanations on quality and process between the various manufacturers of USA, Chinese and European products and local installers and service vendors.
Since it was a renovation with the idea to sell after, at my request, I was showed a lot of «on sale» or «closeout» items that helped not only in the few items we used to save money, but also learning about pricing and options.
Importantly, Plumbed Elegance arranged for me to see their work on other homes near the beach, meet the contractors doing the work, and make solid judgments I’m still comfortable with.
In the end, we chose all USA with a little European and the original estimate for the Plumbing and Lighting, was more than we actually spent. Not a lot, but a little and that made me feel than Plumbed Elegance worked the job all the way through.
What more could you ask for?

This is a boutique plumbing shop with boutique pricing. I found the owners pushy on the sales side of things and adamant about things I believe to be false such as claims that other brands of fixtures were considerably poorer quality than what they attempt to sell you.
To me there’s nothing justified about the pricing they have for the quality of products they’re selling. Is a Hansgrohe really better quality than a Delta or a Moen? Perhaps you like their aesthetics but I’ve seen these competitors products working fine with basic maintenance over 50 years after they are installed.
All this said, I don’t believe Plumbed Elegance are selling their brands at a substantially different price than in other stores. I just think their brands are way over priced. They have a nice showroom and are local which are both things I’m willing to pay a premium for. They are unfortunately faced with the onslaught of online merchants selling comparable quality products for often less than half of what their products sell for.
I can muster 10−20% for a local purchase but not 80% which I found in some cases.
I do think the other reviewers comments are valid as I do think the owners will work hard for their customers.

Thank you for my beautiful bathroom John and Julia Bettencourt! You were so patient and knowledgable about your products!

I whole heartedly recommend purchasing all plumbing fixtures locally from Plumbed Elegance. I run a design and build construction company and deal constantly with clients and the purchase of plumbing fixtures. Home owners are more and more educated and discerning, looking for the best deal. Nothing compares to the personal attention and followup of Julie and John at Plumbed Elegance. They have good pricing, they take the time to get an order right, saving homeowner and contractor precious time and money when trying to meet a budget and a deadline. For quality service and products, they can not be beat. They are local family business, I’ve used Plumbed Elegance for 25 years with great results.

Plumbed Elegance was recommended by our Plumber and by a Home Designer that we know so we figured we could not go wrong. I expected high end products not offered at Home Depot or Orchard Supply Hardware and that is what they have.
Julia and John will work tirelessly with you — it took us about an hour to select our toilet — and we know more about toilets now than we ever did!
I urge you to visit their store if you want personalized assistance, beautiful product selections and if it’s important to you to buy locally.

Unbelievable customer service and product knowledge. We are currently remodeling both our kitchen and master bath and found the variety, quality and the beauty of products found at Plumbed Elegance to be second to none. My plumbers are amazed at the level of product and installation knowledge of both Julia and John. Their attention to detail and their willingness to assist with any issue is a welcome breath of fresh air and unusual in this industry.
Julia and John have made my wife and I very happy with our purchase (nearly $ 20,000) and we highly recommend Plumbed Elegance.

Excellent, friendly customer service, good selection In a town were merchants would rather blame others for their problems than treat customer with respect., these folks stand out.

Love this store. They have the most unique items… just what I wanted for my new home. And the professionalism and assistance I received in the store was above my expectation. I didn’t know service at this level still existed, any more I’ll be returning soon! Oh .when you visit ask for Julia… she has incredible taste and knows her stuff!