Finally, despite the higher volume, the Pur dispensers use fridge space more efficiently than pitchers do. The dispensers are narrow and deep, extending from the front to the back of the fridge. So they utilize the otherwise-wasted rear brita water filter faucet half of the fridge’s top shelf and leave the maximum width free for storing other items, like milk jugs and juice cartons. We did not prioritize pitchers or dispensers with battery-powered usage meters or filter-replacement reminders.
Great-tasting water can help you meet your daily water intake, and having a good water filter pitcher can help improve the taste of your water and remove various water contaminants. While many standards for contaminants and their levels are regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), you may prefer to filter your water to remove specific contaminants. There are a few ways to filter your water — including an under-the-sink water filter, which saves space in the refrigerator or on the countertop — but a water filter pitcher is a convenient option with no installation required. So you might find that you’re waiting or refilling the pitcher often, depending on your drinking habits or how many housemates are pouring from the pitcher. In CR’s lab, we run each pitcher through a battery of flow-rate tests and time just how long it takes to filter a quart of water at various stages of the filter cartridge’s lifespan.
However, once we consider the number of times you’d need to replace each filter in a year based on the stated filter lifespan. That’s what makes the Brita Elite filter such a nice surprise; you get high-quality filtration and don’t have to swap the filter brita filter pitcher every couple of months. While these pitchers all generally cost the same, if you buy the Pur Plus pitcher, you get more for your buck because the Pur Plus filter that comes standard with that pitcher doesn’t increase the overall price of the pitcher.
Examples of the most common TDS include “calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, bicarbonate, sulfate, chloride, nitrate, and silica,” according to the US Geological Survey. Brita has reengineered its Longlast filter, calling the new version the Longlast+. It is ANSI/NSF–certified for 30 contaminants—a significant increase over the original Longlast’s 15 and seven more than with the Pur Lead Reduction. The Longlast+ filter is identical in form to the original, but it’s light blue (visually distinguishing it from the dark blue Longlast, which is still available but rapidly being replaced).
In our first round of research, we read studies on the types of contaminants that need to be filtered out to produce safe and great-tasting drinking water, and how the various water filters on the market work. We included the BWT pitcher in the first round of our tests, and it has an interesting and innovative design. The filter itself actually adds magnesium to the water, presumably to improve taste and increase the health benefits of the water. However, some of our taste testers did not like the flavor of the water filtered by the BWT pitcher.
Nicole Papantoniou is the director of the Kitchen Appliances and Innovation lab, where she oversees all content and testing related to kitchen and cooking appliances, tools and gear. She’s been testing kitchen appliances professionally since 2013 and is trained in classic culinary arts. You don’t want to spend your days and nights refilling a plodding water filter brita filter pitcher pitcher, do you? Depending on your household’s collective thirst, a small family can get by with a 2-liter water filter pitcher, while a big family should invest in a large 4-liter size. Consider the water filter pitcher’s original purchase price but also the yearly cost of replacement cartridges, which can actually cost more than the water pitcher itself.