We repeated these steps a total of three times on each of the pitchers. The Plus can hold 18 cups of water in its lower (filtered) reservoir (sufficient for most families’ daily water needs), whereas pitchers top out at about 11 cups and often need a midday refill. You can also park a dispenser in the fridge with both the 18-cup reservoir and brita filter pitcher the 12-cup upper tank nearly full (this is where that 30-cup number came from). Pur also makes a plain 30 Cup model, which comes with the Pur Pitcher Filter. We looked around for alternatives that might allow cheaper replacement or regeneration of the ion-exchange resin beads, but this process is rare outside of industrial or laboratory use.
Brita’s Longlast filters and faucet filters last a little longer, up to 120 gallons and 100 gallons, respectively. Because Brita filters work by trapping and holding contaminants, it is very important to replace them on time to ensure peak performance. Brita is probably the best-known of the water filter pitcher brands and it performed well in our testing, second only to the ZeroWater in the overall removal of dissolved materials.
While you might not be worried about this result, it’s worth considering how long it takes to get more filtered water if you’re ever going to fill bottles before a trip or serve water at a party. In 2019 we took a chance on testing the non-certified Clearly Filtered water filter pitcher, to see how much there is to lose or gain with higher levels of filtration in a system other than the expensive ZeroWater. During our testing we found that some people did not like the taste of ZeroWater, and some even said it had a “chemical” taste. This is ironic, since it’s the absence of chemicals that leads to this result, but if you’re used to the minerals in your water the change will be easy to distinguish. Still, other testers (especially those with reverse-osmosis systems at home) loved the taste.
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 half of the fridge’s top shelf and leave the maximum width free for storing other items, brita filter pitcher like milk jugs and juice cartons. Brita’s Ultramax delivers plenty of water and works as well as Pur’s dispenser. With 13 certifications—though notably not lead—the Pur Pitcher Filter trades some functionality for faster filtration. ◊Pricing, selection, and availability of store clearance items are determined by each store.
If you need a basic model, there are several to choose from under $200. The Brita Grand pitcher fits both the Longlast+ and the Pitcher and Dispenser filters (like the Everyday does). But the Grand comes in multiple colors, versus the Everyday’s plain white. The Grand has a thumb-flip lid for one-handed filling, which is a feature we like on the Pur Classic (and one the Everyday lacks). But the Grand also has a molded-in “pipe” inside the fill hole; this shape creates tight crannies that are harder to clean than the Everyday’s simple design. And the Grand has the same concave handle as the Everyday handle, which is harder to grasp than the Pur Classic’s.