Meir

Meir buying guide

Meir is an Australian, family-owned brand that has designed and manufactured premium bathroom and kitchen products since 2012. European parts and components come from Switzerland, Hungary and Spain, and the brass is DZR brass.

Meir finishes

Finish is the first thing to settle, because Meir applies the same set across tapware, showers, accessories and sinks: matte black, tiger bronze, champagne, shadow, brushed nickel, lustre bronze and polished chrome. A few have details worth knowing.

Shadow is unlike any other tapware finish, with brownish-bronze undertones that come to life under warm-white lighting and look sleek and minimal under cool white. Lustre Bronze is made with anti-fingerprint technology, and it belongs to Meir's exclusive hotel range, now available to everyone. Champagne appears on a basin mixer that combines a retro design with precision brass engineering. The finish collections are at Meir champagne, Meir tiger bronze, Meir lustre bronze, Meir polished chrome and Meir black.

Meir stands out for its architectural look and its attention to finish quality, with solid brass and long-lasting coatings. The matching accessories let one finish run through a whole home.

The Round range and its variants

Many Meir mixers share the Round shape, so match Round mixers, showers and accessories. A typical Round basin mixer has a 35mm cartridge, solid brass construction and a WELS 5 star rating where the product carries one. The tall Round mixers suit above-counter basins, and the Round Tall Tiger Bronze mixer is made for exactly that.

The variants change the spout or the handle. The Piccola is offered as a tall basin mixer in finishes including Shadow. The Paddle mixer has a single handle and a generous spout with enough space to reach under with a razor or toothbrush. The Pinless tall basin mixer gives plenty of clearance for access to above-counter sinks and vessel basins. The Progressive mixer uses a single quarter-turn to move from cold to hot while increasing flow, and its Duo-Fit Technology allows installation on either walls or hobs. Browse the full set at Meir tapware, with Meir paddle tapware, Meir spouts and Meir square in their own collections.

Harrington and Oppen

Harrington is the traditional-leaning range. The Harrington wall mixer in brushed nickel merges traditional design with modern functionality, with a pin lever for adjusting temperature and flow, and it pairs with the Harrington wall mount spout. Its collection is Meir Harrington.

Oppen is the cabinet handle range, in Scandinavian simplicity and elegance. The Edge-Pull handles are 304 grade stainless steel with a PVD coating, and they come in three lengths: 75mm, 150mm and 300mm. A cabinet handle in the same finish as the tapware ties a vanity together, and the handles are in Meir Oppen cabinet handles.

Kitchen choices

Five questions decide a kitchen tap: sink size and layout, whether a pull-out spout is useful, tap height for deep sinks, finish maintenance and clearance for taller taps. Those questions map onto the Meir kitchen range directly. The Meir kitchen hob spout with pull-out nozzle in polished chrome has a pull-out hose with 360 degree rotation and two spray modes, one standard and one a wider high-pressure spray. It is made from solid lead-free brass and is Watermark certified. Find kitchen mixers at Meir kitchen taps.

The sinks follow the same logic. The Meir double bowl sink, 760mm by 440mm in brushed nickel, is a stainless steel sink with a brushed PVD coloured finish and hand-crafted rounded internal edges. Meir's sinks are designed in Australia with the assistance of leading architects. Sinks and accessories are in Meir kitchen sinks.

Showers, including outdoor

Meir showers are in Meir showers, including gooseneck twin rail showers. For outdoor use, the Round 200mm shower rose is made from 316 stainless steel for corrosion resistance and carries a 3 star WELS rating. That material choice is the reason to pick it for an exposed position. The range is gathered in Meir outdoor 316 stainless steel.

Accessories, towel rails and door hardware

The accessories matter because Meir finishes match across categories. Meir bathroom accessories hold the hooks, rails and holders, with toilet roll holders in their own collection. The heated vertical towel rail in brushed nickel is 304 grade stainless steel, needs no additional transformer and includes a hook accessory. It is rated 220 to 240 V and 23 watts with an IPX4 rating. See Meir towel rails.

Door hardware is covered too. The Meir round door stop is stainless steel with a rubber tip and comes in brushed nickel with six other finishes. The glass-to-wall shower door hinge in champagne is corrosion-resistant solid brass for 8mm or 10mm glass. They are at Meir door stops and Meir shower door handles and screen brackets. Drains and wastes are in Meir wastes and traps.

Finish durability and care

Meir was an early adopter of matte black hardware, and its PVD coating creates a surface that is significantly harder and more scratch resistant. Choose one finish across the wet areas and match the waste and overflow components, which is why the wastes sit in their own collection.

Choosing the right type of tap

Tap types are easy to tell apart. A basin mixer sits on the vanity or basin with the spout and handle in one body. A wall mixer mounts on the wall and pairs with a separate wall spout, which keeps the benchtop clear. Wall-top taps are the traditional twin-handle design, in quarter-turn and jumper-valve versions. Diverter mixers switch water between two outlets, such as a shower rose and a hand shower, and bath taps are wall-mounted spouts or floor-mounted mixers for freestanding baths. Wall-mounted mixers look clean and suit wall-hung vanities but must be roughed in before tiling, while basin-mounted mixers are more forgiving in an existing bathroom.

Matching the tap to the basin

The pairing is direct. An inset or semi-inset basin takes a standard basin mixer. An undermount basin takes a standard basin mixer or a wall mixer. An above-counter basin takes a tall basin mixer, or a wall mixer and spout. A wall-hung basin takes a wall mixer and spout, or a basin mixer if there is a tap hole. The tap shape should match the basin shape, for example a round mixer with a round or oval basin. Check three more things: taps must be easy to reach and use, the spout should sit at a distance from the sink that avoids splashback, and the drain and plughole should match the tap finish.

Mains pressure and flow

Meir tapware needs mains pressure, within a range of 100 kPa to 500 kPa, and gravity-fed and water-tank systems are not compatible. Plumbing items in Australia are required to have the flow regulated for water conservation, so flow and pressure cannot be altered, although a tradesperson may be able to adjust the designated flow rate during installation, for example when fitting a kitchen mixer in a laundry.

Installation notes

A licensed tradesperson should install all plumbing items. All 2-in-1 shower rails have a built-in diverter, so a single mixer or a set of wall-top taps is enough to control the shower. Thick tiles need checking: one wall-top set allows 17mm of tile thickness, against 6mm on an older model, so check tile thickness before the wall is finished. Replacement parts are in a spare parts collection, and it helps to have the product code or SKU to hand when asking which part is needed.

Electroplated and PVD finishes

The two coatings differ. Electroplating is harder wearing than powder coating but not scratch-proof, so it needs careful handling and cleaning. PVD is a thin-film coating that is generally harder and more corrosion resistant than electroplating or powder coating, and Meir's kitchen sinks and certain ranges of tapware are finished in PVD. Matte black products use a fortified electroplated finish. Brushed nickel is a soft, warm silver with a PVD coating, and it is worth ordering samples because finishes look different under bathroom lighting.

More from the Meir range

The range reaches past the mixer. The Round combination shower rail has a built-in diverter for switching from the overhead shower to a multi-function handpiece, a flexible 1.5m hose, and a universal water inlet that allows either a top or a bottom water connection. The Round shower rose in brushed nickel is brass, extends 400mm and is WELS 3 star at 9 litres a minute with a registration number. The Round wall-top cross-handle assemblies suit retrofit applications because of a long spindle, and the Round hob mounted swivel spout in chrome swivels 360 degrees with a WELS 5 star rating at 6 litres a minute.

Mixer heights, reach and accessory sizes

Spout height decides whether a basin mixer works with your basin, so compare the numbers. The Piccola basin mixer in chrome is 153mm tall with a 65mm height to spout and a 105mm reach, rated WELS 5 star at 5.5 litres a minute. The Piccola tall mixer in Shadow is 300mm tall with a 210mm height to spout and a 130mm reach, rated WELS 5 star at 5 litres a minute. The Paddle Round basin mixer is 215mm tall with an 80mm height to spout and a 99.8mm reach, and the Pinless Round tall mixer is 380.5mm tall with a 226mm height to spout and a 146mm reach. Each has a 35mm ceramic disc cartridge, a brass body and a registration number on the WELS label.

Choosing a Meir range

Start with the finish, because it carries across every product type. Then pick the shape: Round and its variants for a contemporary room, Harrington where a traditional line fits, and Oppen handles to finish the cabinetry. Check the specification block on each product for the cartridge size, the pressure rating and the WELS details. Those lines differ between models, so the product page is the reference.