Home water filters, made simple
Start with where you want to filter the water.
Kitchen & drinking water
For water you drink and cook with. Common choices include pitchers, faucet filters, under-sink carbon filters, and reverse osmosis.
See kitchen filter types →Whole-home water treatment
For water entering the whole house. Common choices include sediment and carbon systems, water softeners, and specialized treatment.
See whole-home options →Kitchen & drinking water types
Pitcher
Sits in the fridge. Improves chlorine taste. Small capacity — refill and replace often.
Faucet-mounted
Screws onto the tap. Taste and odour on demand. Slows flow; cartridge changes add up.
Under-sink carbon
Plumbed under the counter. Taste at one tap, out of sight. Needs a spot and fitting.
Reverse osmosis
Under-sink system at one tap. Cuts a broad range of dissolved stuff. Wastes some water; upkeep matters.
Whole-home treatment types
Whole-home sediment / carbon
Where water enters the house. Grit and chlorine taste at every tap. A stack of stages, not one box.
Water softener
On the main supply. Tackles hard-water scale and soap trouble. Adds sodium; needs salt refills.
UV or specialized treatment
On the main supply. UV handles microbes — mostly a private-well topic. Not for taste or hardness.
Not sure? Start from the problem
On most city water, a filter is a comfort or well-owner choice — not something the records on this site require. Whatever you pick, check what it is actually certified to reduce, and change cartridges on schedule: a neglected filter can be worse than none.