Riobel, Inc. founded by Mario Bélisle as Selections25, a plumbing products distribution company, in 1995, was renamed Riobel after its 1999 purchase or Baldwin faucets and change of focus from distribution to design. Its primary products are sink faucets and shower systems.

At one time the company may have manufactured its own faucets, but if so, no longer does so. The faucets appear to be designed, engineered and prototyped by Riobel in Canada, but most are manufactured by in China byKaiping Freendo Sanitary Ware Co., Ltd., a division of the giant Huayi Group of affiliated companies. Other Riobel faucets are made by NCIP, Inc. in Taiwan.

Huayi makes faucets for a diverse group of North American faucet importers including, Wolverine Brass, Price-Pfister (now just Pfister), and Kraus USA as well as private and store brands for RONA in Canada (Uberhaus faucets), Markimex (Ultra Faucets) and Yosemite Home Decor (Yosemite faucets). NCIP also manufactures for Aquabrass, a Canadian faucet company, Symmons Industries, Chicago Faucets, and some Peerless faucets for Delta.

We regard the company as a Specifier: A company that designs its own faucets, but has them manufactured by others under contract. It is not an Assembler (a company that assembles and finishes faucets from components made by others.) Riobel may perform some very limited assembly in Canada at its facility in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, but this is unlikely to amount to much more than attaching handles and other incidentals to already finished faucets. It may also have more involvement in finishing chrome plated faucets in Canada -- something we have not yet confirmed. All other finishes are applied in China. Riobel does not qualify for "Assembled in Canada" or "Made in Canada" status.

The quality of the faucets is above average to good, with few complaints from consumers. The company claims that its ceramic cartridges are German-made, a claim we are still in process of verifying.

We grade the company's customer support as competent. The Riobel warranty is, however, less than the "lifetime warranty" that is the standard for faucets sold in North America, offering a mere 1 year warranty on faucet finishes other than PVD finishes.

The faucets are certified safe, reliable and lead free by Intertek and IAPMO-RT, both independent third party testing organizations. All, or almost all, Riobel faucets are Watersense® qualified and many conform to ADA requirements.

The brand is not approved for sale or installation in California but most of its faucets are acceptedfor installation in Massachusetts. You will have to check any particular faucet with Massachusetts authorities to see if it is legal in Massachusetts. Otherwise, Rioble faucets conform to all other plumbing codes in force in North America.

Our review report on this company will be available after December 15, 2015 at StarCraft Faucet Reviews

Thanks so much for taking the time to provide this info. We discussed this brand with the manager of a bath place where our builder deals with the whole sale end. She said builders likely get more of the Riobel pieces than any other brand because they seem to work well and don't have problems. She said they rarely have issues. So I guess if the style works for us we will go with some of them. She really liked what she could arrange for our shower controls with this product so that's why we are looking at them for our bathroom reno. I will have to ask her about the 1 year warranty on finish though. I don't really like that and can't imagine why they would skimp their when competition is all offering life time.

I live in Canada. When we did a renovation about 5 years ago we included some Riobel shower jets. The shower doesn't get daily use, but so far we haven't had an issue with them. I am pretty indifferent to them.... the Grohe in in main bathroom however, are my preference. We've had them for over 10 years and they still look and act brand new.

sherri1058 thanks for your feedback. I live in Canada too. It looks like we may be using some Riobel parts for the diverter valve and possibly shower head. So good to know.