Brita Everyday Water Filter Pitcher In-depth Review
Overall Verdict
The Brita Everyday filter pitcher lives up to its reputation. While not as good as others in removing chlorine in our tests, its NSF-certified filter did the job. The pitcher has an average capacity but excellent flow rate, which allows it to produce more clean water than most other similar capacity pitchers. It may not be the most stylish pitcher, but the Brita build quality is good and looks decent enough on your countertop. Some people may find its lack of convenience features such as a refilling trap door, spigot, or filter life indicator a dealbreaker. However, others will appreciate it as a basic water filter pitcher that does a good job.
Things We Like
- Excellent flow rate
- Good fit and finish
- Affordable price
Things We Don’t Like
- Lack of trap door for refilling
- Short filter life (2 months)
The Brita Everyday is a veteran water filter pitcher which made its debut more than a decade ago and has been in various Best Filter Pitchers lists since. It comes in a basic design and uses one of Brita’s first-generation standard filter cores, so its market appeal is less compared to newer Brita models such as the Brita Style or Marella; still, the Everyday is among the best-sellers of all brands.
What makes it so popular? Is it because of the Brita moniker, or is this filter pitcher a real keeper? We tested the Brita Everyday for performance, usability, and design to find the answers to these questions.
7.8 Performance
The Brita has an excellent flow rate, but its effectiveness in removing chlorine and improving water aesthetics is not the best. Interestingly, its standard filter was slightly better at lowering the total dissolved solids (TDS) than some newer Brita models with the Maxtra filter core.
6.0 Chlorine
The Brita Everyday was among the poorer performing water filters on our list, which is explainable since it uses some of Brita’s first generations of water filters (The Brita Everyday made its debut more than a decade ago!)
That being said, the filter did reduce the chlorine level from 10 to 2 mg/l. Normal tap water typically has 3 mg/l or less chlorine, a level the Brita should have no issue handling.
10 Flow Rate
No other filter pitcher is as quick as the Brita Everydayto give you filtered water. It takes about 20 seconds to fill a standard glass of water (250 ml), and two and a half minutes to complete filtering the whole upper reservoir (1750 ml or 7 glasses).
While its rated capacity is modest at 10 cups, this pitcher would work for a family of up to five people with this flow rate.
8.3 Taste & Smell
One of our three taste testers detected a subtle but unpleasant taste in the water filtered by the Brita compared to water from other pitchers. It could be the chlorine but because the level was so low, we were not quite sure.
The pitcher was able to reduce some dissolved solids from the water, a major part of which is chlorine.
7.0 Design
As one of the earliest commercial water filter jugs, the Brita Everyday lacks niceties that we take for granted these days, such as a trap door, a light indicator, or spigot. However, it has the strong build and timeless design of a veteran pitcher.
In the Box
- The Brita Everyday 10 cup water filter pitcher
- 1 Brita standard filter
- User manual
The Brita Everyday comes in a basic cardboard box. Its user manual is available in English, French, and Spanish.
Dimensions
8.0 Build Quality
The Brita Everyday has a basic-looking but well-built body. It’s made of BPA-free materials, with thick, robust parts well-fitted together. While the design is nothing to write home about compared to newer models such as the Style or Marella, the pitcher is just as neatly made. Every detail suggests good craftsmanship and explains why this is still one of the best selling filter pitchers after so many years.
3.0 Conveniences
There’s no niceties in the Everyday. No LED light or LCD display to indicate replacement time, and not even the simple trap door for refilling. It’s as basic as it can get in this regard.
The Everyday couldn’t fit in the door compartment of our 290L fridge, but it could stay in the cool compartment when we removed one of the shelves to make vertical space for it.
8.0 Filter
The Brita Standard Filter is NSF-certified to reduce copper, cadmium, mercury, zinc, and chlorine. It’s well-made and sturdy; however, it can be a little difficult to assemble for first timers. You need to line up the groove on the filter with the ridge in the reservoir, both of which are small and hard to find.
We also saw black particles of (hopefully) activated charcoal in the reservoir. The amount is tiny and probably not harmful, but such contamination is undesirable nonetheless. Thankfully, we didn’t find those particles in the filtered water.
7.9 Usability
Even without handy extras, the Brita Everyday is surprisingly user-friendly. It’s easy to use and maintain thanks to its simple, gimmick-free design. The biggest faux pas is the lack of a trap door, which makes refilling inconvenient.
8.0 Assembling
With a simple design, the Brita Everyday is easy to disassemble and put together. It has a thick ridge on its lid for gripping when you open it. While installing the filter is not particularly intuitive, removing it is a breeze.
The lack of a filter life indicator means you will have to do rough calculations of the water consumption and remember to change the filter accordingly. It may help to stick a label on the pitcher as a reminder.
7.0 Refilling
The Brita Everyday doesn’t have a trap door, so you must completely remove the lid for refilling. It’s light enough to just hold it under running water, and because the flow rate is high, you can fill a little more than a reservoir at a time.
Unlike some other pitchers such as the ZeroWater 10 cup , there seems to be no pressure issue with the Brita. It takes two to three refills to fill up to capacity.
8.5 Dispensing
You can’t pour water when the reservoir is still half full—unfiltered water will push the lid and come out with the filtered water. However, because the Brita is so quick to filter water, this is hardly a problem.
The lid is not terribly tight, but as long as the reservoir is empty, it won’t fall off while you pour. The spout is wide with no extra cover, so the flow is straightforward. There should be no splashing unless you pour too fast.
8.0 Cleaning
The Brita Everyday is to wash by hand. The pitcher and reservoir don’t have challenging nooks other than around the filter, which can be cleaned with a soft brush. There’s a small opening on the upper part of the handle that allows water to leak out from the underside, but it doesn’t affect everyday usage. Just make sure to not submerge that part into water too often because it may be impossible to clean out any mold.