Virgin Pure Review: Is The Home Water System II Worth It?

Disclosure: This review was originally written in collaboration with Virgin Pure in 2023. I was provided with a Virgin Pure Home Water System II free of charge to test. The opinions, photographs and experiences are my own. Virgin Pure has since rebranded as Our Taap. This review describes my experience with the machine at the time, while the buying information has been updated for October 2026.

When I moved to a hard-water area, nobody warned me that even a cup of tea would taste wrong. I have strong feelings about tea, most of them involving having at least one cup within arm’s reach at all times, so this was an unacceptable state of affairs. The kettles were also developing a fairly impressive collection of limescale.

Enter the Virgin Pure Home Water System II: a plumbed-in countertop water dispenser that supplies filtered hot, chilled and mixed-temperature water at the touch of a button. We tried one at home, and this is what I thought of it, including the installation, actual day-to-day convenience, filter maintenance, drawbacks and costs.

Quick update for 2026: If you are searching for a Virgin Pure water filter, you may now find the same business under the name Our Taap. The company confirms the rebrand on its Virgin Pure support page, and its Home Water System II product page is the place to check current packages. My photos and hands-on observations relate to the machine supplied for this original review, not a newly tested unit.

Virgin Pure Home Water System II: My Verdict

For our household, the biggest benefit was not having another appliance with an impressive list of features. It was that everyone actually drank the water. It tasted better to us than the tap water, it was cold without filling the fridge with bottles, and I could make yet another cup of tea without waiting for a kettle. That was a bigger improvement to daily life than I expected.

There are compromises: it takes up worktop space, needs a permanent water connection and electricity, and comes with ongoing servicing and consumable costs. If you are happy drinking straight from the tap and only boil the kettle occasionally, it is a luxury rather than a necessity. For a tea-drinking household in a hard-water area, however, I could see the appeal immediately.

What Is Virgin Pure, And Is It Now Our Taap?

Virgin Pure was the name under which the Home Water System II was supplied to us. The brand is now Our Taap. That matters if you are trying to buy a system, find replacement filters, look up support or work out whether a Virgin Pure machine is still serviced. The product remains recognisable as a countertop machine connected to the mains, rather than a jug you fill by hand.

It offers filtered hot water for drinks, chilled water for drinking and a mixed-temperature option. Unlike a basic filter jug or a filter tap, it also heats and chills the water, which is why it needs a plug socket and some breathing room around the back.

Installation: How Much Space Does It Need?

We chose the black unit, although other colours were offered when ours was supplied. Our machine was approximately 27cm wide, 36cm deep and 37cm high. It sat on the worktop under a cupboard, but you do need enough access to press the buttons on top and enough clearance behind it for ventilation. Check the current user manual and installer’s guidance before committing to a position.

The most important decision happens before the installer arrives: where on earth is this thing going to live? Our installation involved drilling a small hole through the worktop for a narrow water tube. You do not want to discover afterwards that you would really rather have put it on the other side of the kitchen.

We placed ours close enough to the pipework beneath the sink for the flexible tube to run behind the fridge and under the worktop. The original guidance we received allowed a run of up to around 12 metres, but do confirm what is possible in your kitchen with the current installer. We also emptied the under-sink cupboard in advance, which is advisable unless you particularly want a stranger to admire your collection of old cleaning products.

Our fitting was straightforward: the water was turned off, the connection made and the unit flushed through. The installer left some spare tubing, so we could move the machine slightly if needed. Your experience may differ depending on your plumbing, worktop and kitchen layout.

How Does The Virgin Pure Water Filter Work?

The Home Water System II combines a replaceable water filtration system with UV treatment. The company describes it as a triple-filtered system. It is designed to improve the drinking-water experience, including taste and odour, but I would not treat promotional claims about removing particular contaminants as a substitute for independent test results for your exact model and filter.

For our machine, the main filter was due to be replaced roughly every six months and the UV lamp annually. I liked the fact that the parts were accessible through the top of the unit. Do not assume the current Our Taap service plans, replacement schedule or included parts are identical to the original Virgin Pure Smart Service scheme: check the terms for the package you are considering.

There is a little ongoing maintenance involved, as with any water filtration system. That is worth factoring into the cost, especially if you are comparing it with a simple filter jug or an under-sink tap.

Hot, Cold And Mixed Water: What Is It Like To Use?

Internally, our unit had separate hot and chilled water tanks. We could set the temperatures and dispense a pre-set quantity of water into a glass or mug, or stop the flow with another press. It was remarkably easy to get used to having chilled water immediately available, particularly during hot weather.

There were six controls on the top of our machine, including buttons for hot and cold drinks, a larger cold-water quantity, a mixed-temperature option and menu settings. Once we had set our usual mug and glass sizes, using it was pretty much a case of pressing a button.

The hot-water child lock adds an extra confirmation step, which is sensible in a family kitchen. It is not a reason to let young children use near-boiling water unsupervised, though: hot water can still cause serious burns.

The middle button on ours could mix hot and cold water to a chosen temperature, and the drip tray could be adjusted for different cup sizes. We also used the sleep and energy-saving settings, although how much electricity a particular household saves depends on usage, settings and the machine’s standby consumption.

Does Virgin Pure Water Taste Better?

It did to me. Moving to an area with hard water had changed the taste of both my drinking water and my tea. After installation, the water from the dispenser was much nicer to drink, and I found that everyone in the house was helping themselves more often.

Taste is subjective, of course, and hard water is not automatically unsafe water. But if the taste of your tap water puts you off drinking it, convenient chilled filtered water can be a real selling point. It also saved us from keeping jugs or bottles in the fridge.

Pros And Cons After Using The Virgin Pure System

What I Liked

• Water that tasted better to us: the main reason I wanted the machine, and the difference was noticeable in both cold drinks and tea.
• Instant convenience: chilled water for a glass and hot water for another cuppa without filling and boiling a kettle.
• Easy controls: pre-set quantities meant fewer spills and less faffing about.
• Quiet operation: in our kitchen the noise was unobtrusive, and the alert sounds could be switched off.
• Less fridge clutter: no need to devote half a shelf to jugs of water.
• Sleep and energy-saving settings: useful options, even if I would want independent figures before claiming a particular saving against a kettle.

What I Liked Less

• It needs space: the machine lives on your worktop and needs access to water, power and ventilation.
• Installation is not completely reversible: our worktop needed a small hole for the water tube.
• Ongoing costs: filters, UV components, descaling and potentially a subscription all need factoring in.
• It is more complicated than a filter tap: if you only want filtered room-temperature water, it may be more machine than you need.
• The children developed expensive tastes: suddenly a perfectly good glass of water that had gone slightly warm was apparently unfit for human consumption. The plants did well out of it.

How Much Does Virgin Pure Cost In 2026?

This is the section where an old review can become misleading very quickly. When I first wrote about Virgin Pure in 2023, there were different upfront purchase, filter and Smart Service arrangements, with prices that are no longer a reliable guide to what a new customer would pay.

Virgin Pure is now Our Taap. The current Home Water System II subscription page advertises plans from £24.99 per month, with professional installation and a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. However, the final cost and what is included can depend on the plan, any initial payment, duration, filters, service and conditions. Check the complete terms directly rather than assuming the headline monthly figure is the entire cost.

If you are comparing it with boiling a kettle, buying bottled water or installing a filter tap, compare the total cost over a few years, including power and replacement parts. I would not claim it saves a particular amount without measuring our household’s actual electricity usage and knowing the current service price.

Virgin Pure Versus A Brita Filter Tap

We already had an older-style Brita three-way filter tap in the house, so I could compare them directly. The Brita filter tap provided filtered water from the sink, whereas the Virgin Pure machine also chilled and heated its water. The tap did not take up worktop space, but it did need periodic filter changes.

If all you want is better-tasting water and you are happy with room-temperature water, a filter tap may be the simpler option. If you make hot drinks all day and love chilled drinking water, the extra convenience of a plumbed-in dispenser is the point. Our Brita tap was getting old and leaky, so at the time I was seriously considering keeping the Virgin Pure unit and getting rid of the separate filter tap.

Is Virgin Pure Worth It? My Final Verdict

Based on the Home Water System II we tested, yes, for the right household. I was surprised by how often we used it. It fixed something that genuinely irritated me about our tap water, made it much easier to grab a cold drink and spared me the terrible hardship of waiting for the kettle to boil for my fifth tea of the day.

But I would not recommend buying one on the assumption that it automatically saves money or replaces every other water-related appliance. It is a premium convenience purchase, and the total cost matters. I would especially think twice if worktop space is tight, you rent your home, or you would struggle with the ongoing subscription or maintenance commitments.

If you are researching the Virgin Pure Home Water System II today, start with Our Taap’s explanation of the rebrand and the current Home Water System II packages. And if you tend to put the kettle on, wander off and come back to re-boil it for the third time, you may also appreciate my thoughts on British habits.

One safety note: I have removed an old suggestion that a mixed-temperature water dispenser could be used like a baby formula preparation machine. That is not an appropriate assumption. Follow the NHS guidance on preparing powdered infant formula, including its temperature requirements.