Mike Barnes wrote:

Ian Jackson :

I'm asking this because my wife and I both prefer the taps to turn the
opposite way to the 'standard', which is, when off, with the handles
jutting forwards, across the sink bowl. We much prefer the handles to
be parked folded pointing outwards (-o and o-).

Same here. I don't understand the "standard" - it makes no sense to me,
on any level.

Doesn't it? Then what would?

Of course you may feel that they ought to operate in the same way as
ordinary taps (clockwise off for both hot and cold), but if you accept
that (for aesthetic reasons) they need to operate clockwise on for one
and clockwise off for the other, then the choice is between (a) pushing
both handles away from you for on, and (b) pulling towards you for on.

It seems to me that of those two options the former is the more natural,
by association with, say, a slider volume control on audio equipment,
or rheostat theatre lighting controls.

The problem may be that you don't think in terms of away/towards, but
are mentally stuck in clockwise/anticlockwise terms. The cold tap is
the one you tend to operate much more often than the hot, and if that
is on the right hand side (as it usually is), turning it off clockwise
would correspond to option (b).