My house is 13 years old. I have had occasion to disconnect various
faucets, toilets, dishwasher, etc. for upgrades, replacement, or
remodelling projects. Each fixture has a shutoff valve connecting it
to a 1/2" copper pipe - all well and good. However, it seems that
everytime I turn off one of these valves, it breaks/leaks, etc.
requiring me to shut off the main supply valve and replace the
smaller one at the fixture, completely negating the benefit of having
these valves installed in the first place. Indeed, it turns out to
be more work and expense than if these valves were not there at all.
Each time, in mid-project, I trek over to my local HD and/or Menards
and/or Ace Hardware and buy a new valve to replace the old one. Each
time, I look for something that might be a better quality to minimize
the chances of this happening the next time. It seems that they only
carry one level of quality, however, so I fear that I will live with
this situation forever. What gives? I recall cursing the building
code in my previous home for not requiring these valves. Alas, I'm
no better off with them. Indeed, this is worse! I'd be hard pressed
to consider this to be a water quality issue (Suburban Chicago, Lake
Michigan water - shouldn't be too bad)

Any suggestions on where to buy valves that will outlast the fixture
that they are feeding?

-Mike