The entire tap structure with base and hot & cold water tubes turn when you change direction. Base will unscrew itself in due time.

Great pull out tap. For those considering one of those fancy big tall mixer taps that really belong in a laundry, be aware that the long 'drop' from the tap down to the sink means you get water splashing everywhere around your sink. The pull out design like this is much better - you can extend it when you need it and the other 99% of the time it's concealed. The thumb button changes the spray from a single jet to a multiple stream. Good for things like washing vegies. The downside to this tap was that it wasn't 100% compatible with our Franke sink. I'm not completely sure on why but there wasn't quite enough clearance to screw it to the underside of the sink. Our plumber had to improvise a little by putting in a 'ring' of pipe about 1cm tall so that there was more clearance room. I'm not sure if this is the fault of the tap (maybe it should come with an adapter ring?) or the sink, but hey... both are Franke so it's reasonable to expect that they will work 100% together out of the box! If not for that I would give it 5 stars. Be aware that the tap has a relatively 'wide' degree of swivel. So it can actually swing around a little too far and over the edge of the sink if you move it too far. This is by design though, so it's more something to be aware of.