For a few years I had the Pet Mate fountain. It was plastic and it too was a pain to take a part and clean. And then you feel like you can never get it clean enough because of the crevices. Plus it had a reservoir container. While that is kinda nice, I always had trouble with the plastic cap breaking or not working causing the water to overflow.
So about a month ago I bought the drinkwell 360 stainless steel fountain. I love it!! So do the furkids, they prefer it over the other fountain and water bowls.
I've been looking for a good stainless steel one and was so happy to find this one. Stainless steel is much healthier as bacteria grows on the plastic ones and over time they get scratches where bacteria will stay. Also some have allergies to plastic such as my cocker spaniel.
It comes with a five different spout heads. I have multiple dogs so I used the one with five different spouts so they can all get a drink at the same time if they want. You can also control the speed of the streams by twisting the cap. I love watching them use it. Some prefer drinking out of the bowl while others will drink the stream. The water stays cooler too I think because of the steel. Oh and no reservoirs to worry about, it holds a lot of water!!
It is also super easy to clean. Only takes a few minutes to disassemble and clean and you can clean every part thoroughly, no crevices to worry about. This is the best part I think because it takes so little time to clean it so I don't mind cleaning it so much.
My one and only complaint is that it uses plastic clips to hold the tray part down. So it isn't completely plastic free but still much better. You have to be careful with the clips. I almost broke them the first time trying to get them off but once I figured out how to get them off it was easy.
All in all I highly recommend it!!
I think you would love it too as it really only has 2 pieces to clean. The bowl and then the tray which has the cone/fountain part to it.
Hope this helps!!