Are whole-house water softeners not common in Europe? I live in a region in the US that doesn't have hard water, but most of the rest of the country does, so I'm only distantly familiar with the infrastructure, but the houses I've seen with softeners usually service the entire house at the point of entry. From what I've seen in Europe, companies advertise small kitchen water softeners or appliances with built-in soft…
In most of europe tap water has very good quality and you can just drink and use it without any filtering. edit: meaning it's a personal choice to soften / filter you water, but most people are fine with just tap water
Seconded, although some still go for under-the-counter 6 stage water filtration systems with a small tank for drinking water. There are also 4 stage filters for the water as soon as it enters the house (very basic ones that do not restrict the waterflow as much compared to the drinking water filters) and 2 stage under sink solutions you can use on a per-sink base. I have seen people use all kinds but rarely.