How to replace a kitchen faucet
Shut off both supply valves under the sink, disconnect the supply lines and the mounting nut, lift the old faucet out, set the new one, and reconnect. Budget two hours for a first attempt — the hard part is not the plumbing, it is working upside down in a cabinet with no room for your shoulders.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time
- 1–3 hours
- Parts cost
- $120–$400 for the faucet
- Trade
- Plumbing
What you need
- Basin wrench (the one tool that actually matters)
- Adjustable wrench
- Bucket and towels
- Plumber’s putty or silicone
- Flashlight or headlamp
- New supply lines — replace them, do not reuse
Step by step
- 01
Turn off the water and prove it is off
Close both angle stops under the sink, then open the faucet and let it run dry. If the valves are seized or will not fully close — common on anything over fifteen years old — stop and close the main shut-off instead. A seized angle stop that snaps off is how a faucet swap becomes a flood.
- 02
Clear the cabinet and get light in there
Empty everything out. Put a towel down for your back and a bucket under the connections. Almost every faucet job that goes badly goes badly because the person could not see what they were doing.
- 03
Disconnect the supply lines
Loosen the nuts where the supply lines meet the faucet tailpieces. Expect a cup or two of water. If the line is corroded onto the valve, do not force it — that is a replacement, not a disconnection.
- 04
Release the mounting nut
This is what the basin wrench is for. The nut sits directly above the sink deck where no normal wrench reaches. On older faucets it is often corroded; penetrating oil and fifteen minutes of patience beats brute force.
- 05
Lift out the old faucet and clean the deck
Scrape off the old putty and mineral crust. A new faucet will not seal against a dirty deck, and a slow seal leak under a sink can rot a cabinet base for months before anyone notices.
- 06
Set the new faucet
Follow the manufacturer’s gasket order exactly — most modern faucets use a rubber gasket rather than putty, and stacking both causes leaks. Hand-tighten the mounting hardware, check the faucet is square to the sink, then snug it.
- 07
Connect new supply lines and test
Use new braided lines. Hand-tight plus about a quarter turn — over-tightening splits the ferrule. Open the valves slowly, run both hot and cold, then dry every joint and watch it for five minutes with a flashlight. Check again in 24 hours.
Stop and call somebody if…
- A shut-off valve will not close, or weeps once you touch it
- The supply line is corroded onto the valve
- The mounting nut will not move and you are now applying real force above a porcelain sink
- You find soft or blackened wood in the cabinet base — that is existing water damage, not a faucet problem
- It still drips at a joint after two attempts at reseating it
Half the faucet calls we take are not faucets. They are a seized angle stop that came apart mid-job, and the customer is standing there with the water off to the whole house.
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Got halfway and had enough?
No judgement — half of what we do is finishing jobs somebody else started. Call either office.