How to Choose a Kitchen Faucet

Start With the Sink

Before you look at a single style, look at your sink. The holes on the top deck decide what you can install. A sink with one hole takes a single-handle faucet. A sink with three holes can take a faucet with separate handles, or a single-handle faucet on a cover plate. Some sinks have four holes for a side spray or a soap dispenser.

If you cover an extra hole with a deck plate, the plate must come with the faucet or be made for it. A plate bought separately often does not sit right. Check that the faucet lists your hole count on the box. A faucet that does not match your sink does not get fixed by a plumber, it gets returned.

Look underneath too. Many mountain homes have deep cabinets with a lot in them, and a few have thin sinks like stainless steel that flex when tightened. If the sink is thin or the cabinet is cramped, tell Ryan when you ask him about the install. Tight spots take more time and the job should be priced with that in mind, before any work starts.

Spout Height and Reach

Think about what you do at the sink. If you fill stock pots or wash big roasting pans, you need a tall spout with room to tilt a pot under it. If your window sits right behind the sink or a cabinet hangs low, a tall arc will hit it. Reach matters too: the stream should land in the middle of the basin, not on the back lip or on the drain.

A pull-down spray head comes down out of a tall spout and works well in a deep sink. A pull-out head reaches toward you and works in a shorter space. Either way, the hose that runs under the sink has to have room to move, so leave space in the cabinet for the weight that hangs on it.

Handle placement matters more than people think. A handle on the right is easiest for right-handed users, but if the sink sits in a corner or beside a stove, check that the handle has a clear swing.

What Is Inside Matters

Every faucet has a valve inside, usually a cartridge. This is the part that wears out first, and what the water does to it decides how long the faucet lasts. A good cartridge is replaceable, and the maker keeps selling the part for years. A cheap faucet may have a cartridge that can not be bought at all, so a small drip means a new faucet.

You can not see the cartridge in the store, but you can look for signs. Read the product page for the words replaceable cartridge or ceramic valve. Look at the warranty and the support page: if the company sells parts, you will find them. Heavy weight in the hand usually means brass in the body. Very light faucets often have plastic parts inside.

Finish matters less than people expect, but it is not nothing. Polished and plain finishes show water spots. Brushed finishes hide them. Some finishes scratch from cleaning pads.

Hard Water, Wells and Mountain Homes

The water in your house changes what you should buy. Hard water leaves mineral scale in the aerator, the small screen at the tip of the spout, and on the cartridge. Scale makes a faucet sputter, spray sideways and stick. Well water can also carry sand or iron that clogs aerators and wears seals. The post on hard water and plumbing in Georgia explains what that does to fixtures, and filtration versus a softener covers fixing it at the source.

For a house on a well, a simple faucet with few moving parts and a screw-off aerator is often the better pick. A sensor faucet, a faucet with a built-in filter or one with a lot of spray settings gives scale and grit more places to catch. If you add a water treatment system later, the faucet will last longer. Ryan does water treatment as well as fixture work.

In a cabin that sits empty over winter, the same thinking applies. Shut the water off and drain the lines, and open the faucet handles so no water is trapped. The winterizing checklist walks through it.

Installing It, and When to Call

Replacing a kitchen faucet is a job many homeowners try. The trouble tends to come from old shutoff valves under the sink that will not close or leak when touched, from nuts that are corroded in place, and from tight cabinets that make the work hard to reach. If the valves under your sink are old and stuck, replace them at the same time instead of fighting them later.

Ryan installs faucets, and you can buy the faucet yourself or he can source one for you. He gives a free estimate before any work starts. If you want a second look at your choice before you buy, text him a photo.