This is by far the easiest kitchen makeover, it really is surprising how much of a difference a little change like this can make. So whether you are experiencing a drip or leak or you are just in need for a quick kitchen makeover, sooner or later you may want to learn how to replace a kitchen faucet. It is certainly worth learning because it happened to be one of the easiest home improvement projects out there. With just a few tools and half an hour, even the least handy homeowner should be able to swap out a faucet in no time.

Tools You Will Need

• Faucet Installation Kit
• Adjustable Wrench
• Phillips Screwdriver

Step 1

Unless you want a watery mess, turn off both your hot and cold water supply lines. Next, remove the old kitchen faucet, along with any associated hardware. You will do this by going under your counter and using an adjustable wrench to disconnect faucet hoses from the water supply lines and to remove the nut holding the faucet in place, located on the underside of teh sink’s surface.

Step 2

After you have removed the old faucet, you will see open holes – either one or three – where the faucet ued to be. However many hols your sink has, make sure your faucet kit comes with the right equipment to cover that number.

For single-hole sinks, you will need a spout-based gasket, which is the O-shapped plastic ring. Feed teh hoses attached to your faucet through the gasket so it is alighned with the bottom of the faucet.

If your sink has 3 holes, you will use a deck plate instead of the gasket. This is simply a rectangular pice of metal with a hole in the middle and two stoppers on either side. Similar to the process outlined about, you will want to feed the hoses through the hole in the middle of the deck plate and then align the plat with the bottom of the faucet.

Step 3

Once your gastet or deck plate is attached to the bottom of your faucet, feed the hoses attached to your faucet through the center hole in your sink, make sure everything is properly aligned. The spout should be facing forward, and all the holes in your sink should be completely covered.

Step 4

If your countertop sink is less than a half-inch thick, you will need to use the support bracket from your instalation kit. it should look like the rectangulr metal piece pictured below. From the underside of your sink, slide the bracket over the faucet hoses until it is flush with the sink base. Hold the braket in place.

If your countertop or sink is more than a half-inch thick, skip the next step.

Step 5

Regaurdless of countertop thickness, your installation kit will come with a metal curcular washer . Slide the washer up over the hoses and other hardware.

Step 6

Next hold the hoses out of the way so you can focus on the faucet shank. Take the nut from your installation kit and slide it up the faucet shank. Use your fingers to tighten the nut as much as possible. Since the nut is what holde the faucet in place, it needs to  be as tight as possible. Faucet installation kits provide a tool to help tighten. Sometimes the tool will be too hard to turn by hand, so many plumbers recommend using a flat-head screwdriver to twist the tube through the hole at the bottom.

Once the nut is secure, take the small cap from your faucet installations kit and place it over the bottom of the faucet shank. Doing so will prevent the shank’s rough edges from damaging the hoses during use.

Step 7

Use your adjustable wrench to connect the faucet hoses to your hot and cold water supply lines. There should be tags on the hoses to delineate the correct hose for each temperature. Make sure the connections are snug, but in this case at least, don’t overly tighten them because this could cause a leak.

Step 8

It is time to test the faucet. Check to make sure your faucet is in the off position and let the water run for at least 15 seconds. This will allow you to check for leaks and flush any debris out of the system.