Kitchen Tap Replacement Tools
The Kitchen tap tools needed to replace a kitchen tap can vary, but here are our recommendations for most kitchen taps:
Most kitchen taps have a horseshoe-type bracket to hold the tap to the kitchen sink. These horseshoe brackets are held with threaded rods and one or two small nuts.
The nut sizes vary on different taps, so a monobloc tap spanner set between 8 – 13mm will do the job. This is the same as changing basin taps, kitchen taps and single lever basin taps are virtually the same underneath
Learning how to change bath taps is quite different and can be a lot harder.
How to Remove a Kitchen Tap
To remove a kitchen tap:
How to Fit a Kitchen Tap
To fit a kitchen tap:
How to change a kitchen tap with copper pipes
Changing a kitchen tap with copper pipes is a bit more tricky than changing a kitchen tap with flexible tap connectors
You can follow the above steps for the most part.
You will need to cut the copper pipes with a 15mm pipe cutter and fit some isolating valves to the copper pipes, then you fit the new flexible tap connectors to the new isolating valves after removing the top nuts.
How to change a kitchen tap cartridge
To change a kitchen tap cartridge and fix a dripping tap, you need to remove the tap handle (usually with a 2,5mm hex key) and then remove the cartridge with an adjustable spanner, then fit the new kitchen tap cartridge and refit the handle
We would recommend purchasing the replacement head before beginning the job these can often be purchased directly from the manufacturer or your local plumber's merchant should be able to order them providing you know who manufactured the tap.
Conclusion
Replacing a kitchen tap can be difficult, especially if it’s hard to access.
Sometimes it’s virtually impossible to get any tools in properly because of the cupboard or other pipework
Make sure you turn the water supply off first and make sure to tighten the nuts up securely as you don’t want the tap coming loose after a few uses.