How to Replace a Kitchen Faucet: DIY Job or Pro Call?

Knowing how to replace a kitchen faucet is not the hard part. The hard part is knowing whether your house is the easy version of this job or the hard one.

In the Twin Cities, that question matters before you buy anything or touch a valve. According to a report prepared for the Minnesota House of Representatives, 80% of Minneapolis homes were built before 1978, and the median construction year is 1951. In St. Paul, 41.57% of homes predate 1939 - one of the oldest urban housing stocks in the country. Most Twin Cities kitchens have shutoff valves that haven’t moved in decades, supply lines that may be corroded or rigid, and fittings scaled by some of the hardest municipal water in the state.

This guide walks you through the checklist that tells you which version of this job you have - before you pick up a wrench.

Is replacing a kitchen faucet a DIY job?

In the right house, yes. If your shutoff valves turn freely, your supply lines are braided stainless, and the base cabinet gives you room to swing a basin wrench, this is manageable for a careful homeowner with basic tools. Fail any one of those three checks and the complexity scales up quickly - sometimes into emergency territory.

Here is the short decision framework:

• Post-1985 home, quarter-turn ball valves, flexible braided supply lines: True DIY. A careful first-timer can handle this in an afternoon.
• Pre-1980 home, multi-turn gate valves, or aged copper supply lines: Do the under-sink checklist in the next section before you start. You may still be able to DIY it, but you need to know what you’re looking at first.
• Pre-1960 home, galvanized pipe, or any visible corrosion on the shutoff valves: Inspect carefully before you commit to anything. Be prepared to call before you make the problem bigger.

The guides you find online write for new-construction suburbs. This one is written for the house you actually own.

How do you replace a kitchen faucet?

This is the step-by-step for the straightforward version of the job. Do the under-sink checklist first. If your shutoffs and supply lines check out, here is the process from start to finish.

1. Gather your tools. You need a basin wrench (the long-handled wrench that reaches behind the sink), channel-lock pliers, an adjustable wrench, plumber’s putty or silicone per your faucet’s instructions, a bucket, and old towels.

2. Shut off the water. Turn both shutoff valves under the sink clockwise until they stop. Turn the faucet on to release line pressure. Let it drain fully before you disconnect anything.

3. Disconnect the supply lines. Put the bucket and towels under the valves. Loosen the supply line nuts with channel-lock pliers and pull the lines free. Some water will drain even after the valves are fully closed - that is normal.

4. Remove the faucet. Get under the sink with the basin wrench. Loosen and remove the mounting nuts holding the faucet body to the underside of the sink deck. Once the hardware is off, the faucet lifts out from the top.

5. Clean the deck surface. Scrape off old putty or silicone from the mounting area. Wipe the surface clean and dry before you set the new fixture. Old material left under the new gasket causes leaks.

6. Install the new faucet. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions exactly - they vary by brand and faucet style. The standard sequence is: set the base gasket or putty ring, drop the faucet body into the mounting holes from the top, thread the mounting hardware from below, and tighten with the basin wrench. Snug is the target. Over-tightening cracks plastic trim components and is one of the most common first-timer mistakes.

7. Connect the supply lines. Attach the new supply lines to the shutoff valves. Hand-tight first, then a quarter-turn with pliers. No more than that. Over-tightening compression fittings deforms the seat and causes drips.

8. Turn the water on slowly. Open both shutoff valves slowly. Run hot and cold for 30 seconds. Inspect every connection - at the valves, at the faucet supply ports, and around the faucet base. If you find a drip, tighten that fitting one more quarter-turn.

A cooperative house with good clearance and ball-valve shutoffs takes two to four hours for a first-timer. Budget more time if you run into resistance anywhere along the way.

What should you check under the sink before you start?

Do this checklist before you buy a faucet or move anything. The answers tell you whether you have the easy job or the hard one.

What kind of shutoff valves do you have, and will they move?

Ball valves have a lever handle and shut off with a single 90-degree turn. They are common in homes built after the mid-1980s and generally reliable. Round or oval handles indicate an older valve type - a gate valve or multi-turn globe valve that may not have been operated in years, or in some older homes, decades.

Shutoff valves that have not been turned in a long time can crack when you move them. One plumbing resource states it plainly: “Even a slow quarter-turn can crack corroded components and make the problem significantly worse.” Gate valves in particular fail at higher rates in hard-water conditions, often within 10 to 15 years.

Before you turn either valve, look for these warning signs:

• Stiff or completely stuck handle
• Green or white mineral buildup on brass fittings
• Rust or orange discoloration on the steel valve body
• Any moisture, dripping, or weeping around the stem
• A handle that turns but does not fully stop the flow

If any of these apply, read the stop-and-call section before you proceed. Our post on what to do when a shutoff valve is stuck or won’t turn covers your options in detail.

Are the supply lines braided stainless or rigid metal?

Look at the lines running from the shutoff valves up to the faucet ports. Braided stainless lines are flexible and easy to disconnect. Rigid copper or chrome-plated lines take more force and can fail at the connection point if the fitting is corroded. If your lines are rigid, add extra attention and extra time to this part of the job.

Do you have clearance to use a basin wrench?

Get under the sink and simulate swinging a basin wrench up behind the sink deck to reach the mounting nuts. A narrow base cabinet with a large drain assembly in the center may not give you enough clearance. Know this before you have the old faucet halfway off and no way to reinstall it.

What is different about this job in a pre-1960 Twin Cities home?

In a home built before 1960, the same job involves more variables. Metropolitan Council estimates that more than one in three pre-1960 Twin Cities housing units have serious maintenance problems. Plumbing is among the most common sources.

Here is what you are more likely to encounter in older Twin Cities kitchens:

• Gate valves. More common in pre-1980 construction. Higher failure rates in hard-water conditions. More likely to weep or fail to seal fully after being operated even once.
• Galvanized pipe behind the valves. If the stub-outs behind the shutoff valves are galvanized, internally corroded threads can snap during the swap. Our post on galvanized pipe replacement in older Twin Cities homes walks through what to expect when galvanized is in the picture.
• Mineral-seized nuts. Decades of hard water deposit calcium and magnesium scale on every threaded connection. A mounting nut that looks intact from the outside may require far more torque than the surrounding material can handle without cracking.
• Cramped base cabinets. Pre-1960 cabinetry is often shallower and narrower than today’s standard. You may not be able to operate a basin wrench at all without removing shelving or a cabinet face.

None of these automatically ends the DIY effort. But each one is a reason to inspect honestly and be ready to stop before you turn a manageable repair into an emergency.

Why does Minneapolis water hardness change this calculation?

Minneapolis tap water tests at 280.5 ppm, or 16.4 grains per gallon, and is classified as Very Hard. That level of hardness deposits mineral scale continuously on every brass and copper fitting the water contacts.

A shutoff valve installed in 1998 and never turned since has had nearly 30 years of Minneapolis water depositing calcium and magnesium inside its housing. The mineral buildup can effectively lock the valve in place. The same valve in a newer suburb with softer water may turn without issue. In Minneapolis, you do not know until you try - and if the valve cracks when you force it, you now have a shutoff valve replacement job on your hands before the faucet even comes off.

St. Paul municipal water comes in at 130 ppm, or 7.6 grains per gallon, classified Moderately Hard. That is roughly half the hardness of Minneapolis. Scale still forms over time, and fittings still corrode over decades. The risk is lower, but it is not zero.

If hard water scale is showing up throughout your home - on aerators, showerheads, and appliances - our hard water treatment page covers the solutions that address it at the source.

When should you stop and call a plumber?

Stop at any one of these four situations. Each turns a faucet swap into a larger job that requires the right tools and training to handle safely.

1. The shutoff valve is seized, corroded, or weeping.

If the handle is stiff, the valve body shows rust or heavy mineral buildup, or there is any moisture around the stem, do not force it. Warning signs to check for before you operate an older valve include: stiff or stuck handle, green or white buildup on brass fittings, rust on the steel body, dripping around the stem after any movement, and a handle that won’t fully stop flow. Forcing a seized valve can crack the valve body and start a leak with no easy stop short of the main shutoff.

One more rule applies here: if one of the two shutoff valves shows signs of failure, plan to replace both. They were installed on the same day under the same conditions. If one is failing, the other is close behind.

2. The supply lines are rigid metal.

Braided stainless disconnects cleanly with hand tools. Rigid copper or chrome-plated lines require more force, and if the compression fitting at the valve end is corroded, that force can crack the fitting or score the valve seat. Rigid supply lines in an older home are a signal to call before you disconnect anything.

3. The shutoff valve won’t fully stop flow.

Close the valve, then open the faucet. If water runs freely, the valve is not sealing. If it slows but still drips - or slows down and then picks back up - the valve seat is worn. You cannot safely disconnect supply lines from a valve that won’t close. This is a shutoff valve replacement job, and it needs to happen before the faucet work.

4. You cannot reach the mounting nut.

If the base cabinet is too tight to swing a basin wrench, or the drain assembly blocks access to the faucet mounting hardware, stop before you improvise. Forcing the wrong tool on a faucet mounting nut can crack the sink deck or break the locknut in place - turning a two-hour job into a full sink repair.

Any of these four situations is a clean signal to call. Our team handles all of them, including the jobs that start as one thing and reveal something larger.

Does replacing a kitchen faucet require a permit in Minneapolis?

No. Minneapolis explicitly lists sink faucets as permit-exempt work, including “internal working parts of existing water closets, faucets, or valves” for like-for-like replacement at the same location. The governing code is Minnesota Administrative Rules, Chapter 4714. You do not need to pull a permit for a standard faucet swap in Minneapolis.

That exemption covers the faucet. Replacing the shutoff valves is a separate scope of work, and permit requirements for valve replacement vary by municipality. Suburbs including Brooklyn Park, Coon Rapids, and Minnetonka each have their own thresholds and requirements. If you are outside Minneapolis city limits, check with your city’s building department before you start - or have a licensed plumber do the work, which makes the permit question their responsibility.

The homeowner exemption in Minnesota is narrower than in many states, so when in doubt about what a planned repair actually covers, a quick call to your municipality is faster than discovering mid-project that you needed a permit.

Ready to call instead?

If you hit one of those four stop signs, or if you would rather have the job done correctly without spending an afternoon on the kitchen floor, our team is available.

Northern Benjamin Franklin Plumbing is locally owned and operated in the Twin Cities. We back every appointment with our On-Time Guarantee(R): we arrive in the window you choose, or we pay you $5 for every minute we are late, up to $300. “If there is any delay, it’s you we pay!” Every job is also backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

We handle faucet replacements, shutoff valve replacements, supply-line upgrades, and the harder jobs that start as one thing and turn into another. See our faucet and fixture services or call (763) 296-1844 to book.