We've talked about rental kitchen upgrades (how far would you go?) and special kitchen projects, and it seems like many of us are willing to go beyond new curtains or a coat of paint to make a long-term rental more functional and beautiful. Here's one idea for a rental kitchen upgrade that we hadn't considered until recently: a new faucet.
Every rental apartment that we've been in has had an old, junky faucet. Right now our faucet leaks badly, and, more to the point, there are two on/off taps. Our water can get very hot and we're always scrambling at the taps to avoid getting burned, and trying to get just the right mix of hot and cold water.
It would be much nicer, plus better from a water efficiency perspective, to have an all-in-one on/off handle. So we're replacing our faucet.
Yes, it's not the cheapest thing; faucets can get very pricey! But we have found single-handle faucets as low as $80, and some quite nice faucets with high arched faucet spouts (great for washing pots!) for about $150.
This seems like a small investment for something you use many times a day, especially if you plan to be in your rental for a long time. Plus, if your faucet is a true piece of junk, and it really needs to be replaced, your landlord may let you pick out a much nicer one and cover at least some of the cost.
And as far as installation goes, a new faucet is usually quite simple to install! We'll show you our own process of replacing a faucet a little later this week.
What do you think? Would you replace a faucet in a rental kitchen?
More rental kitchen upgrades:
• Small Rental Kitchen Upgrade: Swap Out the Switch Plates
• Ten Kitchen Improvements for Renters
• Three More Rental Kitchen Ideas from Domino
• Rental Kitchen Makeover: Leea's Lovely Little Budget
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i would go for it if i was also replacing the counter top! I am really close to replacing my bathroom sink ( I hate it that much!)
If you buy an expensive faucet and the landlord won't chip in, you can always save the old one and switch them back out when you leave. Then it's more like investing in a piece of kitchen equipment you can keep than an upgrade to the apartment that you'll have to take a loss on.
Yes! I would definitely do this, esp. if I found a good deal on a single-handle faucet. I am also considering replacing the leaky-hard-to-turn one in the bathroom, esp. after seeing a nicer faucet on the exact same Home Depot special sink basin at a friend's place this weekend. Looking forward to seeing how your installation goes!
I've been dying to replace my kitchen faucet. There's nothing wrong with, but I want one with a spray function and maybe even a higher arch. The only thing that has been stopping me is the price tag. There's no way I'd leave it in my rental when I decide to leave, but $200? Maybe, I'm being cheap.
We're actually pretty lucky. Our rental kitchen faucet does have two knobs, but it works quite well. It doesn't leak and we have a sprayer. My boyfriend especially likes it because it's not low-flow.
I replaced the faucet and love the new one. It doesn't drip! I tried to replace the faucet by myself (single female) and did fine until I ran across a rusted bolt that even liquid wrench wouldn't dissolve. I even tried a steel wire brush. In the end, a very stong brother came to help. Make sure you have a stong Plan B and the proper pipe tools. It's worth the effort to do it yourself.
The faucet at my house is totally my nemesis! It's the two-knob kind and traps a lot of water behind it when the kids wash the dishes every night. I think I just might have to price out a new one since we plan on renting in our current location indefinitely :)
@lona, you can try an old mechanic's trick: get a length of pipe that will fit over your wrench handle and use it to make the wrench longer. You'll be able to apply more force that way but be careful: it IS possible to sheer off (break) the bolt and then you're screwed (no pun intended) unless it's replacable.
I've thought about replacing mine, but mostly I just need it not to leak. I should really call maintenance for it.
I'm all about replacing mine. I need a sprayer bad. After browsing my neighborhood hardware store, I found a nice $40 candidate.
We recently just replaced ours in our rental home and our landlords paid for it! It makes washing the dishes much much easier (we have a high-arched one with a pull-out spray nozzle thingy)!
Save the crummy faucet that came with the rental. That way when you move, you can put it back on and take your nice faucet with you to your next home. (I've done that with shower heads.)
The biggest issue with changing the faucet in a rental is whether you have access to the water cutoff. Although you should be able to do it by only turning off the water under the sink, if something goes wrong, you need to be able to shut off the water. (I ran into this problem when I changed the faucet in my rental apartment a couple of years back - the cutoff under the sink was old and broke off when I was in the middle of the faucet replacement.)
When I moved into my apartment I didn't think I'd be there very long, but I just renewed my lease for another year, and am thinking hard about replacing some things like the shower head, dining room light, and sink faucet. I figure I can just take all of these out when I leave -- right?
One of the first things I did in our townhouse was replace the kitchen faucet with a $100 faucet/sprayer combo. It was the best $100 I've ever spent. I would do it again in a second. The second thing I did was buy $30 work of matching knobs from Home Depot for all the kitchen cabinets - so they all match. Would do that again, too.
I still don't like my kitchen, the cabinets and counters are ugly. The stove/oven is the cheapest thing out there and the fridge - don't get me started.
But I feel much better when I cook and fill a large pot with my fabulous faucet. And it's so much prettier to look at the cabinets now with their pretty new knobs.
We've been here two years. I've definitely gotten my money's worth.
I put one in my place right away. Moreover, I took out the $17 three hole and put in a soap dispenser, filtered water tap, and pull-out high arch single hole faucet.
On account of my no-dishwasher kitchen, I'm not sure I would have survived with that crappy old faucet. Though I made it through a year in the UK without even a mixing tap. Oops?
Oh man this is the one big thing I feel I absolutely must do in my rented house. This sinks are small which isn't the problem for me it's that the faucet sucks and is so low to the sink that you can barely wash anything bigger than a small saucepan. My boyfriend thinks we should ask the landlord first, but I say I'll be putting in something that makes the kitchen more valuable to future renters whenever we happen to move. And I'd rather ask forgiveness than be told no for some reason because the current tap is intolerable.