Kitchen Faucet Catridge Broke in Handle... What Now?

Yesterday my kitchen faucet broke. I am not a particularly handy person, and I know nothing about kitchen faucets. Complicating matters is the fact that I inherited this faucet with the house and have no clue what brand it is let alone what replacement parts I need.

I gather that my faucet is the type that uses a cartridge, and the cartridge broke off into the handle (see attached). My plan was to pull the cartridge out and take it to the hardware store to see if I could find a replacement, but I was unable to get the cartridge out. Because the tip of the cartridge broke out, there is not much to grab onto. I tried to use pliers, but I was unsuccessful. I feel defeated. and I am thinking maybe I am just not strong enough. And even if I were to manage to get the cartridge out, I don't think I could get the broken tip out of the handle.

So my reluctant thoughts at this point are to hire a professional to replace the whole faucet. I just want to double check that there is not an easier, more cost-effective solution. Am I on the right path with a professional replacement or should I try something else?

I'm an inexperienced plumber, but I personally would opt for changing the whole faucet just for the peace of mind.

Changing a faucet might look intimidating at first, but in my experience was really straight forward! Some pliers, twenty minutes, and some contortionist work had mine swapped out pronto.

There is even a BB for it! - https://permies.com/wiki/112870/pep-plumbing-hot-water/Replace-Faucet-PEP-BB-plumbing#922828

I am with Timothy with the suggestion to buy a new faucet.

We have never had a faucet with a cartridge to the best of my knowledge.

I guess I am lucky that I am married to someone who know all about that kind of stuff and is as handy as a shirt pocket.  

Inspired by your suggestions, I tried again to remove the cartridge with the hope of replacing the faucet myself. This time I got it to budge, and I felt optimistic! That is until water starting flowing out of the cartridge continuously, wetting my counters and floors and beginning to drip under the cabinet (I left it a while because I erroneously thought it was old water that would run out quickly). I turned off the water supply to the faucet yesterday and I confirmed again today that they were off, but fresh hot water was flowing to the disassembled faucet despite the supply being off. Now I am worried something might be wrong with the supply lines as well as the faucet. So I am back to trying to get professional service.

Before I got this house, I had such lofty dreams of repairing things myself, but the repair problems I face never seem as simple and straight forward as what I see in my maintenance books and in YouTube videos...

Thanks.

Timothy Norton wrote:...... and some contortionist work .....

...... and some contortionist work .....


...... and some contortionist work .....

:-0

Half agreeing and half remembering my new vocabulary learned upon trying to remove the retaining nuts from behind the sink bowls.  This was bad enough when I was still referred to as "the human pretzel"  lol....can't imagine what it would be like today.  

But in all, I agree with T.N. here and with a similar sink cartridge now going bad, will soon replace the entire faucet.  My newest rendition of replacement is to rock the current broken faucet back and forth a bit to create a small crevice between the sink/gasket at the base of the faucet itself.  This will render the connecting threaded pipes vulnerable to that wonder of wonders, the reciprocating saw!  With a bit of luck and perhaps a mild bit of abrasion to the sink surface, the entire head is removed by cutting through the connecting pipes with a hacksaw-type blade, the cut pipes falling down from behind the bowls and you hopefully can replace connecting hoses from the shut-offs to the new faucet head much easier than trying to unscrew corroded metal or plastic nuts from behind the sink bowls.  Our hard water kills faucets in about 7-10 years, so at ~$100 for a new two-handle faucet that's between a $10 - 15 per year for that unit if installed yourself.  (The one good thing about hard water is that any small leaks you leave behind from your handi-work will seal shut from corrosion in a short few days! .... that advice, free of charge    )   Hoping you have a master shut-off that can be used for now and for when replacing the currently defective items in your flow stream......Good luck!

If you do wind up getting a plumber, get this person to show you where the whole house shut-off valve is. This will give you time to solve future problems without the house getting flooded.

I never seem to have the cash to upgrade when stuff breaks... My recommendation is do not buy this style of faucet. Over the course of 18 years, I have had three of them break at the base of the neck. Both this style and the style with two knobs.



I am hoping the below-style neck will have a longer life.

If you are on a well, it will be a simple shut-off lever. If you are on city water, one of these things is about $20 bucks to buy. A simple tool to give you time to think.

When we replaced the bathroom faucets we found a lever style "contractor's grade" - the sort they'd put in apartment buildings or hotels. Basic, a bit more expensive, but they've given us no problem, so when you consider our time to fix them, totally worth it. Harder to find similar in a kitchen faucet, but try asking local plumbers what brands and models they *don't* have to keep replacing!

If you can get shutoffs under the sink at the same time, I also recommend that. Again, Hubby installed the lever type (ball valve I think they're called) and they seem less prone to leakage than those stupid turny ones found in awkward spots behind toilets.