Choosing a faucet that will actually fit

One: count the holes

Look at the back edge of the sink, or at the counter behind it. You are counting holes, not fittings.

• One hole. Single-hole faucet, or a faucet with its own base plate that covers nothing else.
• Three holes, four inches apart centre to centre. Centerset. Common on bathroom basins.
• Three holes, eight inches apart. Widespread. The handles are separate pieces.
• Four holes. Usually a three-hole faucet plus a side sprayer or a soap dispenser.

A faucet with a deck plate can cover extra holes. Nothing can create one. If you want a single-hole faucet on a three-hole sink, you need the plate; if you want a widespread on a four-inch sink, you are changing the sink.

Two: measure the deck thickness

This is the one people miss. The faucet's mounting hardware has to reach through the sink deck or the counter and still have thread left to tighten onto. A thin stainless sink is a few millimetres. A granite counter with an undermount sink can be an inch and a half or more.

Most faucets state a maximum deck thickness in the specification. If yours is a stone counter, read that number before you buy, not after.

Three: look at what the supply lines thread onto

Under the sink there are two small valves — hot and cold — with flexible lines running up to the faucet. The faucet end of those lines is what matters. Modern faucets usually arrive with their own lines already attached, ending in a half-inch fitting. Older installations sometimes have three-eighths compression at the faucet, or copper soldered straight in.

If the new faucet comes with its own lines, you mostly need the valve end to match. Take a photo of the valves and send it to whoever is fitting it. It takes ten seconds and it is the difference between one trip and two.

Four: try the shutoff valves

This is the single most useful thing you can do before ordering anything. Reach under the sink and turn each small valve clockwise until it stops. Then turn it back.

If both turn smoothly and the water stops, your faucet swap is a short job. If one is stiff, weeps from the stem, or turns without stopping the water, that valve needs replacing first — and that is a separate line on any honest estimate, agreed before anything is unscrewed. Multi-turn valves that have not moved since the house was built fail far more often than people expect.

Pull-down sprayers, and the weight

A pull-down kitchen faucet has a counterweight clipped to the hose below the sink. It is what pulls the spray head back up into its seat. If a pull-down faucet stops retracting properly, nine times in ten the weight has come off, or the hose is catching on the waste pipe or the disposal. That is a two-minute fix, not a new faucet.

Finish, and the thing nobody mentions

Brushed nickel and stainless hide water marks. Polished chrome shows every drop but cleans in a second. Matte black looks superb for about a week and then shows everything, particularly in hard water — and water in much of the South Bay is hard enough to leave a visible film on a dark finish within days. None of that is a reason not to buy it. It is a reason to know before you do.

What this costs if you would rather not

You buy the faucet you want — you are the one who has to look at it. Send me the model and a photo of what is under the sink, and I will tell you whether it fits before you order, which is the part that actually saves money.