How To Care for A Kitchen Faucet

Jessica Wiest
Last updated: January 22, 2024

Proper care and maintenance can keep a kitchen faucet free from building up germs, bacteria, grime and mineral deposits. Besides, regular maintenance can retain the Faucet’s luxurious appearance for years. But how to care for a kitchen faucet in the right way?

We can divide the Faucet into two main parts. One is daily maintenance, and another is occasional cleaning. Both cleaning and maintenance should be done based on the faucet materials.

This guide will discuss the daily maintenance and cleaning of kitchen faucets. If you are curious about maintaining kitchen taps, stick with this guide to know how do you maintain your kitchen faucet.

What You will Know show

What Are the Different Maintenances of A Kitchen Faucet?

Wipe daily:

Spending one to two minutes cleaning your kitchen faucet is important. Daily cleaning can protect the faucets from building up dirt and grime. Must remember to use mild soap and soft microfiber cloth. Avoid using harsh chemical ammonia, bleach and abrasive sponges.

Check mineral buildup:

Checking mineral buildup is recommended once a week. Generally, only a few minerals can be deposited in a week. So, use some vinegar solution to clean the weekly deposited minerals. Soak the Faucet with vinegar solution for sometimes then rinse with water.

Prolonged maintenance:

You can do it monthly. Monthly maintenance is ideal to make your kitchen faucet cleaner and shinier. Although, this is a time-consuming process but it is very effective.

In this stage, the main task is to clean or replace the faucet aerator. So, unscrew the cap from the end of the Faucet. Then, soak the aerator into a water-vinegar and detergent solution. After soaking for a while, wash the aerator well with water, put it back into the Faucet and put the cap on.

Finally, check the Faucet once again to see any leakage. If so, repair the Faucet or replace it with a new one.

Yearly maintenance:

A year is a long time, so it is not recommended to clean Faucet so late. When you clean the Faucet after a long time, use a slightly diluted vinegar and detergent solution. A concentrated vinegar detergent solution removes hard mineral deposits. So, these are the most effective ways of how do you maintain your kitchen taps.

Kitchen Faucet Maintenance Based on Materials

When you ask, what is the life of a kitchen faucet? It depends on the built material and ideal maintenance. Remember that faucet maintenance is different based on the material.

Brass:

The brass faucet can easily get scratched. So, use mild detergent and vinegar to clean the brass faucet. Always avoid acidic fluid and abrasive detergent for brass finish. Otherwise, the brass appearance may lose its glossiness.

Besides, use baking soda and white vinegar paste to remove oxidation from the brass faucet. Additionally, using lemon and table salt can help to remove stains. And adding some polish will make a brass faucet new-like glossy.

Stainless steel:

Using mild soap and water is enough to clean the steel faucet. But remember to avoid steel scrubbers and abrasive cleaners to clean steel faucets. Never let your dampened cloth on the steel faucet for drying because it can gradually reduce the shiny vibe of the steel.

Chrome:

Your chrome faucet may lose its surface blemishes by water and fingerprints over time. A solution with equal water and white vinegar is ideal for a chrome surface. Use a soft cloth to wipe the chrome finish after rinsing. Like other materials, avoid abrasive scrubbers and soap to clean chrome.

Bronze:

Bronze material can easily get corrosion and green film. That is why regular cleaning is important for bronze faucets. Wipe your bronze tap with a soft microfiber cloth to remove toothpaste, water spots and soap.

If the bronze faucet is slightly dirty, cleaning it with warm water and salt will give good results. But deeper cleaning needs a deeper flour, white vinegar and salt solution. Leave the Faucet for one hour after applying vinegar salt paste. Then rinse the Faucet with water and wipe with a soft cloth.

Polished nickel:

It is recommended to clean a polished nickel faucet regularly. Wipe the polished nickel water tap with a soft dampening cloth. Otherwise, the soapy spot toothpaste stain can settle on the nickel. Since polished nickel tends to get stains and fingerprints, the best practice is to clean it regularly. Nickel can also build up and oxidize like chrome. So, give extra care and maintenance to prevent oxidization.

Brushed nickel:

Brushed nickel requires less maintenance than polished nickel. The biggest advantage of brushed nickel is soapy, and fingerprints don’t show on it. You can wipe it with a soft, damp cloth every day. However, don’t use abrasive and scrubber to prevent damage.

Pro Tips to Follow When Cleaning Kitchen Faucet

Low-quality, non-branded kitchen faucets can often wear or tear. Hence, one should always purchase a faucet from a reputed. Most of the brandable faucet requires little maintenance. You should be aware of a few things for low-maintenance faucet. A little awareness helps to increase faucets lifespan.

Replace the tiny components like springs and seats when required. These tiny components may wear over time. If you see water dripping from the kitchen faucet, make sure there is a problem with the springs or the seat.
Leave your faucet parts replacement to a certified plumber. Otherwise, you can do this yourself with basic experience.
Look for a reputable manufacturer when purchasing replacement parts for kitchen faucets.
Avoid using abrasive scrubbers and cleaners during faucet cleaning regardless of the faucet materials
Consider Kitchen Faucets Warranties because warranties stand for the quality of a faucet

Final Words:

We hope you have learnt How to care for a kitchen faucet. Kitchen faucet care and maintenance would differ based on the dirtiness of the Faucet and the materials. If you do a little maintenance daily, then your Faucet will be prolonged.

On the contrary a prolonged dirtiness of kitchen faucet may reduce the water supply performance. Moreover, a faucet may lose its shiny appearance over time without proper maintenance.