Pro Handyman Blog

A kitchen faucet goes through a lot of abuse, and the handle and spout seem to bear the brunt of it. The loose kitchen faucet handle seems to occur most commonly with a single lever-style handle.

The single handle is typically held on by one screw and you need to locate it and tighten it. Then cross your fingers that the problem isn’t something more. On many faucets, the screw that holds the lever on is located under a decorative cap on top of the handle. Use a small standard screwdriver and pry off the cap. A phillips head screwdriver is all that is needed to tighten the screw.

On other types of faucets, you will need to locate a setscrew that is recessed into the base of the handle. Look for a small hole either in the front or the rear of the base of the handle. You will need a small allen wrench to tighten it. This can lead to some guesswork as to which is the correct size of wrench to fit the head of the screw. It will be a matter of inserting the wrench and slightly turning it to see if it fits the hole. A small flashlight can help, but the hole is so small that it won’t totally illuminate the inside of the hole.