A Leaking Kitchen Tap — Where the Water Is Coming From Changes Everything

The kitchen tap sees more daily use than almost any other fitting in the house. It is opened and closed hundreds of times a year, exposed to soap, grease, and limescale, and often subjected to the kind of pressure that no bathroom tap experiences. When it starts to leak, the location of the leak matters far more than the size of the drip — and the location tells you almost everything about the cause.

Leaking from the Spout

A drip from the spout when the tap is closed is a worn washer, O-ring, or ceramic cartridge — the same cause as any dripping tap. In a kitchen mixer, both hot and cold feeds run through the same cartridge, so a single cartridge replacement fixes both. The cartridge is manufacturer-specific: take a photo of the tap brand and model before ordering, or remove the cartridge and take it to a plumber's merchant to match it.

Leaking from Around the Base or Handle

Water appearing around the base of the tap body, or around the handle, is usually a failed O-ring seal on the tap body or spindle. These are different from the cartridge and require partial disassembly to access. Limescale can cause these seals to fail prematurely by causing the tap body to corrode around the seal seat.

Leaking Under the Sink

Water under the kitchen sink is not always a tap problem. The most common culprits are: the flexible hose connections between the isolation valves and the tap tails (these corrode and weep at the olive or compression fitting); the waste trap connections; and the U-bend itself, which can crack if it has been knocked or over-tightened. Check with a dry tissue on each joint in turn — this shows precisely where water is coming from.

Flexible Tap Connectors

Flexible braided hose connectors (the silver hoses running from the isolation valves to the tap) are rated for a finite number of cycles and typically last 10–15 years. When they fail, they can fail suddenly and deliver substantial water into the cupboard. Replacing them proactively when fitting a new tap, or during any under-sink work, is cheap insurance.

Boiling Water Taps

Boiling water taps (Quooker, InSinkErator, Zip HydroTap) have their own dedicated water tank under the sink and a separate cold supply connection. A leak from a boiling water tap installation is usually from the tank connections or the supply hose. These systems must be serviced by the manufacturer's authorised service agent or a plumber with specific training in the system — standard tap repair knowledge does not cover them.