replacing old, wide-base, kitchen faucet - need base-plate for new standard faucet.?

Question

We need to replace a kitchen faucet mounted on a white cast-iron sink. The old faucet has standard 8"-centered pipes, but the visible base is 11" wide. All the faucets we can find in stores now have a 10" base. That would leave a half-inch of exposed old/ugly/rusted-through sink on either side. Does anyone have suggestions on how to deal with this?

- Is there someone who makes a kitchen faucet with an 11" wide base?

- Could we get an adapter plate somewhere? We've seen 'baseplates' for standard 10"-overall-base faucets.

- Any other ideas?

Our existing faucet has 2 handles and one center spout. There is no spray. A plumber who looked at this said we would need a 3-hole mounting.

Replacing the whole sink is not a desirable option - We hope to re-do the kitchen within a year.

Thanks!

Answer 1

get a piece of stainless steel and cut it out to cover the existing "mess" and drill the holes in it to fit the new faucet unit?

could you use some Naval Jelly to remove the rust, then put some new enamel over the places that are rusted out? since this is to be a temp job (warning: good temp jobs can last for years)

Mine has a "non-functioning" spray attachment so is the larger size! The sprayer just sits in the hole and looks cute!!!

Answer 2

Unless that sink and faucet combo have been around for more years than I care to think about, the porcelain finish under the chrome base plate shouldn't be rusted. It may be discolored slightly from crusted grease and soap, but that should clean off comparatively easily with some elbow grease and Ajax. I replace a lot of this faucets in my handiman business and have never seen one that was so bad that the customers wanted the sink replaced just to get rid of the sight of the old faucet footprint. Besides, even if it doesn't look the best, you pretty much answered your own question when you said you're planning on remodeling within the next year.

Answer 3

Far and away, the worst part of replacing a kitchen sink faucet is removing the old faucet without ruining the sink or any of your knuckles or fingers. I've replaced units that should have taken 20 minutes, but instead took several hours because of all the corrosion and lack of space in which to work, (turn a wrench, tubing cutter, etc.). As several of the preceeding answers have said, it can be a fun project if you're at all handy, understand the basic principles of how things work, and have the basic tools. One thing most people don't think about when doing this type of work is the length of time you could be laying on one or the other set of ribs, on a hard sharp edge of the cabinet. I used to come away with bruises each time I replaced one till I came up with the idea of putting an old sleeping bag down over the sharp cabinet edge. It cushions the edge enough to nearly completely eliminate the sore aftermath. Good luck.

Answer 4

Call a Local Plumber Supply Store, The place the plumbers go. Maybe in the phone book, or call a plumber and ask where to look, You may have to chase down your own parts even searching the Web. plumbersupply.com I think.