Score One For Lowe's

It seems to be my lot in life to have a leaky kitchen faucet. Not long after we moved into this house our kitchen faucet began leaking. I finally got around to doing something about it this week by picking up a new valve cartidge from Home Depot.

I should probably preface this by stating that I despise plumbing, especially faucets. It's very difficult to get the right parts because a good portion of what you are hoping to fix is immovable. You can't take your entire sink in to see what part might fit. Okay, you can, but that involves leaving your entire household without the use of an essential faucet at best and no water in the entire house at worst. I invariably get the wrong part and often spend two or three trips before I get it right--and then the problem still exists. In the last house I ended up just replacing the entire faucet.

So it was with trepidation that I set out in search of a new valve cartridge. I bought one I thought would work and brought it home. It fit the valve seat just fine, but the spindle that attaches to the handle was too big. The handle wouldn't attach anymore.

So last night I went back (through dense fog) hoping to find a better one. There was no such critter, so I just to a refund and went to Lowe's hoping against hope. After much soul searching and agony of mind I decided to try a cartridge that looked pretty much identical to the one I'd already tried, only this was a dollar more expensive. I went home figuring I'd be making another trip back to Lowe's to get a refund and a new faucet.

Except it fit! It actually fit! Everything went together like a charm, and so far we can't see any sign of a leak! So while I still like Home Depot (or Hompee Deempoh, as my son calls it), I know where I'm going next time I need Price-Pfister replacement parts. The extra dollar is worth the reduced hassle.