Franke the Faucet Fail and Fix

It all started when I decided to turn an old TV cabinet into a toy kitchen. I needed a kitchen faucet. I checked the usual spots (Craigslist, Goodwill, etc) but to no avail. And despite my begging, our Habitat Restore would not sell me just a faucet without a sink. I was not about to buy a sink just for the faucet for a play kitchen...

So, I decided to take a different approach. I decided to buy a nice faucet that I actually liked to replace our outdated kitchen faucet, and use the old one for the play kitchen. That way, I felt I was not wasting any money on buying an old faucet for a play kitchen, and I got a new faucet out of it. Sweet.

I scoured eBay for months, waiting for the perfect faucet. And one day, I found it. A beautiful Franke faucet that retailed for nearly $600, and I got it for only $59.99 including shipping. On the listing, the seller mentioned that it might need a washer. What he failed to mention was that it was completely incompatible with American pipes. I guess it's a little easier to sell things when you leave that part out.

After watching several faucet installation videos, we realized there was no way to hook it up. So, David headed to Lowes for help. No one there had ever seen a faucet hook-up like this one, and they could not find an adapter that would work. They sent him away, hopeless. Then he tried Home Depot. Although they had never seen this either, Home Depot had a very stubborn older man working in the plumbing department, and he was determined to make something work. Through an extravagant string of pipes, hoses, adapters, couplings, and other miscellaneous plumbing pieces, he was able to find something that fit.

And then, there were leaks. Everywhere. At least five of them. I googled and googled until I found a video on using plumbers tape. (It's even cute and pink). We took all of the contraptions apart, and I was able to wrap up all of the joints, and it solved our leak problems. Finally, after four days, six trips to Lowes/Home Depot, and a lot of frustration, we got the faucet installed.

And that's when the fun started....cleaning up the kitchen after not having any water or a dishwasher in our kitchen for four days. It was downright scary in there. When absolutely necessary, this is how we washed dishes during our faucet-induced drought:

Dmitri thought this new system was a lot of fun! Yay for child labor.

But I think it was all worth it in the end. Here is the faucet before:

And after. Meet Franke:

An ad for Seventh Generation?

I love the handle. I think it goes with the farmhouse feel:

And that is how we get it done. A lot of craziness...but worth it in the end. Maybe.