Kitchen sinks take more abuse than any other fixture in the house. They handle grease, food scraps, boiling water, heavy pots, and whatever else ends up going down the drain — every single day. So when something goes wrong, it tends to go wrong fast.
At Fix & Flow Plumbing Co., we handle kitchen sink repairs across Atlanta all the time. And the truth is, most of the issues we see fall into the same handful of categories. Here’s what usually breaks, what you can try yourself, and when it’s time to call a plumber.
Most Kitchen Sink Problems Are Predictable
Kitchen sinks aren’t complicated. There’s a faucet, a drain, supply lines, a P-trap, and maybe a garbage disposal or sprayer attachment. When one of those parts fails — and they all eventually do — it usually shows up as a leak, a slow drain, or something that just doesn’t work the way it used to.
The good news: most kitchen sink repairs aren’t emergencies. The bad news: ignoring them usually makes things worse. A slow drip under the cabinet turns into water damage. A sluggish drain turns into a full backup. Small problems compound fast when water is involved.
Slow Drains and Recurring Clogs
This is the most common kitchen sink complaint we get. The water pools, takes forever to drain, and sometimes comes back with an unpleasant smell.
In kitchen sinks specifically, the culprit is almost always grease. Cooking oil, butter, bacon fat — anything that goes down warm hardens as it cools inside the pipe. Over time, it builds up a sticky layer that traps food particles and narrows the drain line. Coffee grounds and eggshells make it worse, despite what people think about the garbage disposal handling them.
Atlanta’s water doesn’t help, either. Mineral deposits from our local water supply can slowly narrow the interior of your pipes, especially in older homes in neighborhoods like Grant Park, Virginia-Highland, and East Atlanta where the original plumbing might be 50 or 60 years old.
A single slow drain is usually a localized clog. If you’re noticing slow drainage in multiple fixtures — kitchen sink, bathroom sink, tub — that’s a different situation. That points to a main line issue, not just a kitchen problem.
We wrote a full breakdown on what causes slow drains and what it takes to fix them if you want the deep dive.
Leaking Faucets and Handles
A dripping kitchen faucet is easy to ignore until you can’t. That slow drip can waste a surprising amount of water — and if you’re on City of Atlanta water, you’re paying for every drop.
Most faucet leaks come from worn internal parts: cartridges, O-rings, valve seats, or ceramic disc seals depending on your faucet type. Single-handle faucets usually have a cartridge or ball assembly. Two-handle models often use compression valves with washers that degrade over time.
Here’s the thing: faucet repair sounds simple, but the parts vary wildly between brands and models. A Moen cartridge is completely different from a Delta or Kohler. If you can identify your faucet model and find the right cartridge at the hardware store, this can be a DIY repair. But if you’re pulling the faucet apart and guessing at parts, you’ll likely end up calling a plumber anyway — and now the faucet is in pieces.
Worth noting: if your faucet is more than 10-12 years old and starting to leak, replacing the whole unit is often the smarter move. Repair parts for older models can be hard to find, and a new faucet with better flow control will likely save you money on water over time.
Under-Sink Leaks You Don’t Always Notice
This one catches people off guard. You open the cabinet under the kitchen sink and the bottom is warped, stained, or damp. Sometimes there’s mold. The leak might have been going on for weeks.
Under-sink leaks come from a few places:
- Supply line connections — the hot and cold lines feeding your faucet. These have compression fittings or braided connectors that can loosen or corrode, especially in older Atlanta homes with galvanized steel supply lines.
- Drain connections — where the sink basin meets the tailpiece, or where the P-trap connects. These slip-joint fittings rely on nylon washers that dry out and crack.
- Garbage disposal connections — the flange where the disposal meets the sink drain, or the dishwasher drain hose connection. Both are common leak points.
- Sprayer hose — pull-down and pull-out sprayer hoses pass through the faucet body and connect underneath. The connection point or the hose itself can develop small leaks that drip only when the sprayer is running.
The tricky part is that under-sink leaks don’t always drip constantly. Some only leak when the faucet is running, or when the dishwasher drains. If you suspect a leak, lay a dry paper towel under the connections and check it after running the sink for a few minutes. That’ll tell you exactly where the water is coming from.
Garbage Disposal Issues
About half the kitchen sink repair calls we get in Atlanta involve the garbage disposal in some way. Jams, leaks, humming without spinning, or complete electrical failure — disposals have a lot of ways to go wrong.
Most jams can be cleared with an Allen wrench in the bottom of the unit — there’s a hex socket on the underside of most InSinkErator and Waste King models specifically for this. If the disposal hums but doesn’t spin, it’s jammed. If it’s completely silent, check the reset button on the bottom of the unit and make sure the outlet or switch has power.
Leaking disposals are a different story. If the leak is coming from the top flange (where the disposal meets the sink drain), the mounting hardware or plumber’s putty seal may need to be redone. If the leak is from the bottom of the unit itself, the internal seals have failed — and that means replacement, not repair.
We cover disposal leaks in more detail here, including what to check before you call anyone.
When a Kitchen Sink Problem Is Actually Something Bigger
Sometimes what looks like a kitchen sink issue is really a symptom of something else. A few signs that the problem goes beyond the sink:
- Gurgling sounds when the sink drains — this often means a blocked vent pipe, not a clogged drain.
- Water backing up into the sink from the dishwasher — could be a blocked air gap, a kinked drain hose, or a shared drain line problem.
- Multiple slow drains throughout the house — this usually points to a main sewer line issue, not a kitchen-specific clog.
- Foul sewer smell that doesn’t go away — a dry or cracked P-trap, a failed wax seal on a nearby toilet, or a vent problem letting sewer gas into the house.
In older Atlanta homes — particularly those in Fulton and DeKalb counties built before the 1970s — kitchen plumbing sometimes ties into cast iron drain lines that have corroded from the inside. The kitchen sink starts acting up, and it turns out the problem is a deteriorated pipe section behind the wall or under the slab. A sewer camera inspection can rule that out pretty quickly.
What You Can Try Before Calling a Plumber
Not every kitchen sink issue needs a service call. Here’s what’s worth trying on your own:
- For slow drains: Pour a half cup of baking soda followed by a cup of white vinegar down the drain. Let it sit for 15 minutes, then flush with boiling water. This works well for light grease buildup.
- For faucet drips: If you can identify the faucet brand and model number (usually on the base or in the manual), look up the replacement cartridge or valve. YouTube has solid tutorials for most major brands.
- For disposal jams: Turn the disposal off, use the Allen wrench in the bottom hex socket to manually rotate the grinding plate, then press the reset button and try again.
- For under-sink leaks: Tighten slip-joint nuts by hand (don’t use pliers — you’ll crack the plastic fittings). If the leak continues, the washer inside probably needs replacing.
One thing to avoid: chemical drain cleaners. Products like Drano and Liquid-Plumr can damage older pipes and garbage disposals. They’re a temporary fix at best, and in Atlanta homes with older galvanized or cast iron drain lines, they can accelerate corrosion.
When to Call a Plumber
Call a licensed plumber if:
- The slow drain keeps coming back after you’ve cleared it
- You see active water damage (warped cabinet floor, mold, soft drywall)
- The leak is coming from inside the wall or under the floor
- You’re dealing with galvanized or corroded supply lines that need replacing
- Multiple fixtures are affected — that’s a system problem, not a sink problem
- Your garbage disposal needs to be replaced (this involves electrical connections and drain fitting work)
Kitchen sink repair is one of the most common things we do at Fix & Flow. If you’re not sure what’s going on with your kitchen sink, give us a call at (404) 800-3569 and we’ll walk you through it — or schedule a visit to get it diagnosed and fixed.