I ♥ Kohler.

When we remodeled our house 5 years ago, we put in a beautiful Kohler Simplice faucet (model number K-647-VS) at the big kitchen sink.

I love it.  A few months ago, though, it started leaking water from under the single hot/cold control handle.  There was always a puddle around the faucet.  It drove me NUTS.

Google showed me that Kohler has really great documentation on how to fix this on their web pages here and even a short video here.   And I eventually dug out and read the owner’s manual/guide that came with it  – yes… i keep those things 🙂   I read about the Kohler Faucet lifetime warranty.   You can read the fine print here, but Kohler basically says:  “if the Faucet should leak or drip during normal use, Kohler Co. will, free of charge, mail to the purchaser the cartridge necessary to put the Faucet in good working condition.”   Yes, free.   I can’t believe anyone does that anymore.

So, I called Kohler’s customer service line (1-800-4KOHLER) and described the problem to a real and knowledgeable person and they said with all likelihood it was a bad valve.  They sent me a replacement valve in the mail for free.   It arrived over the weekend, and I installed it.   VOILA problem solved!

I just wanted to give a shout out to a company that still provides great customer service!

Read on for a few comments on what was a little more difficult than described in my experience of changing the control valve.  Good Luck!  My DIY photo:

The documentation and video online are pretty much self-explanatory.   There were 2 steps that took a bit more effort than I anticipated.

1) It took a significant amount of effort to get the Hot/Cold water control handle off (after removing the set screw) – more than I was capable of, so I enlisted Monte for that job.  It took a while, but it did come off with a sustained, firm, upward pull.   The problem was the black, plastic sleeve on the valve was stuck in the handle, creating loads of friction.  The new valve comes with a replacement black sleeve, so I had to remove the old one using needle nose pliers after the handle came off.

2) the decorative “bonnet” under the handle was hard to unscrew.  But, I used one of those rubber, grabber pads that helps unscrew the lids from jars.  And with some perseverence, it did the trick.  After those two steps, everything else went as advertised.

The replacement kit came with a teeny capsule of grease, which I spread around the new valve’s o-ring.  The video doesn’t mention that.

Yay KOHLER!