Kitchen Sink Clogged? 6 Fixes Before You Reach for Drain Cleaner

The water has not moved in ten minutes and grease films the top. The blockage is usually within arm's reach, under the cabinet.

One question first, because it splits this into two jobs. Is the kitchen sink the only slow fixture? Run the bathroom basin for thirty seconds and listen at the tub and toilet. Keep the volumes small: if the main is blocked, a tub emptied at once comes back up through the lowest drain in the house. If the others drain quietly, your clog is at the kitchen sink. If they gurgle, burp or rise, the fault is shared and nothing under your sink will fix it. Step 6 separates a blocked vent from a blocked main.

Start With These 30-Second Checks

1. 1Water rising in the second bowl while the first drains means the clog is past the tee where they join.
2. 2If there is a disposal, look in the bowl before you touch the switch. Never run it into standing water that had drain cleaner in it, and never flick it twice. Three seconds tells you enough: a hum with no spin is a jam. Silence usually means the overload tripped. Step 5 covers both, power off first.
3. 3Check the dishwasher. Water in its tub too points at the line they share, and our dishwasher drain guide covers that side.
4. 4Look for a cleanout, a capped fitting under the sink or behind it. Your cable goes in there, not through the trap.

1. Melt the Grease With Hot Water and Dish Soap

Kitchen clogs are mostly cooking fat: down warm, set hard on a cold pipe. If the sink still moves, heat and soap often clear it.

1. 1Bail the standing water into a bucket first, in gloves and goggles if drain cleaner went down in the last day. Hot water poured on cold water never reaches the clog.
2. 2Squirt a quarter cup of dish soap in so the fat breaks up instead of sliding as one lump.
3. 3Run the hot tap at full flow for five minutes. Around 120 Fahrenheit softens fat and is safe for plastic pipe.
4. 4Skip the kettle. Boiling water at 212 Fahrenheit deforms the rubber slip washers on a plastic trap, trading a clog for a drip.

2. Plunge It, Properly This Time

A plunger only works in a sealed system. On a double sink half your force goes up the other drain.

1. 1Do not plunge at all if drain cleaner went down in the last day. The stroke throws that liquid back at your face. Bail the bowl into a bucket you can lid, and go to step 3 in gloves and goggles. Flush cold water through for five minutes only if the sink is still draining: on a sink that holds water it comes back over the rim.
2. 2Use a flat cup plunger, or fold a toilet plunger's flange up inside the cup so it seals on the sink floor.
3. 3Block the second bowl with a wet rag, held down by a full pot.
4. 4Fill the bowl with two inches of water so the cup is submerged.
5. 5Twenty firm strokes with the cup flat, then rip it off sharply on the last one to tear the plug loose.

3. Take the P-Trap Apart and Clean It

Most kitchen clogs live here: the U bend under the cabinet, roughly 18 inches down. Worth opening even if the water moved again.

1. 1Put on rubber gloves and safety glasses before anything comes apart. Bail both bowls dry into a bucket you can put a lid on, even if you skipped step 1: gallons stand above the trap and it all drops the moment the trap opens.
2. 2If drain cleaner went down in the last day, do not try to dilute it. Flush cold water through only if the sink is still draining, even slowly. On a sink that holds water, flushing adds gallons of caustic that has nowhere to go but over the rim. Either way the trap below is still full of it, so keep the bucket directly under the joint and open it slowly.
3. 3Unscrew the two slip nuts counterclockwise, usually hand tight. If one resists, use channel lock pliers with a rag around it so the plastic does not crack.
4. 4Pull the trap off and push the grey plug of grease and food out with a bottle brush.
5. 5Work a bent coat hanger into the trap arm running into the wall; the first six inches catches a lot.
6. 6Reassemble with the tapered edge of each slip washer facing into the fitting it seals, taper pointing away from the nut you tighten. Hand tight plus an eighth of a turn, then watch both joints under running water for 30 seconds. A weeping nut gets one more eighth, never full force.

4. Snake the Branch Line in the Wall

If the trap came out clean, or the sink backed up within a day, the blockage is in the wall. A drum auger costs about 30 dollars.

1. 1Stop before the cable goes in if the pipe is old galvanized steel, if two or more fixtures back up, or if dark water or a sewage smell rises in the bowl. A cable punches straight through corroded pipe inside a wall, and a 200 dollar call becomes drywall and paint. Wear gloves, a drum auger catches hard.
2. 2Feed the cable into the trap arm at the wall, drum held a foot back so the cable cannot whip.
3. 3Resistance at two to four feet is normally the sanitary tee, not the clog. Crank slowly and the cable turns it.
4. 4A soft, springy stop is the clog. Lock the drum, crank clockwise and feed gently. Forcing a cable kinks it for good.
5. 5Work back and forth over the same spot to open a full bore, not a pinhole the grease closes next week.
6. 6Pull the cable out through a rag, refit the trap, and run the hot tap five minutes.

5. Rule Out the Garbage Disposal

A disposal that will not turn plugs the drain exactly like fat does. Plenty of kitchens have none: if yours does not, skip to step 6.

1. 1Kill the power first. Switch the unit off at the wall and turn its breaker off before a hand or a tool goes near the grinding chamber. The wall switch alone is not enough, because the unit starts the instant a tripped overload re-arms.
2. 2With the power still off, press the red reset button underneath. Silence usually means the thermal overload tripped and that button clears it. If reset changes nothing, check the breaker and the switch before writing the motor off. A hum with no spin is a jam, and reset will not touch it.
3. 3Still off at the breaker, put the quarter inch hex wrench into the socket at the base and turn it both ways until the impeller spins freely, then fish whatever comes loose out with tongs, never fingers.
4. 4Hands clear of the throat, then restore the breaker and run cold water as you switch it on. If it spins and the sink still holds water, go back to the trap.

6. Blocked Vent or Main Line, and Where You Stop

If the sink empties in gulps, then glugs, air is not getting in behind the water. A blocked vent drains two seconds and stalls.

1. 1Stop and call a licensed plumber first if two or more fixtures back up, if dark water or a sewage smell rises in the bowl, or if the drains are old galvanized steel.
2. 2Listen at the other drains. Gurgling or a burping toilet means shared venting, not a fault under your sink.
3. 3If the sink backs up whenever the washing machine drains, you are on the main line, and the washer drain guide runs the same test from the other end.
4. 4Find the main cleanout, a capped Y fitting in the basement or outside. Water seeping around it means the main is backed up. Call today, do not open the cap.
5. 5Clearing a roof vent means a ladder, a hose and both hands busy at the top. If that makes you uneasy, hand it over.

What You Actually Need