How much does it cost to fix a slow-draining kitchen sink?

The short answer on cost

A slow kitchen drain is usually a grease-and-food clog you can clear yourself for $15–$90. That covers a hand auger, a plunger, and a fresh trap gasket if the old one tears.

If the clog is deep or keeps coming back, a licensed plumber runs $150–$350. That range covers a service call, a power auger, and often a camera inspection.

The big swing in price comes down to one thing: how far down the line the blockage sits. The trap under your sink is cheap to clear. The branch line 30 feet away is not.

Good news is this is a low-urgency repair. You've got time to try the DIY route before you pay a pro.

Where the money goes

The DIY math is simple. A hand auger is $20 to $40, a decent cup plunger is $12 to $18, and a spare trap gasket is a couple bucks. Call it $15–$90 all in, and you keep the tools for next time.

On the pro side, a straightforward drain snaking is often $150 to $300 in most markets. The higher end of our range, up to $350, kicks in when the plumber needs a power auger, a camera, or a hydro-jet.

Hydro-jetting a grease-fouled kitchen line runs $350 to $600 on its own. It blasts the pipe clean instead of just poking a hole, which is why it lasts longer.

A camera inspection adds $200 to $400 but earns its keep on a repeat clog. It tells you whether you've got a belly, a break, or just grease, so you stop paying to snake the same spot.

Expect a diagnostic or service-call fee of $75 to $150 on top, sometimes waived if you hire them for the work. Ask up front.

• DIY tools and supplies: $15–$90
• Basic drain snaking (pro): $150 to $300
• Power auger or repeat clog: $300 to $500
• Hydro-jetting a grease line: $350 to $600
• Camera inspection: $200 to $400
• Service or diagnostic fee: $75 to $150

How we built these numbers

The cost ranges reflect 2026 US pricing for materials and typical plumber labor, blended across urban and suburban markets.

DIY figures assume you buy a hand auger, a cup plunger, and a trap washer at standard retail. Regional prices vary, and you keep the tools.

Pro figures assume a licensed plumber, a service or diagnostic fee, and the common escalation from hand snaking to power auger or hydro-jetting. Pipe replacement is a separate, larger job and isn't included in the range.

Your actual quote depends on local labor rates, how deep the clog sits, and whether the plumber finds a belly or corroded pipe once they look. Get the line cameraed on a repeat clog so you're paying to fix the real cause, not the symptom.

What's actually slowing your drain

Kitchen drains slow down for a handful of reasons, and they're pretty easy to sort by where the water gives up.

If the water pools and creeps down after you turn off the tap, the clog is close: usually the P-trap or the first few feet of pipe. That's the cheapest and easiest to fix.

If both sink basins back up when you run one, the clog is past the tee where they join. That's downstream, and a hand auger may not reach it.

If the drain gurgles or glugs and no amount of trap cleaning helps, look at the vent. A blocked roof vent starves the drain of air and makes it drain in slow surges.

The frustrating one is the drain that clears easily, then slows again within days. That points to a coated branch line, a sagging pipe holding water, or old corroded steel pipe. None of those get fixed with a quick snake.

Work through it in order

Start simple and cheap, then escalate. Most people fix this before they reach step five.

First, stop feeding the problem. No more grease, coffee grounds, rice, or pasta down the drain while you're working on it.

Next, heat things up. Two minutes of very hot tap water with a squirt of dish soap softens grease so a plunge can move it.

Then plunge. Block the second basin's drain with a wet rag, fill the working side a few inches, and plunge hard fifteen or twenty times.

If that fails, open the P-trap. Bucket underneath, unscrew the slip nuts, dump it, and scrub. Half the time the gunk is right there.

Still slow? Run a hand auger through the trap arm into the branch line. Feed it, crank it, and you'll feel it grab the clog.

Run hot water for a full minute to confirm the fix. If the sink slows again within a week, you've hit the limit of DIY and it's time to call a plumber.

• Cup plunger (not a toilet flange plunger)
• 25-foot hand auger
• Channel-lock pliers
• Bucket and old towels
• Replacement trap washer, just in case

When to grab a wrench and when to call

This is one of the most DIY-friendly plumbing jobs there is. Opening a trap and running a hand auger takes maybe half an hour and no special skill.

Do it yourself if the clog is close, one basin is affected, and hot water plus a plunge gets you partial relief. That means you're within striking distance of a hand auger.

Call a pro when both basins back up at once, when the drain clogs again within a week, or when you hear constant gurgling. Those all point past where a 25-foot hand tool can reach.

Also call if you find old galvanized steel pipe under the sink or the trap keeps leaking after you reseal it. Those are repair jobs, not clog jobs.

One honest note: if you've already dumped chemical drain cleaner down there, tell the plumber before they open the line. Caustic backwash is a real hazard, and they'll want to know.

Can this wait?

Yes. A slow drain is low urgency. You can wash dishes and cook around it for days or even a couple weeks without harm.

What you shouldn't do is ignore it for months. Slow turns into stopped, and a full backup leaves you with standing dirty water and no working sink.

Watch the cabinet floor under the trap. If you see water pooling or the wood is darkening, the slow drain is now a leak, and that's a today problem.

The other reason not to wait is cost. A grease clog you could've snaked for $15 becomes a hydro-jet job for $500 once the buildup goes solid.

Why winter and the holidays make it worse

Grease clogs are seasonal, and plumbers know it. Call volume for kitchen drains jumps right after Thanksgiving.

Big-meal cooking dumps turkey fat, gravy, and vegetable scraps into a line that was already coated. It's the straw that stops the pipe.

Cold weather compounds it. Grease that stayed liquid in summer cools and hardens faster in a chilly pipe running along an exterior wall.

If your drain is already sluggish going into December, clear it before the holiday cooking starts. It's a lot cheaper than a same-day emergency call on a full house.

Stay safe under the sink

The biggest risk here isn't the plumbing, it's chemicals and the disposal.

Never open a trap right after pouring in a chemical drain cleaner. That caustic liquid pools and can splash onto your skin and eyes when you loosen the nut.

Kill power to the garbage disposal at the breaker before you reach anywhere near it. Do not put your hand inside a disposal, ever, even off.

Gloves and eye protection are cheap insurance. Drain water carries bacteria and the smell alone tells you why you don't want it on your hands.