Rewiring to Modernize a Kitchen: Planning

Appliances are almost always upgraded during a kitchen remodel and rewiring requires careful planning that should be done during the kitchen design process. Here are the planning steps you should consider when modernizing your kitchen with new appliances.

1. Pick out appliances - As with all electrical wiring projects, the key to successfully completing your project is planning. The first step to rewiring your kitchen is to pick out your appliances. This will help you determine your major electrical loads and help with the cabinet design.

2. How many circuits are needed? - OK. Let's say you picked out a range, refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave oven and garbage disposal. What else do you want in your kitchen? Something that is becoming very popular is radiant floor heat. This is something that you need to determine now because this uses a fair amount of power. What about an insta-hot system to provide instant hot water? Anything else?

What we are trying to do here is determine how many circuits that you are going to need for your modernized kitchen. After you determine that, then determine how many circuits you have in your existing kitchen. With that information, you should be able to determine how many additional circuits you need.