kitchen wiring and safe zones

[kedemmeju]

Hi guys,

Just started to renovate our kitchen and whilst pulling off tiles we've come across some wiring which I wanted to get an opinion on.

The house is a Victorian terrace with a single storey pitched-roof kitchen, last renovated some time in the 70s/80s by the previous owners. The downstairs ring circuit has been extended from the living room into the kitchen by drilling through the dividing wall and running cables behind the sink to the end wall to provide power for the fridge and washing machine. The cables were partly buried in plaster which came away when we were removing tiles. (See attached existing diagram).

As the cables sit in a channel cut into the plaster my plan was just to fix plasterboard over the top before we install the new cabinets, but after looking into it I'm not so sure it follows the guidelines about established safe zones for wiring. 

Would I be better to re-route the cable so that it comes up in the corner of the kitchen and then run it over the top of the window, as per the second attached image? We're putting in a new ceiling so the cables could just run between the joists and the plasterboard.

Any advice gratefully received. Thanks!

 

[Doc Hudson]

Are cabinets going the full length of that window wall? if yes then why not just leave them running on the surface behind the units? All units general have space at the rear sufficient for pipes and thus also cables.

Doc H. 

 

[kedemmeju]

Are cabinets going the full length of that window wall?

I hadn't thought about surface mounting everything, thanks. 

There'll be 3 cabinets under the window with a freestanding fridge in the right hand corner.

We'll need to board under the window as the plaster is in such a state but presumably we can just clip the cables directly to it? It's only so we have a sound surface for tiles behind the sink. 

 

[Evans Electric]

As the Doc says  ...  go with plan 2  ,  your plumbing will be in the same place .    

We often just fit  some PVC trunking  , YT4  

You need an accessible isolating switch for your appliances  

 

[Sharpend]

When you say the downstairs ring has been extended is that the ring is carried across ( 2 cables) or A single cable is carried to kitchen? 

 

[kedemmeju]

As the Doc says  ...  go with plan 2  ,  your plumbing will be in the same place .    

We often just fit  some PVC trunking  , YT4  

You need an accessible isolating switch for your appliances  

View attachment 9722

Thanks, this is really helpful and what I was hoping we could do!

When you say the downstairs ring has been extended is that the ring is carried across ( 2 cables) or A single cable is carried to kitchen? 

The ring's been carried across - hopefully the attached diagram makes sense! The actual kitchen circuit isn't as tidy as this and involves lots of 13a junction boxes behind the cabinets...

Our electrician installed a new circuit for the kitchen when he replaced our CCU; once we've positioned all the boxes in the kitchen he's coming back to connect them to the new circuit and reinstate the ring for the living room.

 

[Geoff1946]

Have you enough sockets in the kitchen?   Kettle, toaster, fryer, food mixer, coffee maker, phone charging, etc.  It's easy (and cheap), to add one or two at this stage.

 

[binky]

more sockets the better, but defo go down and behind cabinets, my preference is to run cables in trunking a nd leave  alot of slack, just in case you want to add somehing like a plinth heater in future. You need to get rid of JBs behind cabinets. I also prefer to put sockets for appliances in adjacent cabinets such as under the sink, rather than have fused spurs above counter level - looks  a lot tidier, but still accessible to isolate an appliance before pulling out.

 

[kedemmeju]

Thanks everyone, this is really helpful – we'll definitely be adding a few more sockets as we're probably going to add a dishwasher as well...!

 

[phil d]

more sockets the better, but defo go down and behind cabinets, my preference is to run cables in trunking a nd leave  alot of slack, just in case you want to add somehing like a plinth heater in future. You need to get rid of JBs behind cabinets. I also prefer to put sockets for appliances in adjacent cabinets such as under the sink, rather than have fused spurs above counter level - looks  a lot tidier, but still accessible to isolate an appliance before pulling out.

Mine too, plus if you get one of those people who has a fetish for turning things off, it stops them accidentally defrosting a full freezer, seen that more than once.lol