Kitchens – Electric Lighting, Sockets, Appliances Installations & Renovations
Safety First – You need a qualified NICEIC Registered Electrician
Part P regulations now require that all electrical work carried out in a kitchen must be completed by a qualified person who will supply you with a certificate showing the work has been tested. A kitchen is regarded as a special area due to the proximity of water to the electrical sockets and installations. A very high level of care needs to be taken when installing electrical items in the kitchen.
S. Trott Electrical Services are able to carry out all electrical work in your kitchen. We will install lighting, new sockets, cookers, cooker hoods, extractor fans and any other electrical item you may choose to install right through to the full electrical installation for a kitchen extension to a kitchen upgrade. All work is carried out to the highest of safety standards with full certification.
Kitchen Renovation to Adding New Electrical Installations
Getting the electrics right is an important part of kitchen design and it’s vital to get everything in the right place. While upgrading your kitchen design it makes sense to completely over-spec the electricity supply and provisions for appliances and gadgets as it’s not a job you want to have to revisit a couple of years down the line.
There are essentially three elements to deal with when it comes to the electrical work; the 13 amp socket circuit for kitchen appliances, the 30 amp supply for high load appliances such as electric cookers, and the lighting circuits. Kitchen design will need to take into account of all three.
Kitchen Design and Appliance Placement
The placing of kitchen appliances is one of the first tasks when designing a kitchen. Because of this, the placement of the 13 amp supply will be decided for you. Kitchen appliances like washing machines, fridges and dishwashers etc can be simply plugged into an ordinary socket.
However, particularly if you have young children, it might be wiser to have the sockets concealed below worktop surfaces or behind cabinets and have separate switches to isolate them at a higher level.
Safety aside, it also avoids your children accidentally switching the freezer off.
There needs to be a separate circuit for the cooker and any other high load devices. This should have a separate 30amp circuit breaker on the electrical supply fuse box, which will be situated close to the meter. Cookers should not be plugged in with an ordinary plug and socket but hard-wired into a wall plate with a separate switch to isolate the supply when necessary
Adding Electrical Sockets for Smaller Kitchen Appliances
With sockets for smaller kitchen appliances such as toasters, kettles and food processors, you should count up all the appliances that you have that need sockets, then add even more in your kitchen design.
The average kitchen in the 1960’s had just one or two sockets while a modern one is more likely to have over a dozen, so you just don’t know how many more you will need in the future.
Kitchen Lighting and Electricity Supplies
The importance of good lighting in a kitchen is often over looked. Today a kitchen is not just a working area in which to product a meal, it is far more likely to be a meeting area, dinning area, chill out zone, and yes a place to eat a meal. Each of these areas may require a different type of lighting. The days of a single bulb in the middle of the kitchen has typically been replaced by kitchen lighting that is covered in detail. You can add task lighting (under counter lighting) over the worktops, accent over the dining table, and a general light in the kitchen it’s self. As for the electricity supply, there are effectively three main types of lighting.
Ceiling or Wall Mounted Lights
Ceiling lights may include down lighters, spotlights and directional lights for highlighting areas were you need extra coverage.
Ceiling or wall mounted lights are supplied from a 5 amp lighting circuit. This usually runs through ceiling, with switches by the entry points. In essence there is no difference between these lights and those in any other room, except that you might want to have adjustable spot lighting to be able to direct light where it’s most needed for cooking and cleaning.
Low Level Lighting
Low level lighting includes those which are under cupboards and used to floodlight the kitchen worktop below. This is particularly useful in low light areas and has introduced extra flexibility into kitchen design.
These can be run along your lighting circuit or plugged into the wall in the usual way. Either way S. Trott Electrical Services will be able to install these. It can use either a lighting circuit or a 13 amp socket supply.
Low Voltage Lighting
LED lighting is also popular in kitchens now with floor lighting around plinths and also around pelmets and under cupboards lighting up the work surface. LED lighting come in the form of recessed and surface mount miniature spots and also as LED strip lights.
LED Lighting are lights which use light emitting diodes (LED’s) which are extremely energy efficient and long lasting. LED lights create less heat than traditional lights, which means they last for longer (up to 50 times longer)
From adding a socket or installing a new cooker to a full kitchen remodel,
call S. Trott Electrical Services to discuss your electrical needs or your kitchen.
We offer free no obligation quotations and all our work is covered under warranty and comprehensive certification