When designing or planning your kitchen refurb, everything can start to add up and you can find yourself shelling out more then you first budgeted. Our electricians have come up with 5 electrical things to take into consideration before starting your kitchen renovation, which will hopefully help save you money in the long run.
1. What Are The Positions of Your Sockets?
This is something really worth looking into to make sure you're happy with their positioning and the amount of sockets that are currently available. Are you constantly having to unplug appliances because you don't have enough sockets? Then now would be the best time to add some additional sockets however, this can sometimes end up being quite expensive depending on location and quantity of sockets you want added. Something else that needs to be taken into consideration is how close your sockets are to the sink and cooker, as they have to be a regulation distance to ensure you can't reach them whilst using the sink.
2. Are You Swapping From Gas To Electric?
When planning on swapping from a gas to electric, the main thing to consider is the oven and hob, when it comes to electrics in a kitchen these will be the main things effected. Installing an electric hob and oven can be one of the most expensive things you can do electrically in your kitchen. This is because it means installing one or possibly two new circuits to your kitchen, due to the fact that the cooker and hob most of the time require much larger supplies than anything else in your kitchen. Whereas previously, if you had a gas cooker and hob all they require electrically is a small supply for the igniter.
3. How Far Away Is Your Fuseboard?
Similar to the previous question, if you find yourself needing new electrical circuits and supplies installed in your new kitchen, then the location of your fuseboard can be a determining factor when it comes to pricing. Chances are, if your fuseboard is far away from the kitchen and is going to be a nightmare to wire new circuits, then it can increase the price quite a lot. Unfortunately, this isn't something you have any control over, but its definitely something to consider when planning your kitchen renovation.
4. Are You Adjusting The Lighting?
Adjusting the lighting is very rarely simple and one of the most significant things to take time to consider when planning your renovation. The main thing to consider is the age of your house, this is because if you have a really old house there may be a chance that your lighting cables don't have any earths. One way of checking this, is to look at your fuseboard and see if there's any sign or stickers mentioning about the lighting missing earths. If you have a plastic light fitting in your kitchen at the moment, there might be a chance that it's because your lighting doesn't have any earths. If your plan is to have nice new metal downlights fitted throughout your kitchen then unfortunately, if your lighting is missing earths then it would mean installing a whole new lighting circuit.
5. How Old Is Your Fuseboard?
Sometimes a cheap, small electrical alteration can turn into a big, expensive electrical alteration and most of the time the age of the fuseboard and electrical wiring is the reason. As we mentioned before, there's a fairly high chance you will need a new circuit installed when renovating your kitchen. The distance your fuseboard is from the kitchen will factor into the price, as well as the age of the fuseboard. If your fuseboard is too old there a very high chance that you don't have the correct electrical protection on the board and we aren't able to get breakers for your board anymore. Also when it comes to installing new circuits in a board, you aren't able to provide a certificate for it if the board is too old. This inevitably will lead to having to have your fuseboard changed which can end up become quite expensive.
Here at Capital Electrical & Solar, we know this can all be very overwhelming and confusing when planning your kitchen renovation. Which is why we try to take as much of the stress out of it by thoroughly inspecting and explaining every job to ensure you're happy with everything. If this blog post has gone completely over your head, don't fear that's what our electricians are here for!
GET IN TOUCH now and we can send one of our electricians out to explain, run you through the process and sort you out a quote for your kitchen renovation.