Kitchen rewires, done before the new units go in.

Kitchen rewire cost and what it covers

The kitchen price covers a new ring circuit for the sockets and a new dedicated circuit for the cooker. The lighting circuit is renewed too, with the accessories an ordinary kitchen needs, all before the walls are plastered.

It's tested and certified when it's finished, the same as any rewire. Plastering over the channels isn't included, and we'll quote it separately if you want it done.

An island with sockets in it, or a second oven, takes the job beyond the standard one, and that gets a written price once the free survey is done.

When should the electrician come, before or after the kitchen fitter?

Both. First fix comes after the old kitchen is stripped out and before the walls are plastered or tiled, and second fix comes once the units and worktops are in.

Before first fix, the fitter's plan tells me where the units, the hob, the oven housing and the sink will be, so each socket and switch is placed to suit them. Nothing ends up hidden behind a tall housing or awkward to reach under a wall cupboard.

Second fix fits the faceplates and the lighting once the cupboards are on the wall, and then the circuits are tested.

Kitchen rewire regulations

In England a kitchen isn't one of the special locations in Part P. Those are the space around a bath or shower, and rooms with a swimming pool or a sauna.

Whether kitchen work is notifiable depends on the job. Installing a complete new circuit is notifiable. Adding a socket to an existing kitchen circuit, or replacing one, isn't.

Notifiable work has to be certified one of three ways under Approved Document P. Electricians enrolled in a competent person scheme sign their own work off through it. Anyone else either has the work checked by a registered third-party certifier, or tells Building Control before starting, and Building Control decides what inspection it needs, then issues a completion certificate once it's satisfied.

Notifiable or not, the work must comply with the wiring regulations, and I issue a certificate for it.

Plug-together lighting kits with modular connectors, the kind sold for kitchens, come under Part P too, and they're notifiable only when they need a new circuit.

Sockets and switches in a new kitchen layout

Each built-in appliance is easiest to live with when it has its own switch above the worktop, so a dishwasher or fridge can be isolated without pulling it out of its housing.

Worktop sockets are kept clear of the sink and the hob, away from water and heat.

The cooker hood needs a supply up the wall as well, so its height comes off the fitter's plan too.

Sockets in a kitchen island need their cable laid in the floor before the floor is finished, so an island has to be settled at first fix.

New kitchen circuits need protection in the consumer unit that an older board may not have. If it can't take them, replacing an old consumer unit goes on the quote as a separate item.

Rewiring kitchen lights

Renewing the lighting circuit is the time to put lights where the new layout needs them. A fitting over an island or a table can go on its own switch, and lights under the wall cupboards put light on the worktop where you're working.

Under-cupboard lights often run at extra-low voltage from a driver, and the driver needs to sit somewhere it can be reached later, such as inside a cupboard.

Cooker circuits and induction hobs

A cooker or hob on its own circuit runs back to the board, with a cooker switch nearby to turn it off. Installing a built-in cooker isn't notifiable work unless it needs a new cooker circuit, which is the example Approved Document P gives.

Swapping to an induction hob or a bigger range cooker can mean the old circuit isn't big enough. The appliance's installation instructions say what supply it needs, and I check the existing circuit against them. Moving the cooker to another wall or an island usually means a new cooker circuit, because the old one ends where the old cooker stood.

If the cooker supply is the only thing that needs changing, a new cooker circuit is priced by itself. Connecting a cooker to a circuit that's already up to it is a small job on our price list.

Checking the rest of the wiring first

Before quoting, I look over the wiring beyond the kitchen as well, because new circuits are only as sound as the board and earthing they connect to.

If anything else in the house wants attention, I'll put it forward with the quote.

When the new kitchen is part of an extension, I wire its circuits at first fix alongside the extension electrics, on the builder's programme.