Hidden Kitchen Systems: Electrical and Lighting
The electrical wiring system of a house has two main functions. It supplies outlets to provide power to a wide variety of appliances and it powers and controls lighting built into the structure of the house. A house’s wiring is divided into a number circuits which start at a breaker box connected to the municipal power grid. These circuits circulate via wires out into regions of the house where they are connected to outlets in boxes mounted in the walls, built-in lighting in boxes in walls and ceilings and routed to switches, also mounted in boxes.
The wiring patterns or schematics used in residential construction are standardized and any licensed electrician knows how to design an electrical system for residential use. Code requires that wires be run through walls and permanently affixed at certain intervals so they cannot be pulled out. The heights that wall outlets and switches are placed at is usually determined by common practice based on ergonomics.
Kitchens use a lot of electrical power. Modern kitchens may have many dedicated circuits that ensure that there will not be too many high wattage appliances on the same circuit. Common practice calls for every other outlet above a counter, for instance, to be on different circuits. Large, power hungry appliances usually have their own dedicated circuits. These include refrigerators, microwaves and window air conditioners. Generally speaking, any appliance that generates heat or cold will draw a lot of power and may require its own circuit.
Major electric appliances like ranges, convection ovens and air conditioners may require 220 volt power which is essentially two conventional circuits combined to provide a higher voltage to power these electricity hungry appliances. You must plan on having these special lines run before closing walls if your appliances require 220 volt supplies.
Other specialized uses of power include computers and any appliance with a semi-conductor memory, an increasingly common feature on so-called ‘smart’ appliances like laptops, programmable DVRs and microwaves. These intelligent machines should be attached to surge protectors and/or power conditioners which ensure a steady flow of power free of damaging surges. Because so many homes are increasingly computerized and many local power supplies inconsistent in their supplied voltage, we see many new homes and upgraded electrical systems featuring Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS). UPS are devices that store power and continue to feed the correct voltage to the system in the event of a brown out. The supply lasts long enough for the users to power down computers without losing memory.
The rule of thumb for upgrading all of these systems is overbuild while the walls are open. This is particularly true of your electrical system. We live in a time period characterized by unforeseen developments in technology. Providing for enough clean power now will prepare you for future innovations. Put in more circuits, more outlets, more switching options and run extra wires in anticipation of future upgrades.
Kitchen Lighting
Modern lighting design calls for a wide range of choices in a busy workspace like a kitchen. From a systems point of view, it’s important to consider the electrical requirements of your lighting now, at the planning stage. Lighting uses are divided in three basic categories, each requiring a different location and switching set-up. Task lighting lights defined work areas and usually consists of built -in recessed lighting cans in ceilings, track lighting and spot lighting, often controlled by a switch near the work area. A common choice of switch is a dimmer that can be set at a certain level and turned off and on with a rocker switch at that level.
General lighting is required to be built-in by electrical codes with switches sat main entrances to the room. It may consist of overhead fixtures mounted on the ceiling or a series of recessed fixtures. Generally, if the kitchen has more than one entrance, general lighting will be wired to two or more switches in a three-way circuit allowing the lighting to be turned on or off at any exit.
Ambient lighting is used to set a mood, light a darkened room at night or fill in areas not covered by the general lighting. To fulfill the promise of its name ambient lighting is usually on dimmer switches and various sources may be chosen for a particular effect such as clear halogen spots or undercabinet strings of tiny low-voltage lights.
Plan your electrical use by adding up appliances, lighting, switches and fitting them into your work flow and floor plans. Any outlet near water must be either a ground fault interrupter (GFI) outlet or be attached to a GFI breaker These outlets immediately cut the flow of power in the event of an accident. It is becoming common practice for all outlets above counters and near kitchen workspaces to be part of a GFI protected circuit.
