Laying wiring in the kitchen is one of the most important stages of electrical work in the apartment. After all, it is in this room that most of the household appliances used in the house are usually located. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out the wiring of electricians in the kitchen in accordance with all the rules and in compliance with the required standards. Otherwise, using household appliances here in the future will be inconvenient and unsafe.
General rules for wiring in residential premises
To begin to electrify the kitchen, of course, stands at the very first stages of repair - before the start of finishing work. When wiring in this room, as in any other, the following rules must be observed:
sockets and junction boxes must be mounted in easily accessible places;
all conductive elements should be insulated;
sockets and switches are not allowed to be mounted closer than 50 cm to metal equipment (batteries, water supply) and gas pipes;
wires must be laid in strictly horizontal or vertical lines.
The peculiarities of electrification of the kitchen itself is that it is not allowed to open cables here, unlike other rooms in the apartment. This may be unsafe. That is, the question of how to hide the wire in the kitchen, for example, behind the decorative elements of the apartment owners should not arise in principle. Laying cables in this room is allowed only in gates. The type of kitchen wiring must be used exactly the same as in other rooms of the apartment or house. It is also believed that in this room a total of at least three outlets should be provided.
Preparatory work
It is advisable to start laying wires in the kitchen not only before the final finishing work, but also before buying furniture. After all, the most convenient location of outlets in this room directly depends on what type of design the headsets will be installed here.
Before proceeding with the installation of wiring in the kitchen, you should:
Next, you need to draw a more detailed scan of the walls - already in compliance with the scale and the exact location of all the serving elements. A circuit designed in this way will need to be provided to specialists called for wiring.
What sockets to install?
The number of these elements of the wiring diagram will depend, of course, on what household appliances are supposed to be used in the future. In a modern kitchen, most likely, you will have to install sockets for:
Also, the correct wiring of electricians in the kitchen involves the use of another additional outlet. It may be needed to include, for example, a blender, a vegetable slicer, a meat grinder or some other similar small equipment.
Switches and sockets in the kitchen: location, height and more
Of course, such elements should be mounted in such a way that it would be safe and convenient to use household appliances later. The general rule for the location of outlets in residential premises is that they are usually installed at a height of 1 m from the floor. But in the kitchen, such elements, for obvious reasons, are mounted most often above the countertop.
Refrigerator manufacturers usually recommend installing sockets directly below them - in the baseboard. However, most apartment owners find this not particularly convenient. And indeed, if the refrigerator suddenly needs to be turned off, with such an arrangement of the outlet, it will most likely have to be moved away. The process is, of course, laborious. Therefore, sockets for refrigerators are usually mounted either next to or above them. It is this arrangement of these elements in this case that will be most convenient.
Connecting the hood when wiring an electrician in the kitchen usually happens in the same way. An outlet for it is most often installed above it or next to it. Sometimes hoods are connected to the wiring and directly. In this case, of course, you do not have to install any outlets for such household appliances.
The stove and hob are usually located in the very center of the working area of the kitchen. As a result, there is often a shortage of free space next to them. Therefore, sockets for such household appliances in most cases are mounted in the plinth. But if there is a hinged cupboard next to the stove or hob in the headset, it is better to install these elements there. It will actually be much more convenient.
What you should know about
Dishwashers are available today in many kitchens. When wiring electricians in this room, you will have to connect the sockets, of course, for this household appliance. In this case, it is recommended to place them also in the headset or in the baseboard. Install the wall outlet behind the machine is not worth it. Otherwise, the unit may simply not completely fit into the headset.
Wiring in the kitchen, of course, should be as safe as possible. Therefore, only sockets with moisture protection should be selected for the dishwasher. Otherwise, water may get inside these elements with the corresponding consequences. Outlets installed near sinks should also be protected from moisture.
Additional items
"Free" sockets above the countertop or generally near the headset are rarely placed. Usually such an additional element is mounted next to the dining table. After all, quite a lot of outlets are usually installed near the headset. The location of the additional element next to the table will make it possible, if necessary, to easily expand the working area of the kitchen at the expense of the dining room.
A few more placement rules
Install sockets, according to the standards, should be at a height of at least 5 cm from the surface of the countertop. During cooking, the latter may, for some reason, accumulate, for example, moisture. Of course, she should not get into sockets under any circumstances.
It is also believed that on a tiled apron, sockets should be installed so that their edges coincide with the seams of the ceramic surface. They install sockets in this way on a tile, including for aesthetic reasons.
How to install a switch
Correctly positioning this element is, of course, also very important. Switches in kitchens are recommended to be installed with two keys. Hanging cabinets for food and utensils in modern apartments are often equipped with automatic lighting. The second key will answer for it.
The switch, of course, should be located next to the front door. You can mount it both directly in the kitchen itself, and nearby - in the corridor. The choice of a specific place in this case depends on the layout of both rooms, as well as how to arrange furniture in them. According to the rules, the switch should be located, however, at a distance of no more than 15 cm from the nearest door jamb.
Connection of illumination in cabinets
The presence of such a supplement makes cooking work, for example, in the evening as convenient as possible. Connecting the backlight in the cabinets in the kitchen will not be too difficult. As already mentioned, it is best to attach it to a switch located next to the front door. The only rule that should be observed in this case is to leave visible until wiring closets are installed. Otherwise, when connecting the latter in the future, installers may experience certain difficulties.
The lamp in the kitchen
The peculiarity of any kitchen is, first of all, that people here not only have lunch and breakfast, but also do all kinds of work on cooking. Therefore, the lighting of this room should be of the highest quality. No wall lamps and sconces are usually used in this room. The best solution is to hang a lamp of sufficient power in the center of the ceiling in the kitchen. Wall-mounted lamp options in this room may be appropriate only as an additional light source.
Technical points
So, how to arrange sockets and switches in the kitchen is understandable. But what materials and equipment should be used to install electricians in this room? It's believed that:
kitchen outlets are suitable with an indicator of at least 16 A;
the switches for this room, due to the possibility of rapid contamination, should be chosen with a smooth rather than rough surface.
Of course, apartment owners are often interested in including the question of what section the wire should be used in the kitchen. This parameter is selected depending on how many devices in the room are supposed to be used in the future.
In order to choose the right wires, in this case, you should summarize the rated power of all household appliances available in the kitchen. The result is usually an indicator of 7 to 15 kW. To determine the required cable cross section, having such information, you can use the special table.
RCD and shield
Of course, these two elements are rarely used in the wiring diagrams of the kitchen itself. Usually the shield is installed common to the entire apartment, or even immediately to several on the site. However, household appliances in the kitchens in our time are used in most cases a lot. Therefore, sometimes experts advise installing special mini-shields in this room instead of junction boxes. At the entrance to such devices is installed, among other things, and a protective device - RCD. For a single-phase connection, the power of the latter should be approximately 50 A. Outlet loops in such devices are usually connected using an NG 3x2.5 cable.