I am getting to the point where I need to consider the route of the kitchen ring main with a view to getting the new kitchen in ASAP so we are without a functioning kitchen for the minimum time.

I understand that when the likes of Wren, Magnet and other installers fit kitchens to try and minimise disruption, speed up installation, avoid floor lifting, excessive plastering etc. most cables are simply run in voids behind units or in kickspaces leaving only the runs above worktop level buried in the plaster. Alternatively cables are dropped from above ceiling height to sockets enabling base units to be installed leaving wall units off until any cable runs behind are complete.

My present kitchen ring main disappears below floor level and comes up the walls buried in the plaster. Since every socket that remains is now in the wrong place is to disregard the existing ring and install a new ring main. So the question is which way is best to get the kitchen functional as quickly as possible? Running cables through the ceiling is not on, this is a bungalow with a 22° pitch trussed roof with no standing room in the loft and most of the kitchen is under the acute part of the pitch. I have already spent enough time crawling around up there re-wiring the lighting circuits and really want to avoid any further balancing on narrow trusses fighting with 300mm of insulation and squeezing into narrow spaces. So do I run cables round the kitchen in the cupboard voids perhaps ducking under the floor under door ways? An alternative option is presenting itself along the lines of dropping down the walls from above. We are installing a ceiling mounted extractor whose vent is going to have to pass over the top of some tall units. This extractor and vent run will have to be boxed in so we are thinking of making a feature of it by extending the boxing in across all units on both sides of the galley kitchen. SWAMBO does not like using the tops of units for storage as she just considers them dirt gatherers that are awkward to clean and after all neither of us is getting younger. The boxing in will also provide scope for fitting some spot lights so I will be running some cable through for them, this also allows me to route the ring main dropping down to the sockets. So is this kosher and can anyone foresee any gotchas? I could run the two radials for the hob and oven similarly in the void mentioned but at the moment these run under the floor and although the positions of the hob and oven are changing the simplest thing at the moment seems to be to dig them out of the plaster and move them to their new positions which the cables should do easily.

Richard

On 02/10/2019 12:04, Tricky Dicky wrote:

I am getting to the point where I need to consider the route of the kitchen ring main with a view to getting the new kitchen in ASAP so we are without a functioning kitchen for the minimum time.

I understand that when the likes of Wren, Magnet and other installers fit kitchens to try and minimise disruption, speed up installation, avoid floor lifting, excessive plastering etc. most cables are simply run in voids behind units or in kickspaces leaving only the runs above worktop level buried in the plaster. Alternatively cables are dropped from above ceiling height to sockets enabling base units to be installed leaving wall units off until any cable runs behind are complete.

My present kitchen ring main disappears below floor level and comes up the walls buried in the plaster. Since every socket that remains is now in the wrong place is to disregard the existing ring and install a new ring main. So the question is which way is best to get the kitchen functional as quickly as possible? Running cables through the ceiling is not on, this is a bungalow with a 22° pitch trussed roof with no standing room in the loft and most of the kitchen is under the acute part of the pitch. I have already spent enough time crawling around up there re-wiring the lighting circuits and really want to avoid any further balancing on narrow trusses fighting with 300mm of insulation and squeezing into narrow spaces. So do I run cables round the kitchen in the cupboard voids perhaps ducking under the floor under door ways? An alternative option is presenting itself along the lines of dropping down the walls from above. We are installing a ceiling mounted extractor whose vent is going to have to pass over the top of some tall units. This extractor and vent run will have to be boxed in so we are thinking of making a feature of it by extending the boxing in across all units on both sides of the galley kitchen. SWAMBO does not like using the tops of units for storage as she just considers them dirt gatherers that are awkward to clean and after all neither of us is getting younger. The boxing in will also provide scope for fitting some spot lights so I will be running some cable through for them, this also allows me to route the ring main dropping down to the sockets. So is this kosher and can anyone foresee any gotchas? I could run the two radials for the hob and oven similarly in the void mentioned but at the moment these run under the floor and although the positions of the hob and oven are changing the simplest thing at the moment seems to be to dig them out of the plaster and move them to their new positions which the cables should do easily.



Sounds fine to me. And remember that you can run horizontally between
sockets.


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Adam

Thanks Adam. Something I meant to mention in the original post. Do I need to use fire proof fixings for cables behind plasterboard which I am going to use to clad the boxing in?

Richard

On 03/10/2019 20:06, Tricky Dicky wrote:
Thanks Adam. Something I meant to mention in the original post. Do I need to use fire proof fixings for cables behind plasterboard which I am going to use to clad the boxing in?


Probably.


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Adam

On Thursday, 3 October 2019 22:05:44 UTC+1, ARW wrote:
On 03/10/2019 20:06, Tricky Dicky wrote:
Thanks Adam. Something I meant to mention in the original post. Do I need to use fire proof fixings for cables behind plasterboard which I am going to use to clad the boxing in?


Probably.

You only need them if fire would cause the cable to collapse. A PB construction would generally support it.


NT