Kitchen Electrical and Lighting

Power and Light in a Room With No Attic

Electrical work is where a post-and-beam kitchen differs most from an ordinary one. In most houses an electrician runs new wire through the attic and drops it down into the walls or ceiling wherever it is needed. In a Palm Springs beam house the ceiling is exposed decking with the roof right on top of it. There is no cavity to fish a wire through and no place to set a recessed can. Every circuit and every fixture needs a route, and the route has to be planned before the walls are closed.

Start With the Panel

Many mid-century homes still run on a small original service, sometimes with a panel that has been added to more than once. A modern kitchen asks a lot of it. Current practice calls for at least two 20 amp small appliance circuits serving the counters, dedicated circuits for the dishwasher, the disposal and a built-in microwave, GFCI protection at counter receptacles and AFCI protection in the kitchen. An induction range or a double wall oven adds a large 240 volt circuit on top of that.

So the first thing we do is look at the panel and the service coming into the house. If there is room, the kitchen is straightforward. If there is not, a panel replacement or service increase goes into the plan early, because it involves the utility, a permit and an inspection, and it is not something to discover after the range has been delivered.

Getting Wire to the Kitchen

Without an attic, new circuits usually travel through the walls that are open during the remodel, under cabinets, along the toe kick area or through the slab where a conduit can be set during other concrete work. When a wall between posts is being opened anyway, that is the moment to run everything the kitchen will need for the next thirty years. We map routes so that wiring does not end up in surface conduit stapled across a beam, which is the quickest way to spoil the ceiling.

Lighting Without Recessed Cans

A good kitchen needs three layers: general light for the room, task light on the counters and some accent light so the room does not feel flat at night. Beam houses can have all three.

• Pendants over an island or peninsula, fed from a box set into the side of a beam or at a decking joint and planned with the carpenter.
• Beam-mounted fixtures that throw light down onto the counters or up across the wood decking, which lights the whole ceiling softly.
• Under-cabinet LED strips on every run that has uppers. This is the most useful light in any kitchen and the cheapest to add.
• Toe kick and interior cabinet lighting where tall pantry walls replace uppers under clerestory glass.

A dropped soffit is an option for a small area, and sometimes it is the right call, but it lowers part of the ceiling and interrupts the lines of the beams. We show it as a choice, not a default.

Clerestories and Heat

The clerestory glass that brings in morning light also brings in a lot of heat on a summer afternoon. We choose warm but efficient LED sources that do not add to it, and we put lighting on dimmers so the room can stay low during the hottest part of the day. Controls are placed at the entries you actually use, including the door to the patio.

Ventilation Wiring and Make-Up Air

A hood ducted outside through the roof needs its own power and switching, and a larger hood can trigger a make-up air requirement once it passes roughly 400 CFM under many codes. That can mean a damper and another circuit. We size the hood to the cooktop and to the house, not to the biggest number on the box.

Permits and Inspections

New circuits, a panel change and moved lighting all need a permit from the City of Palm Springs and an inspection before walls are covered. We schedule the rough-in inspection so the crew is not sitting idle, and in summer we set it for the morning.

Signs It Is Time

Tripping breakers when two appliances run, two prong receptacles, a single dim fixture in the middle of the ceiling, or a plan for induction. Call (442) 718-1030 and we will look at the panel and the ceiling together.