Every kitchen refit contains a hidden electrical project, and its timing is unforgiving: the wiring window opens when the old units come off the walls and closes when plastering and tiling begin. Miss decisions inside that window and they stay missed for fifteen years.
CAN Electrical Contractors Limited handles kitchen rewires across Leeds inside exactly these refits, and this is how the electrical week runs and what must be decided before it.
The window: after strip-out, before plaster
First fix happens in the bare room: old kitchen circuits stripped back, new cable runs chased and clipped to the plan, back boxes set, and everything left ready behind walls that are about to close. The electrician returns for second fix, faceplates, connections, the consumer unit work, once tiling and decoration are done.
The sequence with other trades is rigid for good reasons: plasterers bury what electricians leave, and tilers seal it. The refit's timetable therefore hangs on electrical decisions being final before first fix, which is the polite version of: choose your appliances early.
- First fix in the stripped room; second fix after tiling.
- Walls close behind the electrician; decisions close with them.
- Appliance choices drive circuits, so they come first.
The circuits a modern kitchen needs
Kitchens are the hungriest room in the house and modern ones are hungrier: an induction hob wants its own appropriately sized circuit, ovens likewise depending on rating, and the socket circuit needs the capacity for a room where kettle, toaster, air fryer and dishwasher all live. Older kitchens limping on a shared ring with the rest of the floor are exactly what refits exist to fix.
CAN Electrical Contractors Limited sizes the new circuits from the actual appliance list, which is why the list matters early: an induction hob declared after first fix is a wall reopened.
- Induction hobs and big ovens: dedicated circuits sized to them.
- Socket capacity for the appliance-dense reality.
- The appliance list is the design document.
Sockets, switches and isolation people actually use
Positioning is lived-in design: sockets above the worktop where the small appliances stand, spares beyond today's count, nothing hidden behind the fridge, and integrated appliances given accessible switching, the grid switches or labelled isolators that let a dishwasher be turned off without archaeology.
Under-cabinet lighting, extractor wiring and the pantry socket all belong in the first-fix drawing too. The rule is simple: anything that will ever want power gets its cable now, while the wall is open and the cost is pennies.
Testing before the tiles, certificates after
Before the room closes, the new circuits are tested dead: continuity and insulation proven while faults are still reachable. After second fix comes live testing and the paperwork: certification for the new work, and building control notification where the scope requires it.
The certificates join the refit's document pile alongside warranties, and they matter beyond tidiness: kitchen electrics are what EICRs, buyers and insurers look at hardest, and a refit with its electrical paperwork complete sails those checks.
Related pages
Questions customers ask
When in a kitchen refit does the electrician need decisions?
Before first fix: appliance list, socket positions, lighting and isolation choices all shape the cabling that goes in while the room is stripped. After plastering, changes reopen walls.
Does an induction hob need special wiring?
It needs a dedicated circuit sized to its rating, which frequently means new cable from the consumer unit. Declaring it early is the difference between routine and rework.
Will my kitchen refit electrics be certified?
They should be: tested at both fixes, certificated, and notified where required. The paperwork is part of the job and every future check leans on it.
Appliances chosen early, positions marked on bare walls, circuits sized to the real list, tests before tiles: that is kitchen wiring that serves the refit instead of haunting it.
CAN Electrical Contractors Limited slots into Leeds kitchen refits at exactly the right week. The contact page takes the plan and the appliance list.
