Home Repair

Adding outlets?

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Hi Guru!

The new house has a 100 amp circuit breaker - only about 50 amps are being used on it right now. My kitchen has very few outlets- maybe 2 in the entire thing. I need to add a few more to run all of the equipment I use on a daily basis.

Is there an easy way to do this? There is beadboard that runs along all of the walls, from the floor to about 3 1/2' -4' up the wall. NO cabinetry at all, except the one lousy cabinet that holds the kitchen sink. Before I put the cabinets in, I have a feeling it'd be a a good idea to get those outlets in place. Any suggestions?

Also- I've GOT to add more lighting. There is only one, very low hanging pendant light, which does not adequately light the space. Any suggestions on an easy way to get more light in there?

As always, your advice is appreciated!

Karen Smile
I would mark on the wall exactly where the new cabinets are going. Base as well as any wall cabinets. this is where you can make all the access holes you need to get the wiring to the ceiling for lighting as well as those counter outlets you mentioned. Once the cabinets are installed they will cover up any patches you have made.

Also you might consider under cabinet lighting, which would be a wire that comes out of the wall right at the bottom edge where there is a 1" recess. There are all kinds of lighting to put there. Go check them out at Home Depot of Lowes. There are low volt halogen ones that look like a small hockey puck which are nice, or even florescent fixtures that are less than 1" thick so they are mostly hidden.
They are completely hidden if you are tall. Smile
Unless you sit at the kitchen table (if you have one that is). Then you can see them a bit.
Thanks Ron and Guru- unfortunately, due to our lovely 82" ceilings, we will not be putting any upper cabinets up. We're ripping out the flooring to even everything out and put in a new subfloor, so we're gonna run new, grounded airing in and maybe some new plumbing lines.

I really like those little halogens though... How hard is it to put in recessed cans?

Karen Smile
Getting the wire to the location is the hardest part (if you aren't taking down the drywall that is). The "can" just gets installed into a hole in the drywall. Thats all. You just have to avoid the joists above and your good to go! There are little clips that grab the back of the drywall and hold the can in place. Then you snap a trim on and that's it!

So you would carefully drill or cut the correct size hole, run the wire, connect the wire to the electrical box that is with the can assembly, then sneak the box and can up into the hole. Then just twist the clips!

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