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Kitchen remodel

5K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Mike Swearingen 
#1 ·
We were getting ready to start on our total kitchen remodel, at least down to the drywall. I was planning on doing everything myself, as I consider myself an above average diy-er.

Own a 50 yr old brick home, slab foundation in Houston, TX. Electrical is all old, old panel, most circuits ungrounded, but we had some grounded circuits added when we moved in, but not in the kitchen.

My questions are this:

I only have 3 circuits dedicated to the kitchen, 3 20 amp. One is for the lights on that end of the house. The other two, one for each wall (galley).

We want to add a dishwasher, so one wall would be 3 GFCI outlets, two reg. and the dishwasher.

Other wall would be 4 outlets, refrig, and small microwave. Am I killing the current load?
Does the dishwasher need a dedicated circuit?


My next Q is a whammy though. I was planning on doing all of this myself, including updating the grounded circuits, and now I fear that I am going to be setting my self up by not

a) having a permit

b) hiring an electrician to do the hookups.

I'm capable of doing the work, have done it before, but I don't want to screw myself when it comes time to sell, and the Houston code is kind of vague as to what I can and can't do, etc.

Any thoughts???
 
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#3 · (Edited)
Absolutely get permits and inspections, first making certain that you can do all of the work yourself, especially the electrical. Local codes rule.
The first thing that I would do in a 50-year-old house is upgrade the panel to a 200 amp breaker panel, and then upgrade circuits.
To answer some of your questions, a dishwasher is supposed to have a dedicated grounded circuit, usually 15 amp breaker with 14/2 with ground wiring, but I would go with all 20 amp with 12/2 wg in case you ever want to install a heavy duty dishwasher. The non-GFCI dw circuit receptacle can be installed under the sink or beside or behind the dw.
Do not put a refrigerator on a GFCI circuit, or it could be tripping constantly. Some places require a dedicated regular circuit for a refrigerator, which is the way I would go.
All above-counter kitchen receptacle circuits should be GFCI. Install a GFCI outlet as the first receptacle in the circuit, and all regular receptacles beyond it in the same circuit will be GFCI-protected. Do not put more than one GFCI receptacle on the same circuit, or you will create tripping problems.
Check with your Building Inspection Department.
Hope that this helps some.
Good luck!
Mike
 
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