Do you need a kitchen electrician to help with your home renovations?

Getting the right kitchen electrician will help your renovation project be an on-budget success. A botched DYI job can end up costing so much more.

Renovating your kitchen can throw your life into chaos.

• That is why it’s recommended you find yourself a great kitchen electrician to handle the job you want done, and done right the first time around.

It can be as simple as moving the fridge’s electrical outlet to a better spot or as complicated as tearing everything out and starting anew. Either way, the expert counsel of a kitchen electrician is never a waste of time or money.

You would probably be surprised to learn how much electricity is used to power your kitchen appliances.

• The sheer wattage used in that room alone is more than enough reason to get on the phone to a kitchen electrician if you have a concern.

The refrigerator, oven, and dishwasher require a great deal of electricity to power them; if you need to boost your power supply for them, or if you want to renovate and put in new ones, consult with a kitchen electrician before beginning any work.

• If you have a contractor looking after the job, make sure the electric work will be handled by a certified electrician.

Your kitchen electrician will know that there are at least seven circuits you require for day-to-day kitchen use. For a regular, run-of-the-mill kitchen you need:

• Two 20-amp small-appliance units
• A single 15-amp basic lighting circuit
• Five dedicated appliance circuits

If you want to add more appliances, you’ll have to add more circuits. If an appliance has its own motor, it needs its own circuit. Consult with your contractor and kitchen electrician to figure out your ideal circuit configuration.

• Contemporary fridges, with their built-in water dispensers and ice-makers, need their own dedicated 20-amp circuits.

• Electric countertop ranges are fashionable these days, and they need their own 50-amp 240-volt circuits. A range also needs a special range plug installed as well.

• Microwaves have gotten more and more powerful, and many now require their own 20-amp 120-volt circuits.

• Garbage disposal units require their own circuits in most jurisdictions, but in some areas local building codes allow for the unit to share a circuit with the dishwasher. Your local kitchen electrician will know which arrangement is required for your home.

For any work involving kitchen wiring, even for seemingly simple projects, it is advisable to leave the job to certified kitchen electricians. If you don’t, you may be risking the integrity of your home electrical wiring, or worse, your personal safety.

*Not only is it dangerous, it may even be illegal in some provinces, such as Québec, to do your own electrical wiring. The solution: consider hiring a master electrician.