joiners

[alba]

hi guys. our firm works with some joiners, recentlly when wiring there kitchens there has been request to have sockets left under the kick plate space of the kitchen as there kitchens have no space at backs of units for sockets and especially when the appliance is plugged into the sockets. ive seen some of there other elctricians whom run everything under these kick plates and occasionally chase up for sockets above work tops etc. although all cables are just loose under here and sockets lying on floor loose. i wired one last week using scale drawing chased in all my sockets and was told that appliances would not fit in. fcu are not great for obvious reasons of removal of appliances and also break of gurantee once plug removed. as far as im concearned it looks rough and wiring and accesories should be fixed. as there other sparks are happy to do it this way i was wondering if anyone else has came up with this problem with fitted kitchens contractors, thanks.

 

[rocker]

I bloody wouldn't be doing that. Whether it's kitchen fitters telling you to put points on the floor, or the bloody plasterer wanting his radio on or whatever, stick to the regs and do a good job. If there isn't enough space for apps then they should have bloody designed the kitchen properly, shouldn't they?

 

[sparks72]

hi guys. our firm works with some joiners, recentlly when wiring there kitchens there has been request to have sockets left under the kick plate space of the kitchen as there kitchens have no space at backs of units for sockets and especially when the appliance is plugged into the sockets. ive seen some of there other elctricians whom run everything under these kick plates and occasionally chase up for sockets above work tops etc. although all cables are just loose under here and sockets lying on floor loose. i wired one last week using scale drawing chased in all my sockets and was told that appliances would not fit in. fcu are not great for obvious reasons of removal of appliances and also break of gurantee once plug removed. as far as im concearned it looks rough and wiring and accesories should be fixed. as there other sparks are happy to do it this way i was wondering if anyone else has came up with this problem with fitted kitchens contractors, thanks.

Why not put the sockets in the lower cupboards & have a hole drilled for the plug,
that's what I do.
I wouldn't advise having sockets behind the kickboards as they should be accessible.

 

[pennywise]

You could put a un switched fuse spur in, with a flex outlet and have a single gang moulded dura socket on the end of some black appliance HO7 flex and put that in the kick board space, then you wouldn't need to invalidate the warrantee of the appliance by cutting the plug off. Sorry didn't mention putting 20amp isolation switches above worktop.

 

[dufjax]

Got a the same problem with a kitchen we're doing at the moment. Kitchen fitter wants us to take "the ring" out of a double socket on the wall and just have a floating double socket on the floor / behind cupboards cables free / floating as well.
We've said no, haven't heard anymore. I expect the guy who's putting the underfloor heating in well get that job lol

The same kitchen fitter last week drilled through the cooker cable, fortunate for him he's two weeks behind schedule.

If he'd have been a week earlier we wouldn't have done the cu change (The old board was wylex rewireables, no RCD.) and the RCD wouldn't have kicked in.

Starting to regret us doing the CU change before!!!


Jim

 

[sparks72]

You could put a un switched fuse spur in, with a flex outlet and have a single gang moulded dura socket on the end of some black appliance HO7 flex and put that in the kick board space, then you wouldn't need to invalidate the warrantee of the appliance by cutting the plug off. Sorry didn't mention putting 20amp isolation switches above worktop.

You don't need to cut the plug off the appliances,
the joiner I see on jobs on a regular basis usually cuts a hole big enough for the plug.

 

[pennywise]

when the customer doesn't want a hole and a socket in their 60 grand kitchen with glass worktops its just another option
agreed most cheap kitchens you can mount them anywhere in the adjacent cupboard and cut a large hole for the moulded plug top.

 

[cside]

cookers not fitting in with the cover on the outlet plate is a classic , ammount of people who just smash it off because they cant be botherd to get a screwdriver is just daft, or people winging your sockets aint level when its the tiler who cant get cut his tiles properlys fault

 

[andrew692003]

I do a lot of kitchens and built in appliances etc can be a total pain in the arse!

I have on occasions fitted the socket in the adjoining cupboard but more often than not I usually fit a flex outlet to the appliance. I also have a white goods retail outlet and can say for sure that cutting off the plug top and connecting to a flex outlet won't invalidate the warranty. Also, if you keep your outlets quite low behind the appliance you will find you will have a bit more depth for fitting a socket and a plug but that doesn't apply all of the time.

This is a tricky situation sometimes but there are ways and means.

Cheers