Wiring for hood and microwave

[thebordella]

I just removed an old range hood, leaving behind just the power lead from the wall as seen here:

I want to place a countertop microwave oven in the cabinet above, and of course replace the range hood with a new model. My question is how I can tap into this power lead for the microwave in the cabinet above? Since the microwave has a standard wall plug -- is there some way to run a second branch off this power lead, and somehow connect it to the plug from the microwave? For example, could I run a branch to a surface mount outlet inside the cabinet?

Of course I need to keep a direct lead like this for the new hood, as well.

Thanks for any ideas...

 

[Thatguy]

Microwaves take about 1 kw so make sure that wire & its [dedicated?] breaker is adequate.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

Physically, yes. In reality, maybe not. Some hoods can draw a lot of power (heat lamps, big fans, lights, etc) and some microwaves can draw upwards of 1100-1200W, and often suggest a dedicated circuit, you might overload the circuit. You'd have to add up the current draws, then determine if it is a 15 or 20A circuit and what else may be on it, if anything. An electrical inspector might look at the installation instructions, and if it calls for a dedicated circuit, he may not allow anything else to be attached, regardless.

 

[Drick]

First, you need to determine what else is on this circuit. If it is has no other possible loads your all set. If it services a countertop outlet or the fridge you may want to consider running a new circuit for the microwave as there is a high probability that you will overload the circuit at some point.

Anyway, assuming there are no other loads you need to determine if this wire is coming down from the ceiling or up from the basement/slab. If it is coming down I'd cut a hole for a new outlet in the cabinet, pull up the existing wire to connect to the outlet, then run a piece of wire back down from the outlet and out to the hood.

Coming up from the slab/basement is a bit more complicated. In a location that is accessible to the wire, and can be completely concealed behind the hood I'd install a 1 gang old work box in the wall to use as a splice point. From there I'd run a piece of wire up to a new outlet in the cabinet for the microwave. I'd then run a short piece of wire from the splice box to connect to the hood and put a blank faceplate on the box that is going to be concealed by the hood.

Either way you'll need to do some cutting into the wall, but its fairly straightforward. Buy the hood before you do anything.

-rick

 

[hj]

Or put a duplex receptacle inside cabinet and run a power cord with a plug on the end from the range hood. But then most people would use a combintion range hood/microwave so they did not need a ladder to operate the microwave's control panel.