Rewiring the kitchen, bring popcorn w/ advice

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I bought a house and the previous owner "rewired" some things over what I think was several decades, and the house saw several "updates" which significantly changed the original design. Husband and wife were deaf, so he cobbled in a flashing light system throughout the house that took forever to remove (actually found phone-type wire spliced to 120v and an exposed/open junction box behind plywood inside a wall which housed a Radio Shack flasher system that had the AC plug cut off and hardwired to an outlet with an exposed transformer near it....) and the guy apparently didn't believe in grounding anything, and would splice to whatever was convenient, and has AC outlets EVERYWHERE, and a secondary breaker box that was installed into a walled-in porch add-on. Main breaker is in master bedroom right next to outside power junction, but master bedroom gets power from the secondary box in the added-on porch. Make sense? Beyond infuriating.

Electricians relocated and updated the main box, etc., but there are several things I've found recently after the fact while adding new lighting once the lowered ceilings were pulled down (hiding 8.5' tall wooden ceilings with massive 36' x 8" x 4" beams every 4' with tongue and groove 1" paneling between them spanning the original house section) from the kitchen. Originally had a flat roof, and was changed to an A-frame style and original roof is now the attic floor, complete with galvanized steel covered with tar and insulation on everything. Original walls in some areas have redundant headers half way up, which makes running new wire impossible w/o ripping drywall down, which has blown-in cellulose; in other words, everything is a rpita. Added the extra bits just to give an idea of what I'm dealing with for added entertainment.

OK, so the kitchen had at LEAST 5 breakers supplying power. Used one to power dining room light instead, so still have 4 breakers supplying power but plan on only using 3. A 15, 20, and double pole 30 (60) amp. The 15 amp, which powered the original light in the kitchen, was spliced into somewhere and now powers something like 8 AC outlets too, many being in the enclosed porch add-on. The 20 amp, powers 1 outlet. The 60 amp, doesn't seem to power anything at the moment, but is live. The original wiring has twist ends that were taped and tucked under a baseboard if you can believe it.

What I'd like to do, is keep the lighting on the 15 amp, separate the majority of the AC outlets from it, and probably use the 20 amp for the remaining outlets (hallway and porch). Possibly use the 60 amp for a modern electric range/oven and microwave outlets. The wiring for this is 6 or 4 gauge.

Does anyone see any issues with trying to do that? Also, there are 2 outlets above the counter top. Assuming a toaster is used at some point, that's probably 1500 watts. This needs at least a 20 amp breaker?
 

Stuff

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You should find out the electrical codes (national and your local adoptions) before you continue. Otherwise you will be continuing some of the errors done by the previous owners.

6 circuits is typical for a kitchen. 1x15A for lighting, 2x20A for counter and wall receptacles, 1x20A for the dishwasher/disposal, 1x20A for built in microwave, 1x40A 240v (2 pole) for range. The 2 for receptacles (small appliance branch circuits) can also feed dining room and pantry receptacles. The only circuit that can normally be shared to other areas is the lighting one.

Note a double pole 30 amp is not 60 but 30 amp @240v.
 

HudsonDIY

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I will definitely order the services of a full inspection of real estate, so as not to face such a problem in the future.

Unfortunately that often falls short as well. We recently moved in to a home built in 2002. So not so old. We had a full inspection done prior to signing the contract. I have to say there were MANY things missed I would have liked to have known about.

. I asked him for help, but he began to make excuses that he had a lot of work and he simply would not have time to help me.

This seems to be a Florida thing. The hardest part of getting anything done seems to be getting someone to actually show up.
 

Jadnashua

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When you're remodeling and changing things like electrical, you have to bring the affected parts up to the current codes. You are required a dedicated 20A circuit for counter receptacles (maybe it's two!?). That line cannot be used outside of that room, if I remember correctly.

It's nice to have a dedicated circuit for each of the built-in appliances such as stove, microwave, refrigerator, dishwasher, etc. That can really begin to add up.

The counter circuits must be GFCI, and may also require AFCI, depending on your local code cycle. In fact, all of the branches may have to be AFCI, but you need to check to be sure.
 
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