kitchen fcu or grid system?

[godzill]

Hi to all!

Have to rewire a kitchen and have got a blank canvas!

so after alot of thought and decisions of where to put things,i would end up with a few fcu's

i.e.dishwasher,fridge,plinth heater,cooker hood,gas hob

that's ok,but the walls would look very busy,with the double sockets and cooker switch.

so my question to all you experienced sparkys is :

could i fit a grid system instead?

it would make the apperance neater and easier for tiling.

I hope you can help.

 

[sparkyspike]

You can get grid switches with the name of the appliance embossed on them. They look a bit commercial though, as do all grid switches. You can have whatever you want though. I think flat-plate chrome looks good, for example.

 

[RF Lighting]

I personally like doing a kitchen with grid switches, and they do not have to look too obtrusive. Some people dont like them, and I think it is really down to personal preference.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I prefer grid too.
The downside is that all of the load is at one point on the ring. With FCUs its distributed.

TTC

 

[godzill]

Thanks for your help guys

was considering using 2 gang or possibly 3 gang grid switches,as i don't want it to look too out of place.

just seems to make sense to me and they don't really look that out of place when you then compare them to an fcu.

was thinking of having the fridge/freezer and diswasher on a circuit together independant of the sockets,is that an option?

also,would a plinth heater come off the ring circuit for the sockets or would that draw too much?

thanks Mark

 

[RF Lighting]

If you are starting from scratch, then IMO the best thing to do is install a ring circuit for the general sockets in the kitchen, and then install a seperate 4.0mm² radial to feed the grid sitch, and therefore the appliances.

 

[sparkybird]

I too have thought about this, rather than lots of FCU's dotted around. However, you need to check that your grid switches are rated at 32A as I could only find 20A ones, and hence have never gone down this route.

If you've found a 32A one, let me know!

SB

 

[plugwash]

surely the switches have downstream protection from the fuse in the appliance plug against overloading so there isn't really any need for them to be 32A

i've never seen grid switches rated at more than 20.