The electrical work in a kitchen renovation is done by a licensed electrician and quoted separately from the cabinetry, and the lines people most often forget are under-cabinet lighting, pendants over the island, dedicated circuits for the appliances, the range hood, and whether the panel has room for any of it. We do not do electrical work. We design and build the cabinetry the electrical has to fit, so we see which lines get missed and what it costs in changes when they are. This post is the list, so you can put it in front of your electrician before the drywall closes.
An LED strip under the uppers needs three things that are easy to forget: a channel or a light rail on the cabinet so the strip and its diodes are hidden, a place for the driver, and a wire run to it before the drywall closes. When the lighting is on the cabinet drawings, the uppers are built with a recessed lip at the front bottom edge, the driver goes inside a cabinet or above the uppers, and the electrician leaves a wire at the right spot. When it is decided after the cabinets are in, you get a visible strip, a surface cord, and a plug in the backsplash. Decide it early and it costs less and disappears.
The ceiling boxes for pendants are located to the centreline of the island, which means the island position has to be final on the cabinet drawings before the electrician roughs in. If the island moves six inches in a later revision, the boxes are in the wrong place and the ceiling gets patched. Decide the pendant count and spacing at the same time, and put them on their own switch, ideally a dimmer, so the island can be the only light on at the end of the night.
The range or cooktop, the wall oven, the dishwasher, the fridge, and a built-in microwave usually each need their own circuit, and the counter outlets have their own rules about spacing and load. The electrician will confirm what the code requires for your layout. The line that surprises people is induction. An induction cooktop or range usually needs a higher-amperage line than the electric range it replaces, and if you are moving from gas it needs a new line entirely. A panel-ready fridge sometimes needs its outlet moved so the panel can close over it. All of this is roughed in before the cabinets, so the appliance list has to be final first.
A range hood needs power, and a hood that vents outside needs a duct to get there. The duct usually runs through an upper cabinet, and that cabinet loses most of its storage to it, so it should be on the drawings. If the hood is an insert inside a cabinetry canopy, the canopy is built to the insert's dimensions, so the hood model has to be chosen before the cabinetry is. A hood that recirculates is easier to install but does not remove moisture or heat the way a ducted one does. A large ducted hood can also trigger a make-up air requirement, which is another line. Ask the electrician and the mechanical trade about it early rather than at inspection.
An older Vancouver house may have a panel that is already full. Add an induction range, a wall oven, a dedicated circuit for the dishwasher, and a run of lighting, and the panel may not have the space or the amperage for it. A panel upgrade is its own line and its own permit, it can involve the utility, and it is the one that moves a schedule if it is discovered late. Have the electrician look at the panel at the first site visit, before a single cabinet is drawn.
Outlets go in the backsplash, in the side of the island, inside an appliance garage, and sometimes inside a pantry for the toaster and the coffee machine. Each one is a cut-out in something we build or a hole in a backsplash the tiler sets. When the outlet locations are on the cabinet drawings, the cabinetry is built around them and the tiler has a plan. When they are not, an outlet ends up behind a drawer stack or splitting a tile.
Electrical happens twice. Rough-in comes after demolition and before drywall: the wire runs, the boxes, the new circuits, any panel work. Finish electrical comes after the cabinets and counters are in: the outlets and switches, the pendants, the under-cabinet strips, the hood connection. Two visits, quoted together, from the same drawings the cabinetry was built from.
Electrical is one of the trade lines that sits outside the cabinetry band, and where your kitchen budget actually goes shows how the lines fit together. Use the Vancouver Kitchen Cost Calculator for the cabinetry range, and book a free consultation when you want the electrical plan and the cabinet drawings done together.