Kitchen appliance switches and locations

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SirHumphreyAppleby

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#318632 5-Feb-2025 13:47

I am updating a kitchen and will be moving around the appliances.

I was informed that I required switches for the hood, hob, oven, and while not discussed, presumably the dishwasher, however, I can only find references to this being required for the hob due to the fire risk. Those discussions are quite old, so is that still the case?

Can the hob switch be in a cupboard next to the appliance? This is the case in my house, and I consider that to be readily accessible. Also, the switchboard itself is in the kitchen, so technically there is an isolation switch within 2m of all of the appliances.

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#3339615 5-Feb-2025 14:31

Related, but not an answer to your questions.

If you will be installing induction hobs now or in future, now maybe a good time to beef up the wiring and fuse.
Good luck with the renovations.

Senecio

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#3339653 5-Feb-2025 15:40

We just bought a house that was built in 2021 and there are switches in the pantry cupboard for all appliances (oven, cooktop, rangehood, dishwasher & fridge). Really handy as its our holiday home so its really easy to switch everything off from one location.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3339731 5-Feb-2025 17:15

qwertee:

If you will be installing induction hobs now or in future, now maybe a good time to beef up the wiring and fuse.

The wiring is currently on the wrong side of the kitchen and over 50 years old, so it's definitely going to be upgraded. The whole switchboard is going to be replaced as there isn't room for any surface mount additions. Not a single RCD in the place currently.

MadEngineer

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#3339738 5-Feb-2025 18:27

Think if you walk into the kitchen and a family member is stuck to an appliance or it’s otherwise developed a fault and threatening to start a fire. You’ll want a switch nearby to turn it off.

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SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3339741 5-Feb-2025 18:45

MadEngineer:

Think if you walk into the kitchen and a family member is stuck to an appliance

Step sister being stuck in the dryer only happens in the minds of porn creators.

MadEngineer

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#3339784 5-Feb-2025 21:27

I was going to say wife but thought that could be misconstrued as being a bit ... old fashioned.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

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jonathan18

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#3339830 6-Feb-2025 10:11

We had our kitchen replaced a few months back and struck the same issue. While we had asked to see if they’d put the switches (for both hob and oven) in the back of the pantry the electricians insisted on putting them outside, to the side of the hob. IIRC they argued inside the pantry didn’t meet the requirements. (And one could argue that, unless specifically told of the location, most wouldn’t know exactly where to look for the switches if inside a cupboard.)

TBH, the switches are right at the back next to the splashback, and in black against a darkish blue wall, so I never even notice them.

Bung

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#3339834 6-Feb-2025 11:07

Not an electrician but I think the accessible switch is only required for hobs in case of fat fires. Switches for other items are optional and usually don't provide a safe disconnect if the item needed servicing. The circuit breaker becomes the isolation switch.

Friends of mine had been in a new house for several years with a rangehood that was often faulty. Thet were always going to get the electrician to look at it. On a hunch I tried all the light switches beside the doors leading into the kitchen. The plate beside the door that got least use had an on/off for the rangehood.

Senecio

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#3339909 6-Feb-2025 15:54

My switch for the hob is above the hob, about 18 inches. If there is a fat fire I have to reach through the fire to turn it off. House was built in the 80's, I'm sure that wouldn't be compliant today.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3339915 6-Feb-2025 16:07

I decided to go ahead and order switches for the hob and oven, since both will be hard wired and can have their isolation switch on a discrete plate nearby. Schneider has discontinued the PDL 600 series parts I would have used to add more switches, so that'll just have to do :)

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#3339919 6-Feb-2025 16:24

Depends on how fast you are 😁. Last night I had a South African style Boerewors sausage spiral in the BBQ. Just before it was done it released a lot of fat that caught fire and under the lid it was turning into Chernobyl. Knowing there was nothing else for tea I was in with the tongs to save it and only singed the hair on my arm.

The stove switch seemed to be on the wall behind the stove for a long time. My sister's 1950's house in Hutt Valley Wgtn was still wired the old way where stove switch on turned off hot water.

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snnet

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#3339921 6-Feb-2025 16:40

With RCDs / RCBOs being commonplace in new wiring/alterations now, isolation of most appliances isn't a requirement - only the hob is. A sidenote is the oven is meant to be isolated if stipulated by manufacturer instruction - spoiler alert - most oven manuals will stipulate it needs an isolator. We still put isolators in for most kitchens for fridges, hoods, microwaves etc just because it's a convenient thing to have at times.

There are other requirements in the 2018 rules which aren't cited into law in NZ yet particularly around induction hobs

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3339926 6-Feb-2025 17:01

snnet:

With RCDs / RCBOs being commonplace in new wiring/alterations now, isolation of most appliances isn't a requirement - only the hob is. A sidenote is the oven is meant to be isolated if stipulated by manufacturer instruction - spoiler alert - most oven manuals will stipulate it needs an isolator. We still put isolators in for most kitchens for fridges, hoods, microwaves etc just because it's a convenient thing to have at times.

There are other requirements in the 2018 rules which aren't cited into law in NZ yet particularly around induction hobs

Thanks for confirming that. It sounds like what I'm planning to do covers all the [current] legal requirements, which is my primary concern.

It's been decades since we've had to manually defrost a freezer, and other than that I can't think of any occasion where I would have wanted to switch off a fridge/freezer, hood, dishwasher or microwave other than to remove it or install a new one.

SomeoneSomewhere

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#3340006 6-Feb-2025 20:23

snnet:

With RCDs / RCBOs being commonplace in new wiring/alterations now, isolation of most appliances isn't a requirement - only the hob is. A sidenote is the oven is meant to be isolated if stipulated by manufacturer instruction - spoiler alert - most oven manuals will stipulate it needs an isolator. We still put isolators in for most kitchens for fridges, hoods, microwaves etc just because it's a convenient thing to have at times.

There are other requirements in the 2018 rules which aren't cited into law in NZ yet particularly around induction hobs

RCDs/RCBOs have no impact on the isolation requirements; they're just as much an isolator as an MCB. I strongly suggest not calling or thinking of any of these switches 'isolators', as they are not. They are not lockable, not marked on/off, and do not provide the required contact gap. They are functional switches.

My copy of 3000:2018+A3 has no mention of induction anything.

You are not required to comply with manufacturers' instructions, only consider them.

snnet

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#3340054 7-Feb-2025 05:03

RCDs definitely had a role in the decision making process of what was going to happen with switches of appliances without access to the outlets such as rangehoods with power points in ceiling spaces or behind the flue, it doesn't have to be written in the regulations or rules for this to be true. I know it was a definite factor. Isolators are always confused with functional switches, I didn't bother differentiating on a forum such as this because that's what a layperson calls them. (There's may cases of this on these forums even, people calling access points "boosters" etc)

At the end of the day it's a switch that the user switches the appliance off. Anyone doing any work on it should know what to do.

Maybe there's nothing specific on induction in 2018 but there's the whole argument of switching a contactor using a switch to avoid a massive lockable isolator (I haven't gone thru the whole detail of 2018 yet because it's been about 7 years since it was written and we still don't follow it)

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