A kitchen is the most heavily loaded room in a house, yet BS 7671 has no dedicated section for it. There is no Section 701-style zoning like a bathroom; kitchens were even dropped as a "special location" from Approved Document P in England in April 2013. What governs kitchen electrics instead is the general rules: 30 mA RCD protection for every socket-outlet up to 32 A (Regulation 411.3.3), cable zones (522.6.202), cooker circuit sizing with diversity, adequate isolation for fixed appliances, and Part P notification for new circuits. This guide sets out what is actually required, what is just guidance, and which certificate to issue when the job is done.
- BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 has no special section for kitchens; the general regulations apply, so most "kitchen rules" you hear are On-Site Guide recommendations rather than hard requirements.
- Every socket-outlet up to 32 A needs 30 mA RCD protection (411.3.3), and since Amendment 2 so does the lighting circuit in a domestic kitchen (411.3.4).
- Common guidance is sockets at least 300 mm horizontally from a sink or hob, and 150 mm above the worktop, with no accessory directly above a hob.
- A cooker over 2 kW needs its own radial, normally 6 mm² on a 32 A device, with a control switch within 2 m of the appliance.
- Supplementary bonding to sinks and pipes is not required where main bonding and RCD protection are in place, and has not been since 2008.
- In England, new circuits and consumer unit changes are notifiable under Part P; adding sockets to an existing circuit is not. In Wales, the pre-2013 rules still apply and most kitchen work is notifiable.
- New circuit = EIC; sockets or spurs added to an existing circuit = Minor Works Certificate.
Is a kitchen a special location under BS 7671?
No. Part 7 of BS 7671 lists special installations and locations (bathrooms in Section 701, swimming pools in 702, and so on), and kitchens are not among them. That surprises a lot of homeowners who assume there must be a "kitchen zone" rule for sockets near a sink. There isn't. What exists is the general duty in Regulation 512.2 to select equipment suitable for the external influences it will meet, including water and heat, and the design guidance in the IET On-Site Guide and Guidance Note 1.
England's Approved Document P did treat kitchens as special locations from 2005, which is why older electricians remember every kitchen job being notifiable. The 2013 edition of Approved Document P removed that. Wales did not adopt the 2013 change, so in Wales the 2006 version of Approved Document P still applies and kitchens remain special locations for Part P purposes.
Where can sockets go near a sink or hob?
Because there are no kitchen zones, the positions below are guidance, but they are the guidance a competent electrician follows and the guidance an EICR inspector will have in mind.
| Item | Common guidance | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Socket to sink or draining board | At least 300 mm horizontally from the edge | IET On-Site Guide |
| Socket to hob | At least 300 mm horizontally; never directly above | IET On-Site Guide, manufacturer instructions |
| Socket height above worktop | About 150 mm from worktop surface to bottom of accessory | IET On-Site Guide |
| Socket height in new dwellings | 450 mm to 1200 mm above finished floor | Approved Document M (England) |
| Cooker control switch | Within 2 m of the appliance, not directly above it, accessible in an emergency | IET On-Site Guide |
| Accessories behind appliances | Avoid; use a switched fused connection unit in an accessible position feeding an unswitched socket behind the appliance | GN1 / good practice |
Two points get missed. First, a socket directly above a hob is a burn and fire hazard and manufacturers of hobs and hoods will specify clearance distances; Regulation 134.1.1 requires you to take account of manufacturer's instructions, so those clearances carry real weight. Second, the worktop height rule and the Part M height band conflict in a kitchen. Approved Document M applies to new-build dwellings and accepts that sockets above worktops sit outside the 450 to 1200 mm band; it is the switches and general-purpose sockets on other walls that must comply.
Do kitchen sockets and lights need RCD protection?
Yes, and this is a regulation rather than guidance. Regulation 411.3.3 requires additional protection by a 30 mA RCD for all socket-outlets with a rated current not exceeding 32 A. The only permitted exception is a documented risk assessment in premises other than dwellings, so for a domestic kitchen every socket is covered. Regulation 411.3.4 (introduced in Amendment 2, 2022) extends 30 mA RCD protection to lighting circuits in domestic premises, so a new kitchen lighting circuit needs it too.
Cables concealed in a wall at less than 50 mm depth also need 30 mA RCD protection under 522.6.202 unless they are in the prescribed zones (150 mm from the top of the wall or a corner, or in line horizontally or vertically with an accessory) or mechanically protected. In a kitchen full of drops to sockets behind units, RCD protection is the practical route and you get it anyway from 411.3.3.
On an EICR, absence of RCD protection to sockets is normally a C3 (improvement recommended) following Electrical Safety First's Best Practice Guide 4, unless the sockets could reasonably feed outdoor equipment or there is another defect, in which case C2 is justified. Sockets on the ring that feed the garden through a back door are the classic reason to upgrade the code. See EICR observation codes explained: C1, C2, C3 and FI for the coding logic.
How should a kitchen be circuited?
There is no regulation that says a kitchen must have its own ring final, but the On-Site Guide has recommended it for years and for good reason. A kettle draws 13 A, a dishwasher and washing machine around 10 A each on their heating cycles, a tumble dryer 10 A, plus a microwave, toaster and fridge-freezer. A 32 A ring shared with the rest of the ground floor will be pushed on a Sunday morning.
| Circuit | Typical design | Protection | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen sockets | 2.5 mm² ring final, 32 A | 30 mA RCD or RCBO | Dedicated ring recommended; one unfused spur per socket point |
| Fixed appliances (dishwasher, washing machine) | Fused connection unit off the ring, 13 A fuse | Via ring RCD | Switched FCU accessible above worktop, socket behind unit |
| Cooker or oven above 2 kW | 6 mm² radial, 32 A (4 mm² on 32 A only if installation method allows) | 30 mA RCD if socket in control unit or cable in wall | Diversity: first 10 A + 30% of remainder + 5 A for a socket in the control unit |
| Induction hob | Often 32 A radial in its own right | As above | Check manufacturer's rated current; some need 40 A |
| Lighting | 1.0 or 1.5 mm² radial, 6 A | 30 mA RCD (411.3.4) | Downlights through a ceiling need fire-rated fittings under Part B |
| Extractor hood, boiler, under-cabinet lights | Switched FCU, 3 A or 5 A fuse | Via source circuit | Provides the local isolation the appliance needs for maintenance |
Diversity is where cooker circuits go wrong. A 7.2 kW oven-and-hob combination is 31 A at 230 V without diversity, but the On-Site Guide method gives 10 A + 30% of 21 A + 5 A = 21.3 A, comfortably within a 32 A device. The full worked method, cable sizing and what to do with two ovens is in Cooker Circuit Design and Diversity: Sizing It Right.
Boilers and extractor fans are a common source of C3s on kitchen EICRs because someone has wired them straight into a ring via a chocolate block behind a unit with no means of isolation. Regulation 537.3.2 requires a means of switching off for mechanical maintenance for appliances with heaters or motors, and a switched FCU is the accepted way to provide it.
Does the sink or pipework need bonding?
Main protective bonding to the incoming water and gas services (Regulation 411.3.1.2) is required for the installation as a whole, and a kitchen EICR should confirm it exists and is 10 mm² for a PME supply. That is different from supplementary bonding inside the kitchen. Since the 17th Edition in 2008, supplementary bonding is only required in locations containing a bath or shower, and even there it can be omitted where the conditions of 701.415.2 are met.
A metal sink is not an extraneous-conductive-part in the normal sense: it is bolted to a worktop and usually connected to plastic waste and plastic or copper supply pipes that are already bonded at the point of entry. Adding a bonding conductor to it does no harm, but its absence is not a defect and should not be recorded as one. What you should check is that plastic inserts in the incoming water main have not left the copper pipework in the kitchen isolated from the main bonding while it is still connected to earth somewhere else; if pipework reads as extraneous, main bonding is what fixes it. What is main protective bonding? Explained covers the test.
What does Part P mean for kitchen work?
Part P of the Building Regulations applies in England and Wales and requires that electrical work in dwellings is designed and installed safely. Certain work is notifiable, meaning it has to be reported to building control, either through a registered competent person scheme (NICEIC, NAPIT and others) or by a building notice.
| Work in a kitchen | England (AD P 2013) | Wales (AD P 2006) |
|---|---|---|
| New ring, radial or cooker circuit | Notifiable | Notifiable |
| Consumer unit replacement | Notifiable | Notifiable |
| Adding sockets or an FCU to an existing circuit | Not notifiable | Notifiable |
| Replacing a damaged socket like for like | Not notifiable | Not notifiable |
| Rewiring the existing lighting circuit | Not notifiable if no new circuit | Notifiable |
Non-notifiable does not mean no certificate. BS 7671 Regulation 644.1 (previously 631) still requires an Electrical Installation Certificate or Minor Works Certificate for any addition or alteration. The full notification process, scheme fees and what happens if the work was not notified are in Part P notification: when and how electricians notify building work.
Which certificate covers a kitchen refit?
A full kitchen refit usually involves at least one new circuit, so it needs an Electrical Installation Certificate with a schedule of inspections and a schedule of test results. Where you have only added sockets or a spur to an existing circuit, a Minor Works Certificate is correct, but it still needs test results: at least insulation resistance, continuity of protective conductors, polarity, earth fault loop impedance at the new points and an RCD test.
Do not issue a Minor Works for a new cooker circuit because "it's only one circuit". The Minor Works form is for additions and alterations that do not extend to a new circuit; a new circuit means an EIC. The dividing line is explained in Minor Works Certificate: When to Use It (and When Not To) and the EIC itself in Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) Explained.
For a kitchen installed by a kitchen fitter who then asks an electrician to "sign it off", the honest position is that you can only certify work you designed, constructed or inspected and tested yourself. If you did not see the cables go in, the appropriate document is an EICR on the affected circuits, not an EIC with your name on the design box.
What do inspectors find on kitchen EICRs?
The defects that come up again and again in kitchens are worth listing so a landlord reading this knows what to expect and an electrician knows what to look for.
Sockets without RCD protection are the most common item and are usually C3. Damaged or heat-discoloured sockets behind a cooker or beside a kettle are C2. A cooker control unit mounted directly above the hob is usually C3 with a note. Appliances hard-wired without local isolation are C3. A socket-outlet within splash distance of the sink is recorded as C3 with the distance noted; it is not a C2 unless the accessory shows water damage. Missing or undersized main bonding is C2. A borrowed neutral between the kitchen lights and another lighting circuit, common in older houses where a two-way switch was added, is C2 because it defeats RCD protection and leaves a circuit live when isolated.
Every one of those observations needs clear wording, a code and a regulation reference so the landlord's follow-up electrician can act on it; How to Write EICR Observations That Stand Up shows the format.
How Certio helps
Certio produces the EICR, EIC, Minor Works certificate and PAT records on the BS 7671 model forms and turns them into branded PDFs. Photograph the consumer unit and the circuit schedule drafts itself; point the phone camera at a Megger MFT-X1 and the reading goes straight into the schedule of test results, or dictate it while your hands stay on the probes. Suggested observation wording with the regulation reference is there for you to check and confirm. The judgement stays yours; the typing goes. Starter is free for 7 days, then £5 a month.