This Portland kitchen remodel started with a problem hiding behind the walls: knob-and-tube wiring from the home’s original electrical system, decades past its intended service life and incompatible with the new kitchen’s lighting and appliance loads. Working as a subcontractor under the general contractor managing the remodel, Heritage Electric handled the full rough-in through trim electrical package, starting with safe removal of the old wiring.
The Space
Opening up the kitchen walls exposed the original knob-and-tube conductors running through the framing, tangled in decades-old insulation alongside outdated devices that had no place in a modern remodel. Before any new circuits went in, our team traced and safely disconnected the legacy wiring throughout the work area, clearing the way for a code-compliant electrical system built for how the space would actually be used: a gas range with a dedicated hood, an under-cabinet lighting run, a floating-shelf display area with integrated lighting, and a pair of pendant fixtures over the new bar counter.
Why This Approach
Knob-and-tube wiring isn’t just outdated, it’s a real liability in a remodel: the insulation degrades, it can’t handle modern circuit loads safely, and it’s often not something insurance carriers or inspectors want to see left in place once walls are opened up. Rather than working around it, we removed it and rebuilt the circuits from the panel out, giving the homeowner a clean, permitted electrical system instead of a patch job layered on top of century-old wiring.
Coordinating rough-in timing with the general contractor mattered just as much as the wiring itself. Pendant lighting locations, under-cabinet runs, and the recessed lighting layout all needed to be set before drywall and tile went in, so our team worked from the kitchen designer’s plans early in the project to make sure every switch leg and fixture location landed exactly where the finish work needed it.
Project Result
The finished kitchen runs on an entirely new, code-compliant electrical system: safe circuits behind every wall, pendant and under-cabinet lighting that highlights the new cabinetry and open shelving, and a range and hood wired for the appliances actually installed. The knob-and-tube wiring that once ran through this kitchen is gone, replaced with a system built to last the life of the remodel, not just pass inspection on day one.
