Kitchen remodels get costed by cabinets, counters and appliances. The electrical line item is usually a guess, and it is usually low, because the code requirements for a kitchen are more extensive than for any other room in a house.
Here is the sequence a kitchen remodel actually runs, and where the electrical costs land in it.
Phase one: before anything is ordered
The load calculation comes first, and it is the step that most often gets skipped.
A modern kitchen can add an electric range, a wall oven, an induction cooktop, a dishwasher, a disposal, a microwave, a beverage fridge and under-cabinet lighting. Converting from gas to electric cooking is a substantial load addition on its own.
In a Wichita house with a 100-amp service, which describes a great deal of the pre-1980 stock, this is where a kitchen project quietly becomes a service upgrade project. Finding that out before cabinets are ordered is considerably better than finding out after.
Phase two: circuit requirements
The code specifies more dedicated circuits for a kitchen than people expect.
At least two 20-amp small appliance branch circuits serving the countertop receptacles, and those circuits may not serve anything outside the kitchen and related areas.
A dedicated circuit for the dishwasher. A dedicated circuit for the disposal, or a shared arrangement where permitted. A dedicated circuit for the range or cooktop, sized to the appliance. A dedicated circuit for a built-in microwave. A dedicated circuit for the refrigerator is standard practice.
Lighting on its own circuit, separate from the small appliance circuits.
That list adds up to six or more circuits for a kitchen alone. A 1965 Wichita kitchen commonly runs on two.
Phase three: receptacle spacing
Countertop receptacle spacing is prescriptive. No point along the counter wall may be more than a set distance from a receptacle, which in practice means outlets at regular intervals rather than wherever is convenient.
Islands and peninsulas have their own requirements, and those requirements have shifted across recent code cycles in ways that affect where and how the receptacle may be mounted.
Any counter space wider than a defined minimum needs a receptacle serving it.
Phase four: protection
Ground-fault protection on the countertop receptacles has been required for a long time. The current cycle extends it further, reaching the dishwasher circuit and outlets within a defined distance of the sink.
Arc-fault protection applies to kitchen circuits under the current requirements as well, which means many circuits need dual-function devices.
Sedgwick County has been inspecting against the 2023 National Electrical Code since the start of 2025, so a kitchen permitted now is held to that cycle regardless of what the rest of the house has.
Phase five: rough-in and the point of no return
Rough-in happens after framing and before drywall. Every circuit gets run, every box gets set, and then an inspector looks at it.
The critical scheduling point: nothing gets covered until that inspection passes. A contractor asking to close walls before sign-off is proposing something that occasionally has to be undone.
Rough-in is also the last cheap moment to change your mind. Moving a receptacle at rough-in costs minutes. Moving it after tile is up costs considerably more.
Phase six: appliance coordination
Appliance specifications determine circuits, and appliances get chosen late.
An induction range and a gas range have entirely different electrical requirements. A wall oven and a range with an oven are different circuits. Some dishwashers are cord-and-plug, some are hard-wired, and the receptacle placement differs.
Getting appliance spec sheets to licensed electrician in Wichita before rough-in rather than after is the single largest avoidable cost in kitchen electrical work. Every change after rough-in is a change order.
Phase seven: final and inspection
Devices installed, fixtures hung, GFCI and AFCI devices tested by the inspector, panel labelled, and a final sign-off that goes into the property record.
Permits go through the Metro Area Building and Construction Department, (316) 660-1840, for Wichita and the unincorporated county.
The older-house complications
Two specific to Wichita’s pre-1980 kitchens.
Existing circuits that serve the kitchen and also serve other rooms. Once you touch them, the small appliance circuit rules apply and the shared arrangement usually has to end, which means new home runs to the panel.
Plaster and lath in pre-war housing across College Hill, Riverside and Delano, where running six new circuits into a kitchen is a materially different job from running them through drywall.
A realistic budgeting rule
Treat the electrical scope as a real line item with a real quote, priced after the load calculation and after appliance selection, not as a percentage of the overall project.
Kitchens where the electrical came in at twice the estimate almost always had one of two causes: a service that turned out to need upgrading, or appliances chosen after the circuits were run.