Do you have enough sockets for major kitchen appliances

Which appliances need their own socket or circuit

Anything that heats or has a motor drawing a steady high current usually wants a dedicated circuit: an oven, a hob (electric or induction), a dishwasher, a washing machine, and a tumble dryer if you keep one in the kitchen. Each of these can draw several kilowatts on its own, and a circuit shared with lighting or other sockets was not sized for that.

A kettle, a coffee machine, a microwave or a toaster is a different matter. These draw less and are only on briefly, so an existing socket on a normal ring is usually fine for one of them at a time. The problem starts when several such things run together on one socket, or when a genuinely high-draw appliance is added to a circuit that already has other things on it.

If you are fitting a hob or oven that came with a spec sheet, check the rated power and the recommended fuse size before you buy the cable or the socket. A 7 kW induction hob and an old 16 A circuit are not a match, however good the cable looks.

How to check what you already have before buying the appliance

Open the consumer unit and look at how the breakers are labelled. In older Tallinn flats labelling is often missing or wrong, so the more reliable test is to switch off one breaker at a time and see which sockets and lights go dark. Note which sockets in the kitchen share a breaker with each other and with anything else in the flat.

Check the amperage marked on the breaker itself — usually 10, 16 or 25 A — and compare it with the current the new appliance will draw at full power (current in amps equals watts divided by 230). If the appliance's rated current is close to or over the breaker's rating, that circuit cannot take it safely, however new the socket looks.

Look at the socket itself too. A standard Schuko socket is fine for most appliances, but an oven or a hob may need a dedicated outlet or a direct connection, and a washing machine or dishwasher socket is often better placed higher up or to the side, away from splashes and out of the way of the appliance body.

Why an extension lead or multi-plug socket is a fire risk here

Running a dishwasher, a kettle and a microwave off one multi-plug board plugged into a single socket is one of the more common causes of overheated wiring we get called out for. The board itself may be rated for the combined load on paper, but the socket and cable behind it, and the wall wiring feeding that socket, usually were not designed with that in mind.

The failure point is rarely dramatic. It is a socket that gets warm to the touch over months, a plug that discolours, or a breaker that trips at the same time every evening once the dishwasher and the kettle overlap. By the time any of that is visible, the insulation in the wall may already be degraded.

An extension lead trailing across a kitchen floor or behind a worktop also sits near water and heat sources it was never meant to be near. If you find yourself reaching for one because a permanent appliance has nowhere proper to plug in, that is the sign the wiring needs sorting, not a longer lead.

What you can safely do yourself, and what to leave alone

You can move a socket cover, tidy cable runs, or replace a like-for-like socket faceplate if the power is off and you are confident with a screwdriver and a voltage tester. You can also do the arithmetic above to work out whether your current circuit can take a new appliance, and you can plan where sockets should sit before any wall is opened.

What you should not do yourself is add a new circuit, run cable back to the consumer unit, or wire a fused connection for an oven or hob. This is proper electrical work, covered by the same 24 months' guarantee we give on any job, and it is not a place to save money by improvising.

• Do: check breaker ratings and which sockets share a circuit
• Do: measure appliance power draw against the fuse before buying
• Do: replace a faceplate or cover with the power isolated
• Don't: run a dishwasher and oven off one extension lead
• Don't: wire a new circuit or connect a hob yourself
• Don't: assume a socket is safe because it looks new

How a new socket or circuit is actually fitted

Once it is clear a new circuit is needed, the usual approach is to run a new cable from the consumer unit to the kitchen, fit a breaker sized to the appliance, and install the socket or fused connection unit at the right height and distance from the appliance and any water source. In a panel flat this often means chasing a channel into a wall or running cable in trunking if chasing is not practical; in an older wooden house the route depends on where the existing wiring runs and what is behind the plaster.

For a straightforward extra socket on an existing suitable circuit, this is a short job, and we price socket installation from 35 € per job once we have seen the location. A new dedicated circuit for an oven or hob is priced as electrical work from 49 € per hour, because the length of cable run and the state of the consumer unit vary a good deal from one flat to another.

If you are also having the appliance itself connected and set level, tested, and its water and drain lines fitted where relevant, that is appliance installation, priced from 55 € per job. It is often worth booking the socket work and the appliance installation together so the electrician and the fitting happen in one visit.

When a handyman is enough and when you need an electrician

A handyman can sort cosmetic and mechanical parts of the job: fitting the appliance into its cabinet, adjusting feet and hinges, connecting a dishwasher's water and drain hoses, and general kitchen carpentry around the new unit. None of that touches the fixed wiring.

Anything involving the consumer unit, a new circuit, or a hardwired connection for an oven or hob is electrical work and goes to a qualified electrician, which is how we handle it internally regardless of who books the job. This is not a distinction worth blurring: a socket wired badly behind a worktop is hard to inspect once the appliance is pushed back into place.

If in doubt, describe the appliance and send a photo of the consumer unit and the kitchen sockets before you buy anything. It is easier to plan the right circuit before the oven arrives than to work around it afterwards.