The very idea of kitchen plumbing fills many homeowners' hearts with fear and dread. They imagine five figure bills, month-long downtimes, and eating pork and beans straight out of the can.
Let's look at some of the basics of kitchen plumbing and see what this project is all about.
Kitchen Islands
You pay a premium for having running water on a kitchen island. A quite simple task becomes that much harder when you move the sink away from the wall. Now, all pipes need to be run through the floor. However, if you have a fully accessible basement, it shouldn't be much of a problem. If you have a crawlspace, it's a bit more difficult, but still can be done. If your house sits on a concrete slab, you may want to rethink the idea altogether.
Kitchen Plumbing Means Permitting
Installation of new kitchen plumbing will almost surely mean that you need a
permit from your local authorities. DIYers often complete plumbing projects without permits, but you may run into problems when it comes time to sell the house.
Kitchen Plumbing - DIY or Not?
Full-scale, new construction kitchen plumbing is best left to plumbers. If you have a burning desire to learn plumbing and have no need for your kitchen for 3 months, you may decide to do it yourself.
Garbage Disposals
Garbage disposals were meant to be DIY jobs. While you can
hire a plumber to do this job, you will be surprised at just how easy it is to
install a disposal yourself.
Dishwasher Installation
Dishwashers are slightly less of a do-it-yourself project than garbage disposals. Dishwasher installation is a grab-bag of practically every type of hook-up: a 20-amp electrical receptacle, a hot water supply, and drainage. For that reason, it is best to install the dishwasher next to the kitchen sink. Improper dishwasher installation can have disasterous effects. I can personally take credit for one such botched installation that resulted in a kitchen floor full of water. From that experience, I learned to run the dishwasher for one full cycle - before pushing it back into its space.
