It says something in the NEC to the effect that electrical boxes must “remain accessible”.
What does this mean in practice? We are redoing our kitchen, getting new cupboards etc. Does this mean the cupboards need to have holes cut in the back so the electrical boxes are accessible? Or, does the Code just intend that you shouldn’t drywall / plaster / wallpaper over the boxes?
It seems to me that everything is “accessible” given sufficient time. To take it to a ridiculous extreme, you could encase the box in 10’ of solid concrete; it’s still accessible if you have a few hours and a jackhammer!
So, what does the NEC consider “reasonable” in this case?
I couldn’t find anything useful in Google. I couldn’t find the NEC online, unless you’re willing to buy it for $65; I’ve heard that even then, it’s pretty unintelligible to the layperson.
As I understand it junction boxes must be immediately accessible. If you are talking about outlet boxes, covering them up is self-defeating. I would move them somewhere so they would be useful. And if you move them that will mean a splice which will mean a junction box which must be immediately accessible.
Now, removing a cabinet doesn’t sound like “removing part of the building” to me. The spirit of the law seems like they want to dissuade you from “walling in” junction boxes or putting them in other inaccessible places. It’s still a bit fuzzy to me, though. I guess I’ll take the safe route and ask the installers to make holes in the backs of the cabinets for access to the j-boxes.
IANAE however I’ve done a bunch of work to my home including a pretty good-sized workshop wiring project.
The inspector told me that the junction boxes needed to be accessible and that a bit of drywall (even if held on only with some screws) is no good - he required that the box cover be totally unobscured. Based on that I’d guess that hanging kitchen cabinets over the junction boxes won’t pass muster unless you can reach them easily (such as by having a hole in the back of the cabinet). Maybe a “quick remove” panel of some kind would be OK, check with your local authorities.
The city also recommended that I get a copy of the “Code Check” series electrical/wiring guide, which is about $12 at Home Depot. It’s a flipbook containing the various charts, safety rules and other stuff that meet the code. It’s the same rules that they used when checking my plans and doing the inspection and it saved me a huge amount of time and expense (since I was doing all this for the first time). Might be a better investment than buying the entire NEC (it’s simple to read, provides good examples, and is geared towards normal residential work).
If your kitchen cabinets are not part of the building does that mean you expect to take them with you when you move?
They’re not part of the structural framework, to be sure, but they’re as permanent a part of the house as any piece of drywall you point to. The code is trying to distinguish permanently installed objects from freestanding furniture and the like.
Check with the inspector just to be certain, but I’d wager that you’d be OK to cut a hole in the back of the cabinets so the boxes are visible from inside the cabinet and the box covers can be readily removed. IE: don’t drill a 1" diameter peephole and expect it to pass.
As you’re re-modeling, it might make more sense to eliminate the junction boxes entirely if you can get to the other ends of the wires in the affected boxes and replace the wires with an unbroken run. That, or transplant the boxes to the wall behind the refrigerator.
I’d love to get rid of the junction boxes, but it’s not really feasible with the way our kitchen is; we’d have to remove huge swathes of drywall to get to the ends of the cable run.
I think the best solution seems to be to make holes in the backs of the cabinets so the cover plates are accessible. The inspector already came out for the “rough-in” so I’ll ask him about this for the final.
To take it to a ridiculous extreme, you could encase the box in 10’ of solid concrete; it’s still accessible if you have a few hours and a jackhammer!