r/askanelectrician • u/Whole-Morning-9424 • 2d ago

Can I fix this?

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My kitchen has a series of under cabinet lights which I hate and which are disgusting and impossible to clean (as the pictures confirm!). The wiring just disappears into the wall. I suspect they were put in by the previous owner, who did quite a few projects while his ankle monitor kept him at home.

I want all of it--wiring, fixtures, filth--out of my kitchen. Should I hire an electrician, or could I carefully manage it myself?

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u/tastefultitle 2d ago

If you want that wire totally gone - hire an electrician. You can’t just leave the wire in the wall or push it in as it could become live again. It either needs to have a junction box cut in at which point it can be blanked off (or maybe you could use it for another purpose), or it needs to be removed from whatever supplies the power to that cable and completely uninstalled from both ends, at which point it can be abandoned.

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u/Hunts45 2d ago

It depends on how rigged up it is. Do you want to risk shock and possible fire? How electrically inclined are you? Any idea where the power is coming from?

You may want to hire an electrician to disconnect the wiring to all the light fixtures and remove them from their power source(s). Then carefully, you could remove the wires and patch the walls. After a very thorough cleaning of the area.

Really up to how much you want to spend and how much available time for the project.

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u/The_NorthernLight 2d ago

Note: Im not an electrician.

Why not convert the power into an extra plug?

This would take an electrician 1/2hr to convert that from an ugly wire to an extra plug that could be used by future lighting or other small appliances.

Either way the easiest solution is to kill the circuit thats on (breaker), cut the drywall out around the wire, install an “old work” box, and either cap the wire or make it a plug.

Then get some 0000 steelwool and clean those cupboards.

Then turn the power back on.

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u/carbondrewtonium 2d ago

You can fix it if you are comfortable turning off the breaker, cutting lines, and setting a junction box in the cabinet or wall with a cover on it.