Should You Install Electric Floor Heat Under Cabinets

Some wires are designed to double as thermostats simplifying installation.

Should you install electric floor heat under cabinets.

This in floor heating system consists of one thin continuous cable heating element woven into a mat that you install under the tile. A recent innovation from uponor is a wireless climate control zoning system that allows you to separately control every room of a home or building. You would not want your dishwasher to be trapped underneath the floor and. If you re remodeling it s a good time to satisfy both requirements.

Either through pipes carrying hot water embedded in or directly below the floor or via electric mats in or below the floor. Also remember not to put radiant heat under cabinets that will have food in them because the warmth is not good for stored food such as potatoes and onions. Electric systems are thinner and good for retrofits. Electric systems are usually controlled with programmable dual sensing thermostats that combine input from a floor sensor with a room temperature thermostat.

If you re installing radiant floor heat in an existing room you ll need a dedicated 15 to 20 amp gfci protected circuit to power the system and an excuse to lay a new tile floor. These heated floors are a project best done when overhauling or changing the floor covering of an existing room or when adding a new room. The floor temperature should not exceed 85 f as anything over that will feel too warm on the feet. To keep the floor flush consider installing a different cheaper type of flooring underneath cabinets and appliances or even plywood risers.

The potential of mismatched flooring one downside of installing risers or different flooring is that you add a complication if you wish to change the kitchen footprint in the future. First it s important that the cabinets are the standard 36 inches above the floor and it s important that the appliances are at this same height so that there aren t issues later if when you want to change the appliances e g. Types of radiant heat.