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Kitchen and Bathroom Electrical Requirements in Ontario (2026): Counter Receptacles, Appliance Circuits, GFCI, AFCI, Induction and What the Inspector Checks
Electrical & Lighting
Kitchens and Bathrooms: The Two Rooms Where the Electrical Code Has the Most to Say
Water, metal sinks and a lot of appliances in a small room is exactly what the electrical code worries about, so the kitchen and the bathroom get more rules than the rest of the house combined. Most of them are simple once you see them on a plan. This page sets out the ones that change your layout, the ones that change your panel, and what the inspector checks before the cabinets go in and after.
The Rules That Move Your Layout
Ontario wires to the Ontario Electrical Safety Code (OESC), 2024 edition, the 29th, in force since May 1, 2025. It is the Canadian Electrical Code Part I with Ontario amendments. I am a builder, not an electrician, and the licensed electricians on our jobs are the ones who apply the code; what follows is what the code requires in a kitchen or bath, in plain words.
- Counter receptacles: placed so that no point along the counter wall line is more than 900 mm from a receptacle. Sinks, built-in equipment and counter pieces under 300 mm are left out of that measurement.
- GFCI (Rule 26-704): receptacles within 1.5 m of a sink, bathtub or shower stall need ground-fault protection. That catches the counter receptacles near the kitchen sink and almost every bathroom receptacle.
- AFCI (Rule 26-658): combination arc-fault protection on 125 V receptacle circuits of 20 A or less in a dwelling, except a bathroom receptacle circuit, the kitchen counter receptacles, the fridge receptacle and a labelled sump pump receptacle. The laundry is not exempt.
- Tamper-resistant receptacles (Rule 26-706): throughout the house, except a receptacle dedicated to a stationary appliance or one mounted out of reach above 2 m.
The 900 mm rule is the one that changes a plan. A 3.6 m counter run with a sink in the middle and a range at one end does not get two receptacles because they look tidy; it gets as many as the measurement says. Lay the counter out on paper with the receptacles marked, and the cabinet maker and the electrician will be working from the same drawing. The kitchen layout mistakes page covers the rest of that drawing.
Appliance Circuits, Induction and the Island
A modern kitchen is a small factory. Your electrician will often run separate circuits for the big appliances, such as the fridge, the dishwasher and the microwave, plus the counter circuits. Ask for a circuit list on the quote, one line per appliance, so you can see what you are getting.
The range is the big one. An induction range runs on 240 V and commonly asks for a 40 A or 50 A circuit; the installation sheet for your model decides, so pick the range before the rough-in, not the week before move-in. In the service load calculation, Rule 8-200 counts a range at 6,000 W, plus 40 percent of any rating over 12 kW. That is why swapping a gas range for induction in an older house on 100 A is a question for the service capacity calculator before it is a question for the appliance store.
The island is where people get caught. Its power has to come up from below, so on a main floor over a basement the electrician drills up through the floor, and on a slab the conduit has to be in the slab before the concrete. Decide the island receptacles and any island pendants when the floor is being framed or formed. The code has its own requirements for islands and peninsulas; let the electrician mark them on your drawing.
A powerful range hood also brings in the makeup air question, which belongs to the HVAC side; the range hood makeup air page explains it.
What It Costs
| Kitchen or bath electrical item | Installed range | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Pot light, open ceiling (new or gutted) | $100 to $200 each | $140 default |
| Pot light, retrofit into a finished ceiling | $150 to $350 each | $220 default |
| Fixture on an existing box | $100 to $300 | pendant, vanity light |
| New fixture needing a new circuit | $300 to $600 | |
| Dimmer, labour plus device | $65 to $180 | $40 to $80 labour, $25 to $100 device |
| Electric floor heat, per zone | $400 to $700 | the circuit and thermostat wiring |
| Electrician, hourly | $80 to $160 | plus a $75 to $200 service call |
| ESA fee, renovation, 1 to 10 outlets | $46 | contractor rate; $64 homeowner |
| ESA fee, renovation, 11 to 30 outlets | $92 | contractor rate; $143 homeowner |
October 2026, before HST, from the 2026 ESA Fee Guide and published Ontario contractor pages. Under-cabinet lighting is not priced here because no Ontario contractor we found publishes a price; most quote it after seeing the kitchen. Rough in the wiring for it before the cabinets go in. Heated tile floors are priced in full on the heated tile floor page.
Why Ontario prices are all over the map: the contractors we checked for this page quoted pot lights, one of the bigger lines in most kitchen electrical bills, very differently. A North York contractor said $75 to $95 a light. Another GTA contractor said $100 to $150. A Guelph contractor said $150 to $250 new and $200 to $350 retrofit. The gap is new versus retrofit, an insulated ceiling above, and whether the light itself is in the price. Budget $140 a light in an open ceiling and $220 in a finished one, and get two or three quotes on the same written scope.
A Kitchen Renovation, Counted
ESA charges a renovation by the number of outlets, and pot lights count as outlets. Take a gutted kitchen: 8 pot lights, 6 counter receptacles, the fridge, dishwasher, range, microwave and hood, 2 island receptacles and 2 pendants. That is 8 + 6 + 5 + 2 + 2 = 23 outlets, so the 11 to 30 band, $92 at the contractor rate.
The pot lights in the open ceiling at the $140 default: 8 x $140 = $1,120. Three dimmers at about $120 each, labour plus a basic or mid device: $360. Two pendants on boxes at $150 each: $300. That is $1,120 + $360 + $300 = $1,780 for the lighting alone, before the receptacles, the appliance circuits and the range circuit, which your electrician prices from the circuit list. The order the trades come in is on the kitchen renovation order of work page.
Whoever you hire for this must be an ESA Licensed Electrical Contractor. Your kitchen installer or general contractor is not licensed to do the electrical, however good their cabinets are. You may do it yourself in your own home, but you file the ESA notification before you start, and nothing gets closed in until ESA authorizes the rough-in.
Bathrooms, Fans and What the Inspector Checks
A bathroom gets a GFCI-protected receptacle by the vanity, a fan that actually leaves the building, and lights over the mirror, not behind your head. The bathroom receptacle circuit is one of the AFCI exceptions, so do not be surprised when it is on a plain breaker with a GFCI device. A heated floor usually gets its own circuit, with the ground-fault protection the mat maker and the electrician call for; the electric vs hydronic floor heating page covers when to use which.
- At rough-in, the inspector counts receptacles along the counter against the 900 mm rule, checks the boxes near sinks and tubs for the GFCI plan, and looks at the circuit for each fixed appliance.
- At final, expect the GFCIs to be tested, the tamper-resistant receptacles checked, and the panel directory compared with the circuits. Ask your electrician to label the panel properly, not “kitchen 1, kitchen 2”.
- Homeowners go wrong by moving the sink or the range after rough-in, buying an induction range that needs a bigger circuit than the one run, and adding pot lights after the inspection.
- If a receptacle is hot, discoloured or smells like burning, turn that breaker off and call a licensed electrical contractor today.
Questions people ask
How far apart do kitchen counter receptacles have to be in Ontario?
The code requires them placed so that no point along the counter wall line is more than 900 mm from a receptacle, ignoring sinks, built-in equipment and counter pieces under 300 mm.
Do kitchen receptacles need GFCI in Ontario?
Receptacles within 1.5 m of a sink, bathtub or shower stall need GFCI protection under Rule 26-704, which covers the counter receptacles near the kitchen sink and almost every bathroom receptacle.
Do kitchen circuits need AFCI breakers?
Most 125 V receptacle circuits of 20 A or less in a house need combination AFCI, but the kitchen counter receptacles, the fridge receptacle, a bathroom receptacle circuit and a labelled sump pump receptacle are exceptions. The laundry is not.
What circuit does an induction range need?
A 240 V circuit, usually 40 A or 50 A; the manufacturer’s installation sheet for your model decides. Check the service has room for it before you buy.
Do I need an ESA permit for a kitchen renovation?
Yes, if there is electrical work. The 2026 fee is $46 for 1 to 10 outlets and $92 for 11 to 30 at the contractor rate, and pot lights count as outlets.
Check the service before you buy the range
The service capacity calculator runs the Rule 8-200 arithmetic for your house with the induction range, the heated floor and everything else in it, and tells you whether 100 A or 200 A will carry it. If you have a kitchen electrical quote, the $99 review reads up to three of them and marks what each left out.
Sources and further reading
- Ontario Electrical Safety Code: ESA on the 2024 (29th) edition in force since May 1, 2025, and what changed for houses, EV loads and energy storage.
- ESA Bulletin 26-18-15: AFCI and GFCI in a dwelling unit: where arc-fault and ground-fault protection is required in a house.
- ESA 2026 Fee Guide: the actual ESA fees for a new house, a service change, an EV charger and renovation work, contractor and homeowner rates.
