Six Circuits and a Closet

A full gut: the 1970s kitchen goes down to the studs, and the owners' wish list is long — a 9-foot island, a wall of glass uppers, and one non-negotiable: 'That gray panel box is the ugliest thing in the house. Hide it.' The old subpanel — 125 amps, feeding the kitchen and half the bedrooms — currently sits in plain sight at the end of the cabinet run. Your electrician meets you at the site with the plans rolled under his arm.