kitchen wiring and safe zones

[Parentheses83]

Hi guys,

Just started to renovate our kitchen and whilst pulling off tiles we've come across some wiring which I wanted to get an opinion on...

The house is a Victorian terrace with a single storey pitched-roof kitchen, last renovated some time in the 70s/80s by the previous owners. The downstairs ring circuit has been extended from the living room into the kitchen by drilling through the dividing wall and running cables behind the sink to the end wall to provide power for the fridge and washing machine. The cables were partly buried in plaster which came away when we were removing tiles. Here's what the kitchen circuit looks like on this side of the room:

existing wiring

Untitled-1-02-existing.png (42.88 KiB) Viewed 1371 times

As the cables sit in a channel cut into the plaster my plan was just to fix plasterboard over the top to avoid having to rewire, but after looking into it I'm not so sure it follows the guidelines about established safe zones for wiring.

Would I be better to re-route the cable so that it comes up in the corner of the kitchen and then run it over the top of the window, as below? We're putting in a new ceiling so the cables could just run between the joists and the plasterboard. Any advice gratefully received! Thanks.

proposed wiring

Untitled-1-02-proposed.png (44.78 KiB) Viewed 1371 times

[Someone-Else]

Safe zones are meant to make it less likely for some one to hit a cable, so running them up and into the loft makes it even less likely

[aeromech3]

S-E what is the score on surface mounted as it would 'appear' they will be at the back of units?