On a recent turnover I pulled a tired gas cooktop out of a rental kitchen and dropped in a built-in IH unit. The whole job came down to two things: a dedicated 200V, 30A circuit back to the panel, and a 56 by 48cm hole cut in the countertop. I have now done this in three of my kitchens, and moving off gas has quietly made every turnover after it faster and cleaner.
Why I moved three kitchens off gas
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A gas cooktop in a rental means an annual safety obligation, a gas line the tenant can misuse, and a wall behind the burners that collects a film of grease you scrub at every move-out. An IH top wipes clean in one pass, has no open flame for a distracted tenant, and lets me close the gas account entirely on an all-electric unit, which trims the standing charge. Tenants who cook a lot are split on it, but for a mid-market rental the lower turnover cost wins.
The circuit, and the licence you need
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A built-in IH cooktop needs its own home run: 200V, a dedicated 30A breaker, and 2.6mm VVF cable with no other outlets on the line. In Japan that wiring legally requires an electrician’s licence. I hold the second-class electrician’s licence, the dai-nishu denki koji-shi, which I studied for years ago precisely so I could do work like this myself, so I run the circuit. If you do not hold it, this part is a 20,000 to 30,000 yen job for a licensed electrician and not a corner to cut, because an under-sized cooktop circuit is a genuine fire risk.
Checking the panel has room
Before I promise myself an IH kitchen I open the panel and check the main. Many older rentals are on a 30A whole-house contract with the power company, and a 30A cooktop alone will trip that the first time the tenant runs the aircon and the microwave together. I usually have to call the utility to raise the amperage contract, often to 50A or 60A on a single-phase three-wire service, which the utility does for free but which sometimes needs the service drop or the main breaker upgraded first. I also check the panel physically has a free double-pole slot for the 200V breaker, because on a full 6-circuit board there may be no room and the whole panel needs replacing, which turns a half-day job into a two-day one. On one house the panel was a 1980s unit with no spare capacity at all, and swapping it added about 35,000 yen to the project. I confirm every bit of this before I cut a hole in a countertop.
The cutout and clearances
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The countertop hole for a standard Japanese 60cm built-in IH is 560 by 480mm, and I check the exact figure against the specific model because a few millimetres of overhang leaves an ugly gap. The other numbers that matter:
- At least 30mm from the edge of the cutout to any wall or tall cabinet side
- Clearance below for the unit body and its cooling airflow, usually 40 to 60mm above a drawer
- A heat-resistant board lining the cabinet if the spec sheet calls for it
- The cutout centred on the sink-to-wall run so a big pot does not hit the backsplash
I cut the laminate counter with a fine-tooth jigsaw blade running from underneath where I can, with masking tape over the cut line to stop chipping, then seal the raw chipboard edge with silicone before the unit drops in so a spill cannot swell the particleboard. If the old gas unit left a wider hole than the new IH needs, I do not fight it: I fit a stainless deck plate or replace the whole worktop section, because a gap packed with sealant looks cheap in a listing photo.
Handling the old gas line
Once the gas cooktop is out there is a live gas stub sitting in the cabinet, and that has to be dealt with properly, not just capped with tape and forgotten. If I am keeping gas for the water heater, a licensed gas fitter caps the branch at the tee and pressure-tests it. If the whole unit is going all-electric, I have the gas company disconnect and remove the meter, which stops the monthly base charge of around 750 to 1,000 yen entirely. I keep the paperwork from that disconnection in the property file, because a future buyer or a returning gas connection will want to see it.
Cost and payback
The IH unit itself is 40,000 to 90,000 yen for a two or three zone built-in. Add my own labour for the circuit and cutout, or 20,000 to 30,000 yen if you hire the electrical out, plus any panel or amperage work. Against that, closing the gas account saves the monthly standing charge, move-out cleaning on that kitchen drops by a good hour of my time because there is no burner grease baked onto the wall, and the kitchen photographs as modern. The IH glass top also survives tenants better than gas burner grates, which walk off or get warped. Across the three I have converted, I would do it again on every gas kitchen where the panel allows it.
It is more upfront work than a like-for-like swap, but the payback shows up on every turnover for the rest of the time I own the building.
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