more electricians than you can shake a fist at
I've had a couple more electricians come out to take a look at the kitchen. Both of them agreed that the previous electrician did some really stupid stuff. Well no, I shouldn't say stupid because I think he knew exactly what he was doing was wrong. He just didn't care to do it the right way because he was lazy or something.
The big problem is the service cable runs all the way through the first floor and into the basement before it reaches the meter and panel box without any kind of disconnect. That means that if something accidentally penetrated that wire, the house would go up in flames and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it because there's nothing protecting it (like a circuit breaker). Also, he hooked up two circuits to one breaker. Probably the same day that he installed my ceiling fan blades upside down. That's just plain lazy.
Last year he was my hero. This year I shake my fist every time I say his name.