I am trying decide if I can get away replacing our old service panel, but without upgrading beyond our current 100 amps.
The box is old, slightly rusty and fully used with no extra breakers. We are about to start a kitchen remodel and will need some new circuits for new dishwasher, disposal, additional lighting.
I know that most houses today have 200A service and it would normally make sense to upgrade now. However, we are also converting both our electric range and clothes dryer to gas, so we will actually reduce some major loads. We have gas furnace and hot water heater and we don't have central AC and have no plans to add it.
Occasionally, if someone uses a hairdryer while a window AC is running on the same circuit, one of the 20A breakers will flip, but I think that's just because too much is on that one breaker (not because the total load is limited.)
So, I am thinking to save money to just replace the panel without the extra expense of upgrading to 200A.
Is this reasonable or am I being shortsighted?