Electrical – How to add 2 AFCI circuits to the panel

That Federal Pacific panel has to go as they are dangerous. As far as concerns about your skill, you sound like that particular kind of newbie who is well capable of learning to do it all safely and well; however my hunch is you are still thinking too much, and need to read a little more. It's OK, we all start there.

Normally, just replacing a sub panel is a straightforward thing. Change panel, reattach wires, done. However, this is only part of a project with a much larger scope. You must contemplate (i.e. ask your permitting authority) whether you have crossed the legal threshold of a remodel. If you have, everything in-scope must be done to all current codes. Even ADA!

The 2-circuit requirement for kitchen outlets is not intended to mean "1 circuit for this wall, 1 circuit for the other wall". I'd encourage some more research but if it was me, I'd interleave the outlets, every other outlet on a different circuit. Also there's nothing wrong with more than 2 outlet circuits in a kitchen, the whole point is to prevent trips when the chef is madly at work, so the chef isn't hobbled with limitations like having to put the toaster here and the George Foreman over there, and avert ugly workarounds like extension cords draped across sinks or stoves, etc.

I see you plan to go 12 AWG wire for almost everything (that's what 20A breakers mean) - that's awesome. Feel free to kick the refrigerator and smoke detector up to 12AWG also - that way you don't have to buy any 14AWG wire. I don't own any! If you have some other reason to use a 15A breaker you are welcome to use that on a circuit wired in 12AWG.

You may want to run the water heater circuit in 10/2 or even 8/2. That will allow you to easily upgrade to an electric water heater in the future. Still use a 15A or 20A breaker because the outlet is still only good for 20A. There is a trick to fitting 8+ AWG wire on a 15-20A outlet, just ask.

I would go with a much larger panel. You have either -1 or 3 circuits left, and that's too little headroom for my comfort. Getting a larger panel is dirt cheap compared to the cost of replacing perfectly good breakers with duplex breakers (I call them double-stuff) merely to shoehorn everything in. Also, larger panels in combo-packs come with more breakers and that is far-and-away the cheapest way to buy breakers. Another reason to avoid duplex breakers is if you ever need AFCI, GFCI or whatever future thing comes out - those are much more expensive in duplex breakers because of the miniaturization required. Don't think you must use a 100A panel - you can use a larger panel (200A), you just can't use a smaller one (70A).

Remember each sub-panel must have its neutral bus bar separate and isolated from its ground bar. That means removing bond straps, magic green screws, neutral bar kits, whatever the panel requires to do that. You might consider a panel with a neutral and ground bar on each side of the panel. That's a convenient feature so wires don't have to cross over the panel.

Keep in mind how your house got a dangerous Federal Pacific panel. The last guy bought cheap. Feel free to research the good-better-best that each manufacturer offers, the price differential for "best" is quite small compared to the overall cost of a remodel. You may find better selection and better prices at a real electrical supply house.

There is nothing wrong with more ground rods. Go nuts. The key is that all the grounds are connected to each other by wire - and they are not connected to neutral anywhere except one place - the main service panel.

That is an old "rule of six" panel, which while grandfathered, is illegal under its grandfathering becuse it has 7 main breakers. Going to five is a good plan.

It is a classic "CH" panel which is a very good industrial grade panel, except that the 3/4" breaker width make non-ordinary breakers very expensive (a trait it shares with Square D QO). That makes it perfect for what you plan.

On your subpanel which would be near this panel, I would get a panel with a main breaker, with an eye toward (at some point in the future) cutting it over to be the main panel. In a subpanel, the "main breaker" is nothing more than an on/off switch, it is OK for it to be larger than the feeding breaker.

I would also get a rather large panel, at the very least 42 space and even 60 or 84 if practicable: because panel spaces are dirt cheap and often even come with free breakers, whereas running out of space is painfully expensive.

I would aim for an industrial grade panel of good repute (one available in 3-phase variants, not Homeline, BR, or second tier brands) and avoid the expensive 3/4" breakers (not CH or QO).

Over time, as you find it convenient, i'd migrate all your 1-pole and smaller 2-pole circuits over to the new panel.

For your garage panel anything would do, but I'd go for the same type as your indoor panel, so you can use some of those bonus breakers. Again it's false economy to scrimp on spaces, I'd go 20-30 at least.

Also, since garage spaces need to be on GFCI, consider getting a subpanel which has a "main breaker" which is GFCI, that way all the breakers in that panel would be protected (at the cost of potential nuisance trips, a big deal if you keep a freezer in the garage).

Ed Beal raises some very good concerns about overall capacity. One problem with these "rule of six" panels is there is literally no main breaker to stop you from drawing more than 150A. So it pays to be conservative.

It's a difficult situation because you have two big loads that operate sporadically - the EV charger and the range. And the A/C as a wildcard.

One thing I might suggest, is feed the garage subpanel from the new primary subpanel. And then move everything but the range over to the new subpanel. At that point the only things still in the CH panel would be a 60A range breaker and a 100A subpanel breaker. Even at max, those two could not overload the 150A service (by enough to matter). This would force your entire house (from A/C to EV charger) to share 100A, but would remove the possibility of an overload. This would also save you the $85 you'll spend on a second 100A CH breaker.