One Switch (3-way) for Two Fixtures

Question

I've got a weird situation on my house. My kitchen has lighting controlled by two switches at opposing ends of the kitchen. Both ends also have ceiling fans with lamps in them. At one end of the kitchen, the fan is on a separate switch. At the other end of the kitchen, the fan is on the same switch as one of the kitchen light switches. Thus, if I ever want to turn on the fan at that end of the kitchen, I have to have the kitchen lights on. The obvious solution is to install a new switch, but that means busting out drywall and doing lots of work. I was looking into duplex switches as an alternative, but I am not sure all those wires will tuck away in the box. Ideas?

The pictures here are the second switch, which controls the fan and the kitchen lights. Also pictured is the fan, for reference. The kitchen lights are recessed can LED can lights.

Answer 1

In most conventional arrangements, a 3-way switch can't be magically replaced by a duplex switch. The only way it would be possible is if someone originally went out of their way to splice multiple cables at multiple junction boxes, which is not the easiest way of installing switches. And if that were the case, you'd have a whole bunch of wires that could be rearranged.

In the most conventional arrangement, all of the wires in one cable travel from one switch to the other switch without any stops in between. That means most of the wires aren't run to the light or the fan. And to confirm that you'd probably have to take apart the lights and the fan first.

Now, just because you want to add a switch doesn't mean you have to open the wall. Pro electricians have all sorts of tricks for fishing cables inside of walls.