linda-z,

Could you please show us a pic of the outlet with the drawer out of the cabinet? I can't figure out how it works either, and is that within code?

We've lived in this older house with NO plug ins in any of the bathrooms for so many years, that I had forgotten people use appliances in the bathroom! LOL! May have forgotten to think of that when we start to plan. Almost finished kitchen, so now can start lurking here- think my mind can handle this now without being overwhelmed.

yeah linda, how'd you do dat? :) This will really blow DH's mind (lol)
Monica

I don't have cabinets under my countertop, so I went with a "holster". The outlet is just above it and is barely visible in the pic, but its the little metal "round thingie" under the countertop in the pic below (look to the far left). I got it from Ebay for less than 10 bucks about 3 yrs ago.

Not sure if those meet code, but having an extension cord plugged in behind a drawer would make me very nervous..And i really don't understand the "convinience" of it either..Is it so difficult to unplug the hairdryer from an outlet and place it back in the drawer?

I don't have a picture because we are just finalizing the design approval but we are adding a 12"x15"x55" storage tower which will sit on top of the granite between the two sinks. The bottom cabinet (15" tall) will have a door that lifts straight up and locks. It's like an appliance garage but has a fixed door instead of a tambour. Inside that will live the hairdryer, the electric toothbrush and the charging stand for the razor. Above that will be a drawer for makeup and above that we are adding a spice cabinet which will take the place of our medicine cabinet. It's going to be expensive because it has to be custom built to get the size that we want but I think it will look great and function well for us too.

Ours passed code as long as the extension cord plug was the flat kind and not over a certain length. It is a convenience for me - one of my favorite features.

I took pictures for you!

Here are the pictures of the "back sides."

This is the underside of my drawer (and the back side of my outlet in the drawer)

And this is where the wires go:

I hope this helps. It's not an extension cord, at least not in the classic sense.

And it passed inspection! I really do like it.

You guys are awesome. Lots of ideas idea here.

Linda-z: My DH is really ticked...because he didn't think of doing the outlet like yours first. He totally liked it. Thanks so much for posting pics, I'm going to print them out. Visuals are always a good thing.

Shmeal: Your tower sounds like just what I want. Please post design plans or pics when available. I'm hooked on my toothbrush but dislike the way it looks on the counter. I hadn't thought to measure it until your response, so I'm going to do that tonight.

Cindyandmocha: Love your tile work and sink! We just had a tile guy come by tonight and my head is spinning with possibilties...

Thanks to all

Outlets in cabinets and drawers are very handy.

Just be careful mounting the outlet to the movable drawer, as in linda-z's drawer. You can't use romex in that application (her's isn't) as romex is not intended to be subject to repeated flexing.

Mongo

We were too busy with the kitchen to have this done in the bathroom, but now I am wondering if it would be easy for the electrician to do after the fact? Linda, thanks for the pics also. I am going to show them to my electrician...shhhh...don't let my DH hear about this!

He is really not keen on my having anything plugged in drawers. My telephone charger got caught in the Blum mechanism and since then he's been very against having wires that might get tangled...sigh.

Mari

Mari, my drawers have soft close too, and are full extension drawers. So far, no problem. I love having my hairdryer in the drawer like that. One less thing to put away. :)

Mongoct and Linda-z: If that is not romex what is it? That's what we thought it was. Love the drawer, we want to do the same thing.
Thanks

Almost looks like a "Seoprene" jacketed cable with stranded conductors. Not certain though. Good for repeated flexing, moisture, etc, etc.

"Romex" is more like standard gray, white, or yellow jacketed cable used for residential house wiring. The conductors are solid, not stranded. Not good for repeated flexing applications.

Mongo

My electrical engineer hubby likes it too- Thanks so much for the pics Linda. He is a man of few words and even less of praise- and he just said "Make a list of this stuff". High compliment coming from him! :>)

Rae

Thanks from me too!
Because of this post I had my contractor move the outlets even though he had already done them once. The plug is now in the vanity wall. It was more work but I'm glad I did it.
Donna

My pleasure. I'm glad I can give back a little to very cool forum of helpful people. :)

-Linda

This thread was so helpful! We just went over the electrical plan and we were able to add this to our masterbath... just final hook-up will be after the C/O.

Thanks all going to add this to my wish list.

To me, the idea of an above counter cab/hutch type structure with an outlet inside makes better sense than a drawer. It would hold more, and tall items like the soniccare and charger wouldn't tip over every time it was opened/closed.

The cabs do take up some valuable vanity top room, but if it eliminated the clutter, you could get by with a smaller vanity-- I find large ones tend to attract clutter [around me, at least].

Here is our completed upper cabinet / storage tower that houses the hair dryer and the charger for the electric razor. It is everything that we'd hoped for! Safe, convenient, and hidden when not in use.

Here's a peek inside...

My DH put an outlet in the back of our vanity. We then plugged a power strip into the outlet and placed the power strip in the center drawer. So I can plug in multiple appliances such as hair dryer, flat iron, curling iron etc. The power strip has a flip switch that lights up when on, so I can flip the switch and know that all those heating appliances are safely off. We had similar set up in a previous home and it was so convenient. We had never seen it done at that time but my DH is a very inventive guy and is always thinking of things to make my life easier.

My hairdryer,toothbrush,etc. are pluggined in in the cabinet under my sink too and I love it, but the one "appliance" that I need up top is my 10x magnifying makeup mirror--don't make fun of my old eyes!. I didn't want the cord and electrical outlet showing, so my contractor drilled a hole in the top back of the granite, had it smoothed nicely, and put the plug and cord through it, and placed the outlet below. There's always a way to get what you want!

SHmeal, I like your idea a lot. Will do something like that when I start on the MB vanity.

I have my hairdryer outlet in the vanity but I unplug it after each use. If you leave it plugged in you are wasting energy even if it's turned off.
Donna

donna, can you explain this to me please? I just recently read that leaving your cell phone charger connected, when not in use, uses energy. What is the hairdryer doing when not turned on that uses energy?
Monica

Any appliance whether it's turned on or not uses power when it's plugged in. There was a show on that was educating people about using too much energy and they said to unplug all of your electrical cords when not in use. This includes computers and T.V.'s.
Donna

Hummm, I don't think I'll be doing that. I wonder how many people would/do. Thanks for the reply tho :)
Monica

I don't unplug my T.V. but do unplug as many appliances as possible, i.e. coffee pot, blowdryer, and computer charging cord.
Donna

I was going to post on this very subject, but decided to do a search first. The electrician who came out to bid yesterday had never heard of such a thing. I am glad to see that it can be done. Love this forum.

Valleykat-
You're right, this forum is great. Here is a pic of our new drawer. You may notice that it bears a strong resemblance to Linda-z's. That's cuz I gave our contractor a picture of hers because he had never heard of it either. After it was installed, he said he was going to recommend it to his other customers.

Good luck!

Lucy, I printed a collage of the different methods for my GC and electrician. Asthetically, I like the look you and Linda acheived. The difference I seem to have is that I will have a wall to the left and an open makeup vanity to the right, so I can't put any electrical in the cupboard next door. It will all need to go directly behind the drawer. I assume that you made the drawers shallower to accomodate this, no?

Valleykat - I didn't think we had made the drawers more shallow so I went and looked at the set-up. The electrical box attached to the backside of the drawer is just over 1 1/4" thick. The cord coming from it plugs into a regular outlet that was installed right behind that set of drawers. It works because there is some space between the back of the drawer and wall, perhaps to allow for the drawer hardware to be attached.
Hope this helps!

Thanks Lucy. That sounds exactly like what I need to do. I am copying your description to add to my photo collage.

Valleykat - do you want to share your photo collage? I'll be doing my master bath soon.

Caralann, I don't have it downloaded to the internet, but I got all of the photos and notes off of this thread. I actually made two different pages to show my contractor: one with photos of the outlet in the drawer, and one with an outlet behind and an extension cord leading to the drawer. If I thought something said was pertinent, like Mongo's remark about the flexible casing for the cable, I inserted that too. If I can get around to it, I will try to get something on here, but I haven't posted a pic on this forum in over a year, so I have to reteach myself. I don't really have time for that at the moment.

FWIW, my electrician refused to wire a drawer for me. He says he has a real issue with the safety of this. He thinks heating appliances should never be left plugged in, especially in an enclosed area as they can be accidentally triggered on and create a fire hazard.

very cool!

I wonder if the drawer could be set up so that the power is automatically switched off when it is closed.

hi all - i think i really was ahead of myself (and preparing for my GW membership!) but I had my mom's builder do this in our house when I was 13 (27 now)..at that point I wasn't concerned with how to get it done just that i knew i wanted it! now for my home, i'd of course love it again, but our electrician has never done one before - just like mongo he said that the standard cords are not meant to be flexible -- so what are the right cords to use so I can advise him?

Thanks!

I don't understand the "standard cords are not meant to be flexible" part. All electrical cords that I own are flexible (not rigid) My hairdyer is connected to the outlet behind a drawer in my vanity. It's no different than if it (hairdryer) was sitting on top of my vanity and plugged into the wall just above the vanity. It's used the same way, it's just placed lower and out of sight. The bulk of the cord is IN the drawer that my hairdyer is in.
Monica

he's not referring to the electrical cords you use for hair dryers, etc., he's referring to the cord from the outlet to the wall (as mongo said - the standard cord is romex and is not flexible)...

It's not that romex isn't flexible, it is. But it's not meant to be repeatedly flexed and re-flexed as it would be if it was attached to the back of the drawer. It would be stressed over and over in the same place with the opening and closing of the drawer. If you take a plain piece of wire and bend it, straighten it over and over, eventually it breaks - that's what happens inside the romex.

understood, thanks dlm - so what's the best wire to use?

Is it not possible (in your situation) to put the outlet on the WALL behind the drawer? You wouldn't have the repeated bending issue.

We're (still) in progress on our remodel, but we put the outlets (one for each of the two vanities) on the wall behind the drawer. I think it's a great, easy (we're diy'ers) way to be able to leave our blow dryers, elect. razors in the drawers.

In Canada, legit electricians will refuse to install outlets inside of any enclosed area because it does not meet code. The only option I’ve seen that is CSA approved is the Docking Drawer that is hella expensive. I think I’ll have to try to DIY like monicakm_gw. Thx for sharing Monica!😄

Anyone else have photos or other ideas? Please post.

:ella macrow" skillfully slipped in some spam. Please flag.

Pinterest has ideas how to do wiring