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Outlets on island, front back or sides?

13 years ago

Depending on how I arrange my other cabinets/drawers, I might end up with a 3"H x 15"W blank on my island. It'll be the top of a stack of 3 drawers, 2 short, one deep. It will be on the kitchen/work side, the opposide will not have an overhang or seating. I've thought about making it a pull out cutting board, but it doesn't seem practical. The whole island is prep, I don't think I will need a cutting board. So all this brings me back to what to do. I was thinking about using a plugmold in this space. I wonder if this is practical. The cords would all come up to the front when in use. Would the cord(s) get in the way? I don't know. In previous houses the plugs have always been the standard kind on the short ends of the island, never the back or front. I wonder what you have and how it works for you. I did see older threads where someone had a flip down drawer. I don't know if that poster is around anymore to weigh in on how it works

Pictures are welcome and encouraged ; ).

Thanks,

Kathe

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Comments (5)

dan1888
13 years ago
Here is another option- a kitchen power grommet.This creates two or three outlets where you need them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mockett island outlets
dan1888
13 years ago
Here's a thread with pictures.

Here is a link that might be useful: outlets in counters
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oldalgebra - thanks gizmonike - hoe ingenius! stacyneil - FYI, the Wiremold brand plugmold is 7/8" deep when mounted and 1 1/4" high. So might not work if you have drawers. I'm assuming you want the receptacles facing front, not down, so you don't have to bend over to see where you're plugging things in. You also need to allow enough room for your plugs on the ends of your cords - some of them can be quite wide. I can plug appliance cords into mine with app. 1/2" above and below my plugmold (2 1/8" b/t top of lower counter and bottom of upper) but can't fit most cellphone chargers, etc. - anything with an AC/DC transformer on it.
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I also think the two on each end are enough. I can't imagine it would happen often that you'd have 3 people all sitting at the island at the same time all in with low batteries.... not likely. Therefore the two on the end would be enough. Even if you did have the above mentioned situation, power cords are long enough to run across the island to share the duplex outlet with another user. I think brown recessed would be fine. It'll be in a shadow, and will blend in fine. We put the skirt on, and it's 4" -- I don't think I'd do 6" because with a cushy stool, it gets a bit cramped between the top of an adult thigh and the bottom of the skirt even with 4". We were able to additional 1x4 trim pieces from our cabinet company, I think the skirt is the same as the board we used along the bottom backside of the island as a trim board.
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We discussed the Mockette briefly. I'm sure the gasket is fine initially but in my experience the rubber for gaskets (or whatever is used in its place) doesn't last forever. We didn't want to be searching for a replacement gasket in 10 years. Also, we didn't want an extra bump to clean around on the counter. As far as the hole already cut, you might as well put an outlet in it. It won't count as a required outlet but someone using a laptop at the overhang might find it useful. You certainly want to make sure that any new location will pass inspection. BTW, does the island have a sink? Another good location for an outlet on an island is the panel in front of the sink. I find that location very practical to plug in the mini-food processor or immersion blender. Donna, the wood outlet covers came from arnev.com. They can be bought in a variety of wood species. You can select from one of the finishes they have or you can get them unfinished so someone locally can match them to your cabinet finish. The outlets themselves are Lutron in midnight satin.
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I told the GC and the electrician that we couldn't put an outlet on the panel under a seating overhang but they didn't listen and we failed the inspection. You can't have an outlet under an overhang of more than 6". The inspector did say that we could use a surface mounted box right at the edge of the overhang. It's ugly and I hate it. We are going to figure out a better solution. I have seating on 2 sides of the island, a bookshelf on the other short side, and drawers all across the front. I REALLY wish we had planned a strip at the top of the drawers for a few outlets. As for the OP's question, I would paint the outlet and cover plate to match the island.
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countrygal_905
13 years ago
Here's a picture of my plugmold. I've been very happy with it.
kathec
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks dan1888, I've seen the mockets. It's something I'm considering depending on the final design.

My problem is that I have a blank area that won't be drawer space. I'm thinking of ways to use this space creatively. Outlets will probably fit, plugmold, silites, standard outlets, but I question how this works in a kitchen. Is it practical? Are the cords hard to work around if they're in the front versus the sides or back? More than likely I'd use food processor, Kitchenaid mixer, waffle iron, appliances that are used at one time and put away after use. Since all cords are typically in the back of the appliance, the cords would have to curl around to be plugged into the front.

Outlets are one possible solution I've got rattling around in my head. Another one I'm considering is Rev-a-shelf's maple knife drawer. The measurements are very close on that, it might not work.
breezygirl
13 years ago
I'm going to be facing the outlets in/on the island soon. Like you, I wonder how user friendly it is to have power on the front of the island as opposed to the sides. I was going to suggest a recessed paper towel holder like Firsthouse put in her kitchen, but now I see you don't have that much space.

I think Segbrown has the hidden outlets with the door. If I remember right, it wasn't on the prep side of her island. It was used for cells and laptops.

Can you put outlets on the end and do the knife drawer in that empty space?

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