My electrician charged me $100 labor to install a strip of Plugmold under the edge of my counter, and the wire was already stubbed out there (just needed to connect it in box/outlet already installed in pony wall of island). I would have done it myself (tried), but couldn't get the cover on, banged it up, had to buy a new one so I just let him install the whole thing. Wonder if it would have been cheaper if I'd left the cover off, let him come put it on and then I could make connection? My builder refused to put outlets in closets, even our 9.5x7.5 WIC "b/c of fire hazard." So I'll be installing one inside our broom closet for the Swiffer - it's more of a hazard now with the cord running out to the GFCI by the laundry sink. If anyone closes the door, the cord gets pinched!

I Believe Kitchen Appliance manufacturers may be, out of ignorance, limiting their market share in removing model sizes compatible with Appliance Garage size Generally 10+" deep by 14+" high (tambor door)and 24+" wide.I believe the model unavailability is reducing kitchen garage popularity in response to the appropriate model size availabilities. I believe that any manufacturer advertising appliance model size options compatible with fitting in appliance garages to help people keep their counter tops uncluttered, with a quality appliance will not capture market attention as being attentive to the needs of the customer and dramatically increase sales. For some it only meas re-introducing prior, appropriately sized models with possible minor cosmetic changes. I have encountered this issue in replacing a toaster oven where, after extensive internet search, found only one an Elite cuisine two slice from Amazon (predominantly used in small kitchens and mobile homes. Prior to this I had GE/Black & Decker and other brands that were no more than 10+ inches deep. I also could only find one cone filter Auto-drip coffer-maker to replace my Braun "Aromaster" that was less than 14+' tall. It is a 12 cup Hamilton Beach and does not allow an option of a "permanent" type filter as the Aromaster did. Those of you share this concern, please, help in getting this into public discourse. Noting public trends in designing kitchens in stating kitchen garages are less popular doe us an injustice, as it does not look into the potential and likely causes of them. I believe it is the easy way of dealing with inconveniences, just adapting too them. Eventually, somebody will capitalize on meeting needs. In this case minimizing kitchen clutter and maintaining convenient access to storage and use of our kitchen appliances.

Someone was wrong. Even modern appliances frequently don't have grounded (three prong) cords if there is no exposed metal, etc... If your older cords are in good condition, no fraying, cuts, burned spots, etc... and the cord is securely connected at the plug and appliance ends, they should work fine. If you want extra protection, make sure whatever receptacle you plug them into has GFCI protection.

I think that what you have going on in terms of plugs has a lot to do with HOW you have your kitchen set up. For us, we plan on having only one thing continually plugged in on the countertop - and therefore, we put a low, horizontal plug in that area. The rest of our area is plugmold because we won't be keeping anything else permanently on the counter and plugged in. We will have an appliance "garage" that will house the coffee pot and other consistently used small appliances. My KA mixer has it's own cabinet and a plug inside the cabinet. Like everything else here, when planning your kitchen, it's important to ask yourself what you are hoping to accomplish and what way you are going to use your kitchen. If you are the type that will have various appliances out and plugged in all the time, then certainly, it doesn't make much sense to have plugmold and see the appliance colds dangling down. But, if you have an appliance garage and/or you are the type that will have small appliances out just when being used, you may be happy considering plugmold. We're also concealing the kitchen sink light switch and the UC light switch under one of our upper cabinets as well so that they won't show on the backsplash. Oh, and we will have plugmold on our island also - it will mount underneath the granite. I had considered one of the Mockett systems - they are pretty cool, but I felt that it was more intrusive than what I wanted for our small island...if there winds up being an issue with it and we wanted to get rid of it at some point down the road, we didn't want that large hole in our granite.