Our phone was always on the wall in this area above our counter. We moved the phone up a bit, added another outlet right above it, and had a box made to enclose it.

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i have a long galley and the phone used to be on the wall smack in the middle. i had the jack closed up and tiled over and currently have no phone in there. i just bring in the cordless if ineed it. if i decide to have one in there regularly, i'll just get an extra handset. the base can plug into any outlet;you don't need a jack.

At the entrance to the kitchen I have a small 12" wide base cab with a mail sorter/holder/cubbyhole thingy, the phone, and just enough room for keys/sunglasses/phone chargers. I used to have a menu desk but it was a serious clutter catcher, and this is a much more manageable space. I keep phone books in the small base cab. Here's an old pic:

Enviro tip for the day for all GW'rs, even those who didn't ask: I know the idea of a recharging station is very popular, but rechargers are power vampires, sucking electricity when they are on but not actively recharging. I pull mine out of the outlet when not actively using it. People who want both a recharging station and a planet for their children should consider a surge protector or other "master" multi-outlet that can be physically disconnected (not just turned off) when not being used. Sorry to be both OT and on a soapbox, but the power vampire "solution"-really-a-bigger-problem is one of my pet peeves, and the physical unplug is an obvious light green problem solver.

Our phone is going in the "niche" in our pantry wall. We were supposed to have a 15" deep base cabinet & 12" deep wall cabinet at the end of our pantry, but when we had measuring problems that force our pantry wall to be longer than planned, we had to eliminate it. I asked them to put in a niche...which they did at their expense. Here it is...

This niche will hold:

• phone (I put here for you to see) with the phone outlet & power outlets inside the pantry...we still have to drill the hole for the wires

• pencil cup & small pad next to the phone

• hooks above the phone for keys

• calendar will hang above the hooks

We still have to paint it, put in hooks, etc. but it gives you an idea.

Great information. I love the niche idea. We have iPhones, so we recharge on our computer. Don't need a recharging station, but I need a place for the land phone, message recording and a place for a grocery list. I had a friend who only had a desk in the mudroom and I noticed that she still had a place in the kitchen where papers piled up. I want to make sure I anticipate this spot.

Keep the ideas coming! Thanks.

Mine hangs on the wall by the doorway, complete with answering machine. No need for a desk or even counter space. I'm planning on hanging a small basket on the wall for the bills waiting to be paid, so the paper doesn't accumulate in the kitchen.

Absolutely Bluekitobsessed!!!! All chargers should be unplugged when not in use. One of my big issues too.

I like everyone's ideas...mines on the counter and I HATE that it makes me P.O'ed everytime I clean my kitchen that the phone is in the way ...so don't do that ! LOL

clarification on the recharging station, please. i assumed this was in reference to recharging a cordless (landline) phone, not cell phone. is it? or does the "power sucking" apply to both?

We got rid of ours.

Ours used to be on the wall next to the window, but I moved it onto the island so it would be convenient to both the cook and the guests. That makes it central to the entire area. I put an outlet and wall plug inside the cabinet behind a drawer and ran the wires through a small hole under the countertop up to the phone. The phonebooks are in the cabinet under the phone along with the cookbooks, and pencils and notepaper are in a small drawer there as well. Here's a couple of pictures:

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cell phone; it lands just about anywhere

Glad, the cel phone chargers are the power vampires.

It seems all current phones are designed for the counter and almost none are designed for wall mounting. The counter is not an option for our clumsy family. We hung the new phone on the wall although it is really designed for the counter and looks foolish on the wall.

You're supposed to unplug the charger when the unit (whatever it is) is done charging. (grin) Doesn't matter whether it's a cell phone, laptop, iPod, camera battery charger - unplug it when it's finished doing its thing.

We used to have a wall phone, and we still have the jack in the wall. We just plug a wall phone into it. Even if you have cordless phones all over the house for a landline, in the event of a power outage, a phone that plugs into the wall is a big help. We had a 26-hour power outage back during the Cedar Fire 2003, and the only phones that worked had a line into the wall or our cell phones.

DonnaR/CA

Out of curiosity (because my chargers are always plugged in) I asked my husband to check the power usage of our chargers. He bought a unit called Kill A Watt to test on all of our appliances and such.

He plugged my charger in almost 45 min. ago, and it is not using any power. I'm glad, because if I had to unplug the charger every time it wasn't being used, I'd probably forget to plug it in and never have a charged phone!

Just thought I'd share. I feel like I'm on Myth Busters!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kill A Watt

Hmmmm, I am with glad, haven't had a phone in the kitchen for about 15 years at least. I have the cordless phone base on the desk with the computer in another room, it has two chargers, both are in that room now, though at one time I had one charger base in the family room, but I just put the cordless phone down on the counter or table in the kitchen when I am in there for a long period of time. My phone goes where ever I am spending the most time in the house, and when the battery gets low, it gets swithced with the one in the charger on the desk in the other room which is then freshly charged. They make phones with multiple phones and charger bases now, I have them sold with 5 phones and charging bases, so you can just keep exchanging the one that needs charging for a fresh one! You might want to have one charging base on each floor, including one phone and base at your bedside if you have a large house and want one where you can hear it from the bedroom (I don't want to!). Otherwise, I prefer to have it in an office, computer room or family room. Cell phone stays in my purse and gets charged in the car while I am driving.

Sue

If I had our phone base w/the answering machine in the computer room or other location, I wouldn't remember to make a special trip to that location to check for messages. Plus, I'd have to run around looking for the phone every time it rang!

How do I know? B/c that's exactly what's been happening these past 6 months or so while the kitchen has been worked on...the phone base w/the ans. machine has been in the computer room/den and I never think to check for messages. Sometimes a message is a couple of days old b/f I see it!

Our phone has to be in the kitchen!

We have a message center to the side of the pantry as you enter the kitchen. We just put up the bulletin board.

I have an old painted bookcase 12D x 44W x 36-1/2H along one wall in my kitchen. It houses my cookbooks, phone books, 'How To' books, maps, recipe box. On top is my TV, calendar (month at a glance), message pad, caller ID tiny AT&T box and my desk phone (yes the old fashioned kind.)

My phone has an extra long coil to hand set, and a 20' cord from the wall outlet (near the floor behind the bookcase, looped on a cup hook behind the bookcase) that allows me to reach most parts of my first floor. I do have a portable phone and answering machine available in diningroom/computer desk and portable phone in upstairs bedroom.

Power outages in winter are not uncommon here in the NE and having a 'landline' phone is invaluable.

In plans for redo in the Fall, my carpenter is going to make a cabinet to replace the bookcase, but the contents will stay the same. Call me Old-fashioned, but it works for me! I still like the comfort of the desk phone handset (doesn't get hot with long conversations :) and I can tuck it with my shoulder if I need my hands to do something.

We haven't even broken ground yet, but we have a pocket office off the kitchen which I anticipate will be the phone landing station as well as charging station, message, center, etc... Our landline phone is cordless so the base sits empty much of the time and the phone is all over the place. :) But I've had desks in the kitchen so many times and I hate the clutter that seems to accumulate there. I hope to contain at least 50% of the clutter in the pocket office and then close the door when I don't want to look at it anymore. :)

I like that a bit too much, especially the toss and close part. Seriously, it looks very nice. Kelleg, we designed a pair of shallow shelves at the end of a counter and facing the kitchen table to hold a portable phone, as well as salt and pepper, napkins, et cetera. It operates off the main phone elsewhere. No official paper landing place in the kitchen, but there's a sitting room/office right through a door.

Our phone will just be at the end of a counter run. There really wasn't any room to designate a special area for it, but I really love and envy some of the ideas I've seen here.

I am a little worried about papers piling up--because they will, like it or not--but I don't have space to dedicate an entire cupboard. But because the kitchen is open to dining/living, I don't want any clutter AT ALL. (High hopes, eh?) I think I will have to dedicate some space to a "phone/message center" of sorts in my office, which is next to the kitchen.

remodelqueen, can you tell us which are the biggest energy users without me having to go run out and buy that device right now. I'm broke from trying to build my new home. LOL Thanks so much.

My DH has only used it to test the servers we have running (yes- computer geek!) but I want to test the upright freezer we have in the garage. Obviously every appliance is going to be different, but I'll check the freezer and post the info. I get.

After the initial charger test, we tested it while the phone was being charged. After 12hrs, it showed 0.01 killowatt hours.

Here is a link that might be useful: inexpensive device on amazon

Our cordless phone "system" came with a base unit w/built-in answering machine (we keep that in the "office" on the desk), and 4 handsets with their own chargers/bases. The handset/charger in the kitchen is on the message center:

cat_mom, is that trim kit from microtrim?

On topic, the phone is the bane of my kitchen remodel. We have a long passthrough wall we want to remove and the phone line comes into the house at the far end of the passthrough, from the ground. I'm told that's the one phone outlet in the house I can't eliminate (although I also have a handset I would put there instead of a wired phone), so we'll have to either route out the slab to channel the line to the wall or have all the phone wiring redone. Either way, a lot of expense for a phone outlet I don't even want.

writersblock--the micro trim is the GE trim kit for the GE micro. We ordered it at the same time/place we ordered the micro.

Really? Is that the spacemaker II? It looks much nicer than what they show on the website, which is the solid panel.

this is the only trim I could find on their site:

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