Gneegirl - Chill babe... it's all good !!! HA! ;-) This is NOT a problem AT ALL - here's what needs to happen: 1. Determine what the thickness of your stone is - 2CM or 3CM? 2. Have a sample piece 4" x 4" on hand for your electrician to use when he comes over to your home to re-set the depths of the outlet boxes. This (IMHO) should NOT be a new experience for EITHER your Electrician OR your Fabricator.... 3. Have your Electrician re-set the depths of the outlet and switch boxes.... (this should be done without the outlet recptacles and/or switches and trim plates in the boxes when he does this - just the wires should be sticking out with the protective wire nuts on each wire to prevent getting a shocking experience) ...so that that the finished stone will extend past the outside edge of each box when it is set by about an 1/8" - this means that prior to the splashes coming, your outlet boxes will protrude from the walls by the thickness of the stone PLUS an eigth of an inch. (the extra 1/8" will alow for adhesive to set the slab pieces to the walls) AND ... NO WALLS ARE PERFECTLY PLUM AND STRAIGHT, so allow for some variation - 1/8" should be enough, BUT - you may need to go 1/4" - this depends on your walls - if they are really flat, true and plumb or if they are "ca-ca"..... HOWEVER -AND THIS IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT: IF your walls are nice and flat, you could have the boxes set so that they are flush with the stone - WITHOUT the extra 1/8" too - this will all depend on how wacky your walls are...make sense??? Ask your Fabricator to get involved on this if you have trouble.... 4. Check your walls with a 6 or 8 foot straight edge to be sure.. you may have really wacky walls, and in that case, you should (again) have your Fabricator check them (hopefully, he already did) This is something that I go over in detail with all of my customers that receive full height slab splashes, so they don't get all freaked out over something like this - it's really not a big deal at all - they (your Fabricator) should have gone over it with you already (IMHO).... Any ways............... Once the full height backsplashes are installed, your Electrician will be able to install the outlets & switches without much wailing or mashing of teeth... HA! ;-) Problem Solved !!!!! Hope that helps kevin Kevin M. Padden MIA SFA Fabricator, Trainer & Consultant to the Natural Stone Industry www.azschoolofrock.com

Hope it's ok to piggyback onto this topic. My question seems related. For a boxed bay window in the dinette area, right next to the kitchen, there will be added vanity height cabinets with a countertop. The countertop surface will be the same as that used in the kitchen, but at a lower height. The boxed bay itself is 8ft wide by 2ft deep. The present plan is to only have outlets (GFCI) on the left and right sides of the box bay. However that would mean more than 2ft from an outlet to the center of the counter, and would not satisfy the 2ft/4ft rule. The main problem is that there isn't enough space between the window and countertop to add an outlet (unless the size of the window is changed, or the cabinets shortened, neither of which is a good option here). So here is my question. Could this new countertop be considered as not part of the kitchen, since it is really in the dinette area, and thus not be subject to the 2ft/4ft rule? When standing in the kitchen, looking at the back wall, the boxed bay (and new counter) starts right where the existing kitchen counter ends (but with new counter at lower height, and set back into the bay).

The receptacle box extenders come in all sizes from 1/4" to 1.5" thick, so you can get exactly the depth you need to compensate for how thick your tile + mortar is. You don't have to nail them -- just lay them over the old box and screw them to the box using the same screw you're using for the receptacle itself (you might need a longer screw, they sometimes come packaged with the extender). I'm not sure the big box stores carry them (although they should); if not, go to a regular hardware store. I learned the hard way: definitely get those little ears on the outside of the tile, otherwise nothing will fit correctly when you put it back together! :-)

To me, this is simply an appearance issue and easily fixable. First, remove the cover plate and use patching compound or joint compound to mask that wire mesh. Then paint and put the cover plate back on. Second, don't bother with box extenders, etc. What you have after fixing the esthetic problem with the mesh showing are recessed receptacles. That's especially useful when you have furniture or countertop appliances you want to place as close to the wall as possible. If you look at it that way, you can make lemonade out of these lemons without a lot of unnecessary work.