charging station in upper cabs - can you share pictures/design

13 years ago

Hi,

We have allocated a 15" wide and 12" tall upper cabinet (glass door) for charging 3 phones, 3 toothbrushes on a regular basis and rechargeable batteries and camera occasionally.

I am looking at different threads around like

charging station in drawer, questions

phone charging center

Anyone Have A Kitchen Message Center

Cell phone charging station - design help

but none seem to give me good ideas. Our GC is going to implement the idea that I come up with. I am thinking of putting couple of outlets on the inside wall of the cabinet and then somehow getting it to 4-5 chargers

requirements are

1. individual shut off for the charging cables

2. some sort of cord retraction/hiding

3. cabinet will also hold keys/wallets

4. possibly phones will charge upright ..(will buy phone charging cradles separately)

5. One open plug for non regular charging/ other plug will support the regular charging cables

Can you please share your ideas/design/pictures ? Thanks

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Comments (9)

Moz Tn
Original Author
13 years ago
Current simple plan I have is ..

have three sockets in the back of the cabinet. Use one socket to supply power to a charging station like this one at Sears

Second/third socket for occasional charging of other stuff
Side walls of the cabinet will have key hanging hooks
Wallet will rest between the charging station and the side wall.
In a future (where I become an expert wood worker) I will build a better charging station ..

Not really elegant or good looking .. but that's all I have :( Do you have something that really works and you like?
Moz Tn
Original Author
13 years ago
bumping in hopes of some responses ...
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We are putting an outlet on the back wall of an upper cabinet for this purpose. The outlet will be just above the bottom of the cabinet (so we will set cell phones, etc on the bottom of the cabinet for charging). This is our makeshift message center spot - we will have key hooks on the back of the door and the phone is on the counter below, office supply stuff in the drawers in the base cabinet below. Not a great solution, but at least it's hidden. My DH put an outlet in the vanity base in our master bath where we plug in the hairdryer, etc with the hairdryer, etc in a drawer. Didn't get it permitted, however, and I'm sure it's not up to code. We love it and it works great. The outlet is on the back of the vanity base and we just plug in an extension cord with the cord flopped over the back of the drawer. It works fine, never gets hung up and allows us to open the drawer, pull out the hairdryer, dry our hair with the drawer open just a bit, and put the hairdryer back. The stuff is in the middle drawer and the other drawers work just fine. I think it will work great, it's just a matter of getting it to pass code. But if you just put an outlet in the base cabinet, which is fine, then you can rig how to plug the phones and laptop in later. If you had a hole in the back of the drawer, as sue36 suggested, and plug in an extension cord through the hole with the plug IN part of the extension cord inside the drawer (the end where the phones would plug into), right at the hole, then the cord can just extend and relax behind the drawer as you open and close the drawer. Would it be possible to make a hole that you can fit the plug through, but not the end where the phones plug it so it is stuck just inside the drawer? Am I making any sense? Woke up WAAAAYYY too early. Good luck!
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Thanks, beagles! You pretty much confirmed my suspicion about a charging drawer. Scratch that idea. MamaRachel, my DH is the same way so while I like the idea of putting charging items behind a door, I wonder how well that will work IRL for us. Crazy as it may sound, I'm tempted to forgo the doored cabinet and leave that lower section open. It would be similar to these hutches: I like the division of 3 spaces below the glass doors. I'd get a simple napkin holder or basket (as shown in the pic above) for bills. lol, I found a pig napkin holder at PB! Pity I don't have a towel pig to go with it. But I kinda think DH would squash the idea of a pig napkin holder. ;-) Anyhoo, in preparation for remodeling the kitchen, we moved the filing sorting trays to the den, which is actually a good place for them to reside permanently since that's where the file drawers are. Maybe I don't need a bunch of cubbies in the kitchen hutch after all. I'd also get a decorative basket to hold items as they charge. That would put them out of sight, MOL, but accessible, a plus if the phone rings. The other option - and I need to wait for our GC to see if it's possible tomorrow - is to add a USB outlet to the 9" deep cab opposite the entry aisle from the hutch and use a shelf in that cab for a charging station. Maybe simple is the way to go. I'll talk to DH tonight and see if we can make up our minds. Thank you, everyone!
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melissastar
13 years ago
A word of caution when creating or buying a charging station like the Sears one: Make sure the space between the outlet plugs themselves is big enough to accomodate those boxy converters located at the plug end of many chargers.

Not too long ago I bought a nifty looking 3-charger station from Pottery Barn and have discovered to my chagrin that the power strip in the back where everything plugs in will hold no more than ONE charger at a time...Yes...one LESS than a standard electrical outlet. Nearly all the things I need to routinely charge (multiple cell phones, battery for camera, etc.) hog too much room.
Moz Tn
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks Melissa ..

I think I have finalized my design, but looking for appropriate components that will fit my cabinet. I am looking for a charger like this. This is 19" long, I need something that will fit in my 15" wide cabinet, so I need 14" long. There are individual switches on the front and the sockets for those switches are on the back. So all my chargers are always connected, and I can shut those off easily individually to save on electricity bleed. The charger will sit on the floor of the cabinet, I will put another shelf on top of the charger. The wires will be hidden behind in some false panel ...
Anyone seen a surge strip that has switches in the front, sockets in the back and is smaller than 14" in length? (I should look for computer rack accessories, I think they should have those)
kathec
13 years ago
Have you checked out Silites? I can't remember who posted about them, but they are outlets that sit flush with the surface. You could maybe do 4, set a few inches apart. Of course, I don't know what the requirements but I'm sure it's on the website.
puppeez
13 years ago
How about using 2 of the 4 channel pwr switches? 3x6x5
desertsteph
13 years ago
check computer accessories. my monitor sits on something similar. it's 12" W x 2" H and about 14" D. sockets on the back, 6 switches on the front - one is a master switch.
Moz Tn
Original Author
13 years ago
Hi ..

Thanks DesertSteph .. This under monitor power surge suppressor (Tripp Lite TMC-6 6-Outlet Under Monitor Surge Protector) might work .. (I don't like the buttons though) That's the current leading contender ..

Hi cathec, I looked for the silites, but couldn't find what I was looking for .. Can you find the post?

pupeez, I actually like the 4 pwr switch (American DJ PC4 Four Channel Power Strip With Lighted Toggle Switches). The problem is that the sockets are not in the back, but up top. If I can find a 4 pwr switch with sockets in the back and switches in the front, that would be ideal!

The kitchen remodel started last weekend, so all weekend was quite busy .. A month more before we get our new kitchen .. If the kitchen remodeling gods keep smiling ..
mrsdowfire
13 years ago
hey tnkrer....did you order that Tripp Lite TMC-6 6-Outlet Under Monitor Surge Protector? how did that work out? I saw the dimensions were 14.2 x 12.2 x 2 inches. I also have a 15" wall cabinet I would use this in but aren't wall cabinets 12" deep? Just curious if it worked out. Thanks for the idea.

charging station in upper cabs - can you share pictures/design

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Moz Tn
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Moz Tn
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charging station in upper cabs - can you share pictures/design

Comments (9)

Moz TnOriginal Author

Moz TnOriginal Author

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melissastar

Moz TnOriginal Author

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Moz Tn
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