Outlet Locations in Island with Columns

4 years ago

Hi! We are redoing our kitchen and are in the process of finalizing our cabinet order. Our island is an "L" shape with two columns (which separate the kitchen from the living room) and two pony walls. The end of one of the pony walls does not have a column. Our existing kitchen island is two levels with several outlets being located in the slightly raised backsplash area. Our remodel will make the island all one level.

My husband has drilled a hole into one of the columns and feels comfortable relocating the island light switch, garbage disposal and one of the outlets into that space. The second column is in the corner and is very difficult to reach from the island so we do not plan to place anything in there. There is a sink in the island so we will need another outlet on the other side. We will either need to drill into the end of the pony wall (but it does not sound hollow like the column) or drill into the side of the cabinet for the outlet. A few questions:

1) Does the electrical code allow outlets, light switches, garbage disposals, etc. to be located in the column above the countertop (as long as it is less than 20")?

2) If it is possible to cut out a section in the side of the pony wall, can we locate the outlet there (as long as not more than 12" below the countertop)?

3) If we have to locate the electrical box in the cabinet, that cabinet is currently planned with drawers. It is a full overlay face framed cabinet by Conestoga. Would I have enough space to put an low profile electrical box on the side of the drawer...or would the drawer need to be modified?

If there are other requirements I may be missing here, please let me know. Thanks so much!

Featured Answer

PRO

JAN MOYER

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

Nobody is likely to wade through that, nor confidently advise. You seem not to have a designer involved,....you are ordering cabinets on your own. I hope you have a FLAT on paper drawing of this kitchen with every single dimension, and I would strongly recommend a certified electrician at this point, to consider every single element of lighting and receptacles. Based on your to the inch plan.

It will be far less cost than mistakes.

Comments (6)

Ron Natalie
4 years ago
Yes to all three.

A kitchen island requires one receptacle. They must be supplied by one of the "small-appliance" circuits. You're free to locate them on columns or even hanging cabinets as long as you stay within 20" of the countertop.

Absent any suitable place to mount, you can go up to 12" below the countertop provided the overhang is 6" or less.

And yes, you can likely get low profile boxes that will allow you to mount behind or beside the drawer (or in some cases in between two drawers). My peninsula has an outlet on the end that is squeezed in such a space. You have to watch the box fill rules, but usually, it's the end of the line in such circumstances anyhow (or you can put an other junction box down lower inside the cabinet.
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We did one on the panel in front of the island prep sink. That one gets used mostly for the food processors (regular and mini) which we keep in the cabinet under the sink and occasionally for the immersion blender. Sometimes the waffle maker gets plugged in there - depending on what else is going on - sometimes it gets plugged into one of the other outlets. Our island is 8' long and 3' deep plus a 15" seating overhang. We put one at each edge under the seating overhang. Those get used for laptops and other chargers if someone wants to sit there with a device that needs power. They also sometimes get used for the hand mixer, an electric skillet or the food processor (when someone else is using the main prep location by the outlet on the front of the sink. We didn't want an outlet in the middle of the side of the island where it would be more conspicuous. The outlets under the overhang are mounted on pull out cabinets that open to the side of the island. We used shallow boxes to minimize the intrusion of the outlet into the cabinet. Our electrician was concerned about whether the outlets under the overhang would count for the code required outlets. We reasoned that the problem with outlets under an overhang is that they require too long a cord if they are in the middle where the cord has to go to the edge of the overhang and back but since these are near the side of the overhang, they don't require any significant extra cord length. He checked with our local code department and they agreed that the outlets could count. We used Lutron matte black outlets and natural cherry outlet covers to match our island. You can see the shallow box and the conduit to it in the top left of this cabinet. The thickness of the panel also helps keep it from intruding into the cabinet. Outlets on the back of the island:
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Carolina Kitchen & Bath
4 years ago
Just advice: Imagine you're having to take apart or change the island, now or in the future. Think about whether that would be more complicated than it has to be and then simplify it, if necessary. This isn't advice on how to wire, it's advice on how to plan.
Stephanie Poole
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you, Ron and Jan.

Jan-We have a cabinet designer who is helping us to customize the cabinets and to verify measurements, but they are ready to assemble and my husband/I will be doing the installation work ourselves. We are not altering the existing layout significantly (beyond changing out the cabinetry/making the island one level).

Ron-I am so happy to hear that all of this is allowed. I have been looking at the code sections/other threads on Houzz, but just wanted to double-check. I hate to lose additional drawer space if it's not necessary (but didn't want to run into a problem later if we can't install into that pony wall).
PRO
The Cook's Kitchen
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
I got lost somewhere in the middle reading small print on a phone. I just wanted to be sure that you’re planning outlets on both island ends, left and right of the sink. You may need to notch a drawer to make that happen.

Also think about having both of the small appliance outlet circuits represented on the island outlets, or a new 3rd one. It depends on the load. Islands are getting heavier and heavier load work these days. You don’t want to pop breakers. You’ll need have to have the DW and disposal, separate from the outlet circuits, as well. That’s a lot of wiring, which is why you need a great electrician partner.

This is notched for a gas regulator, but the principle is the same.
Stephanie Poole
Original Author
4 years ago
Hi Cook's Kitchen,

Yes, I am planning to have outlets on both sides of the sink. One would be in the side of the pony wall or cabinet right in front of the wall. The other outlet would be in the column on the opposite side of the "L". Thanks for the heads up on the breakers. Everything is already wired in our existing island--hoping to just remount switches to a new spot.

Outlet Locations in Island with Columns

JAN MOYER

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