pinktoes I just went through this myself - picking the switch and outlet types and finding wall plates. It was a lot harder than I thought. We selected the rocker/deigner/decora style for several reasons. One is what you mentioned - easier to operate switches with the back of your hand. Another was that painted wall plates for regular style outlets tend to get get dirty and knicked up - the desginer style has a larger outlet face with a very narrow surrounding plate that can minimize that. The last reason is that I am integrating Insteon remote control switches and controllers into my plan - and the controllers are designer style - so for conformity reasons we kept everything the same. Once we picked the switch and outlet style - then came the real challenge. DW wants the wall plates to match the wall color - so they have to be painted. The pastic plates - screwed or screwless - can be painted but you will need to sand each plate to prep it. With over 250 wall plates in my house - that wasn't going to work for me. I found posts that described the TayMac Masque plastic wall plates that can be painted - but they are between 2 to 3 dollars each AND they no longer carry a 4 gang switch plate, and I need a bunch of these. In the end, I decided to use Mulberry Pricness Size Designer Wall metal plates which come in 1, 2,3,4,5 and 6 gang. I am using the Wrinkled plate, which can be painted without sanding. See http://www.mulberrymetal.com/home.htm. Your eelctrical supplier should have access to these and they are quite reasonable and look nice painted. I had them in my last home and they are very durable - but they do have visible screws. As far as switches, the Pass & Symour Spec grade designer switches were recommended on other GW posts and by electricians and lighting designers I talked to. It turns our that the local suplly company that I bought the wall plates carries the P&S switches - so I bought these. I think the other brands are fine - as long as you use spec grade. I would also avoid the Home Depot bulk switches since I found out - through other posts - that the quality is not that great. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the replies. >The paint is not as durable or as cleanable as the original surface. I would assume as much. However, most of the switches would probably not see heavy use. Likewise, most of the receptacles would be pretty much "plug in and forget." >Is it flameproof when dry? Dunno--the MSDS only lists the product as canned/aerosol... then, it reads like an arsonist's shopping list. I wouldn't think it more or less flame-"proof" than any other cured acrylic paint, or vinyl wall plate for that matter. >Have you looked at Lutron's colors? Yes... nothing there that really matches well either. BTW, I found this nugget whilst looking... pretty impressive results, IMHO: Taken for Granite

The reviews on Amazon don't give me that warm fuzzy feeling. :) There's only 6 reviews and half of them are bad. That is, if you read the actual review. There are a couple of 4 stars that don't sound like they should be 4 stars if you read the comment. Now that it actually exists, I wonder how many people are willing to spend 30 bucks plus shipping for it. As a side note, this thread seems like one that lots of people feel the need to sign up for a Houzz account, make one comment on this thread pointing everyone at SwitchFlip and then not participating in any other discussions. Is it possible that these people have an ulterior motive in promoting this product? :)

Hi cv2014, I still love the look of our Semihandmade walnut, to me it's very warm. We briefly looked into having Semihandmade make panels for the side and the back of the island, but we wanted a more substantial edge and it just seemed like we'd have better luck getting it to all work out if we hired a finish carpenter to do the job. We're very happy with how it turned out. You can go to almost any good lumber store and purchase a full sheet of walnut veneer for not a lot of $$s. Depending on where it's used, it could be ok if it doesn't match perfectly with the Semihandmade walnut. The corner cabinet has a filler piece, I think it was around 4 inches, that gives enough clearance so that the cabinet door can open without worrying about having it hit the door to the right. In my case I think I was also concerned about clearance so it wouldn't hit the oven handle as well. That was solved by making the pull-out next to the over slightly wider than originally planned. These are the older Ikea cabinet style, so I'm not sure if the new style has the same kind of corner cabinet or not. Good luck with your planning!