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Electrical Wiring Design Dilemma Kitchens

Kitchen Backsplash electrical outlet options?

last year

last modified: last year

We will be installing a slab backsplash in the same quartz material (Mysterio - a white with slight gray veining) as the countertops in our kitchen renovation. I don't love the look of seeing the electrical outlets along the run of backsplash. This is a rendering of approximately the space I'm referring to:

Here are my questions:

1. I know one option would be to put the electric in the underside of the upper cabinets (pros/cons)?

2. Or if the outlets ARE installed in the backsplash, are there particularly nice looking electrical outlets available that would blend in better? I've seen the ones that look like marble, but I'm sure it's hard to match!

I want the electrical outlets to blend in and be as visually unobtrusive as possible.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you - much appreciated!

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Comments (11)

Lyn Nielson
last year
is this your only prep area?

In such a beautiful space, I wouldn't have any appliances out on the countertop any way.

you could put the outlets in drawers.
M Miller
last year
last modified: last year
As you already are aware, you can do the outlet strips under your upper cabinets, aka Plugmold. However, the things that you keep regularly plugged in, such as coffee maker or toaster, will have the cords dangling in an unsightly way (see pic). The solution is to have the Plugmold, and also have a couple receptacles in the backsplash just at the place or places where you will be plugging in coffeemaker/toaster regularly.

When you install the receptacles in the backsplash, they should be installed low and horizontal, so that they are less obtrusive and are hidden by toaster, coffee maker, paper towel holder etc. A good height for the horizontal receptacles is 4" on center. You don't want them so low that a thick plug can't be plugged in cause it butts up to the counter, and you don't want it too high so that it is obtrusive. Also buy the receptacle frames that are "screwless", and companies like Lutron and Leviton make them in dozens of colors to get close to the color of your backsplash. There used to be a company that would make receptacles to order to match exactly the backsplash, but they've gone out of business.
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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
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I use boxes that have the adjustable depth screw. They are Carlon boxes which are mounted with a metal bracket on the face of the stud instead of the nail-on style that attaches to the side of the stud. These work great and offer over an inch of depth adjustability. These would work perfect for you since all you need to do is cut out the outlet box hole plus remove the sheetrock where the bracket needs to mount on the face of the stud. No need to patch the hole for the bracket since the backsplash will cover it up. You can get these at Home Depot. Box extension will work too, but I prefer these boxes.
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Just a follow-up to my previous message. While we're on the subject of outlets in the backsplash, I think it's important to think about outlet placement at this point. Perhaps you've already done this, but in case you haven't, my advice is to install your outlets horizontally, and as close to the backsplash as Code will allow. That way, the outlets will not disrupt the design and aesthetic of your backsplash as much as if they were installed higher and/or vertically. Also, if the outlets are lower and horizontal, you can put things in front of them to hide them, like coffee maker, paper towel holder, and the like. My electrician was obsessed with Code. In my area, Code stipulates a minimum distance from the counter to the center of the outlet of 4", so that's what the electrician did. VERY happy with that placement. Not only are they mostly hidden by coffeemaker, etc., but there are no dangling cords that would have been seen if the outlets were higher placed. (Note: the outlet pictured in not GFCI because it's across the kitchen from any water source. The outlets on the other side of my kitchen are all GFCI)
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Thanks Circuspeanut! I just adore your kitchen. Looks like the kitchen that's my paint-inspiration (Sally Wheat's) uses vertical plates on subway tile as well! See pic below... Also Circuspeanut, you've just inspired me to possibly do my outlet/light switch plates in nickel! :) I've been wondering whether or not to do a nickel color or a white color, because my backsplash will be mostly white subway tile (the white calacatta marble subway). I was worried the plates should match the backsplash to avoid looking too busy and take away from the tile...and was also concerned that with having a stainless counter, faucet and polished nickel bin pulls/latches, nickel plates might be overkill. But your copper counter w/ copper outlet plates - and non-matching tile - is really pretty. Love it. Hmmm... my countertop will be stainless, my faucet is polished stainless (not chrome, not nickel), but they don't make stainless switch plates. So what will match better - brushed or polished nickel?! :-p As for considering having my plates be white, they don't make plastic plates for the push-button style. However, they do make porcelain white plates (as well as other great colors, FYI everyone) which is another thing I could consider, only they're a bit chunky and probably from the 1940's period...still kinda cool though. Only those have the outlet plates but not the pushbutton plates. But hey - I just found white painted metal ones!: http://www.kilianhardware.com/swreplinwhpa.html Here's that Sally Wheat kitchen (for the thousandth time):
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ci_lantro
last year
last modified: last year
Are you aware that quartz is not not advised as a backsplash behind a stove? Particularly a gas stove?

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5539959/miele-gas-range-self-clean-issue-with-dupont-zodiac-quartz-backsplash

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4383674/how-to-make-backsplash-more-practical

Beyond that, after living in our first apartment which had only one outlet on the wall behind the only counter top--complicated by the fact that only one appliance could be plugged into it without tripping the breaker--receptacles are a thing of beauty AFAIC!

So I am not in the Hide the Electrical Camp. At all. I want to have plenty of them and I want them easily accessible.
PRO
Sabrina Alfin Interiors
last year
There are undercabinet outlet strips you could put under the upper cabinets instead of adding them to the backsplash area. HOWEVER, check with your local building inspectors first before you have the electricians do the wiring. Sometimes they are OK with this solution, and sometimes they are not. Technically, those undercabinet outlets meet code, but often there are old school inspectors out there who will fail your inspection.

If they won't allow this (or pop-up outlets), you could hire a decorative painter who could do a faux painted finish on the outlets that matches the stone. I had a client who wanted this done for her mosaic tile backsplash and it worked amazingly well.
Susan Murin
last year
I did a combination of outlet types. Where I keep my coffee makers plugged in there is an outlet in the backsplash. Everywhere else I used under cabinet outlets, which I absolutely love. Couldn’t be happier.
HU-918119203
last year
There are clear and mirrored outlet plates.
Paul F.
last year
kudzu9
last year
last modified: last year
You can spend lots of money trying to camouflage the presence of receptacles, but they are there to be used, with cords plugged into them. In my kitchen, most countertop appliances that get used regularly are left out, not pulled out and then hidden away again afterwards. That means you don't see most of my low-mounted receptacles and the cords that are plugged into them because they are behind the appliances. I admire clean design, but, ultimately, my kitchen, like that of many people, is a working kitchen, and it's not realistic to try to make it look like it's not in use.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
IMO no quartz behind the range so why not some nice tile and you can get matching outlests from Lutrn . IMO the under cabinet ones just leave all the cords exposed . That IMO a lot uglier than the plugs installed in the backspash I agree first function then pretty .. I honestly never notice my plugs they are there for a purpose .
la_la Girl
last year
We also have a slab BS - i did undercabinet outlets (on uppers) except for where i knew i would have a coffee pot and the toaster on the counter and I put outlets there (no way could i deal with cords hanging down for those appliances) For the two outlets in the slab i put them low and horizontal so you can’t see them bc of the toaster and coffee pot blocks them - but i am admittedly a nut about not seeing cords/outlets
PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
last year

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