Our electrician didn't want to come back until the backsplash was finished, too. It's so that he can set the heights of the outlets/switches on that backsplash wall properly.

I attempted to post some pictures of my under cabinet lighting and outlets. Please excuse the mess. Also, my kitchen is by no means finished. The faucet that you will see is not the one that is eventually going to be there, and the countertop is going to change as well. Also, some of the cover plates for the electrical outlets are not attached. The first pictures are for cabinets (upper glass display cabinet stacked on top of a smaller wall cabinet) that are located above the main sink. When it is finished, the bottom shelf should be even with the face frame for the lower cabinet, likewise for the upper cabinet. One of the pictures shows the wiring that will be covered up. The switch for the under cabinet lighting that is in the bottom of that upper cabinet is located in the bottom of the lower cabinet on the left hand side. The pendant lights on either side of the sink are controlled by a switch located on the right hand side of that same bottom cabinet. The valance on the bottom of the lower cabinet hides the switches, and the valance on the bottom of the upper cabinet reduces the glare from under cabinet lighting. The wall cabinets that have the electrical boxes along with the under cabinet lighting built into the bottom of the wall cabinet are shown in the last set of pictures. The last picture shows the interior of that wall cabinet with the raised bottom shelf. It does not have to be like that. The box is not that tall, but the bottom shelf was already made and this is what it currently looks like. So there is some wasted space there, but it can modified later. Also, a valance, similar to the one around the sink cabinet, is planned for this wall cabinet as well. The bottom of this cabinet can be seen in the next to the last picture. I don't have a need for more than two outlets on either side of my range; so, I did not need a strip of electrical outlets. Hope this was of some help. Here is a link that might be useful: under cabinet lighting and outlets

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!

Regarding the undercabinet lighting, make sure the recess for the lighting is toward the front of the upper cabinets, not the back. Installed toward the back you are lighting mostly the backsplash. Installed toward the front, the light is being shed onto the middle of the counter where it is most needed. Regarding the outlets, I think you'll still need outlets in the backsplash. Will you be having a toaster or coffee maker or any counter appliance left plugged in? If so, you'd have unsightly dangling cords hanging from the outlet strips. IMHO, the better option is to install the outlets in the backsplash, but installed low and horizontally. That way they are hidden by the coffee maker, etc. You could also do a combo of the outlet strip and a couple outlets in the backsplash that you think will be necessary for coffee maker etc. Also note that different regions have different building codes for the height of the outlets in the backsplash, and some regions have no code requirements pertaining to outlet height. In my area the rule is the outlet must be 4" from counter to center of the outlet, which when the outlet is horizontal, is a very nice height to be hidden by the appliances, but still able to get your hand in there easily to plug in. The bottom photo here is lower than that, so it depends what your locale allows.