Placement of outlets in backspalsh?

9 years ago

Embarking on a kitchen renovation. Our last kitchen (new construction in 2006-07) was built with loads of advice gleaned from hours on GW. Now a mom to 2 kiddos and still full time working attorney, so without the hours to spend on GW today (boo!).

What's the current GW consensus of best placement for outlets in backsplash? In '06, it was super important to me to have no outlets in the backsplash ... a totally clean look. I did the outlet strip at the very bottom of the upper cabinets with trim to hide them from view.

I'm doing a pricier backsplash this time and again don't want it broken up with outlets. But, I do keep some small appliances on the countertop and I don't like the hanging cords that result from the outlets at the bottom of uppers.

So, today's solution is .....?

Comments (3)

andreak100
9 years ago
Our goal was to keep almost nothing out on our counters, so we created an "appliance garage" in one of our tall cabinets - that's where our blender, toaster, and coffee pot live - plugged in. My KA mixer went on a lift and resides in a cabinet as well. So, I had almost nothing that stays out on the counter that plugs in, therefore, we went with a combination of angled plugmold under the lightrail of the upper cabinets and then did 1 standard outlet mounted low, close to the countertop so that it would be hidden by the things that will be on the counter and cover it.

Depending on the size of the kitchen, your overall plans, and what you might place behind doors of cabinetry, you may find that mostly plugmold might still work and just have a regular plug or two in strategic places.

Since you've already gone through doing a "GW kitchen" before, you already know most of the basics - I'm betting that you won't need to do nearly the research that you did before, luckily, since it sounds like you've got a pretty full plate. Welcome back to the insanity of renovations!
ineffablespace
9 years ago
My solution is some hidden at the top, and some low and horizontal where they will be hidden by the appliances you keep out, and placed so they fit in with the tile pattern of the backsplash if you use tile.
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ssdarb
9 years ago
My solution was also to put strips all along one run where I didn't want any outlets showing. In some different areas I knew there were 4 things that would be out: laptop, toaster, coffee maker, Sonos speaker. I planned where those items would go, and put outlets low and horizontal in those places.

If you want them to fit the tile pattern, you need to do some math to figure out approximately where the outlet should go and get your electrician to leave some wiggle room for adjustments while tiling. We didn't do that, but I did read here on GW about someone who did and they described in some detail how they pulled it off. Maybe you can find that thread.

The other thing someone mentioned is to faux paint the outlet covers to match your backsplash, but I didn't do that either. Seemed like a clever idea, but I'm too busy, maybe I'll try it one day.