Hiding outlets on kitchen islands

13 years ago

Wanted to ask the community for some creative ideas to hide electrical outlets on the side of kitchen islands, as required by NYC code. I planned on doing a marble "waterfall" (aka, marble down the side of the island), so this is going to be pretty unsightly I think. I saw on The Old House that they built a little cover out of wood so it blended in - but am curious what others have done to camouflage outlets? Thanks in advance.

Featured Answer

camphappy

13 years ago

We hid both of ours since there was just no good place to put them.
One is behind a flip drawer above our recycle pullout as in the photo.

The other is inside a cabinet. We only use the cabinet one to charge our laptops. Our laptop cord is thin enough it slips right through the top of the cabinet door without getting pinched.

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Comments (8)

jakuvall
13 years ago
Can also put them on the front of the island to meet code. Often design in fillers with overlays for that purpose- have to watch the outlet cover size, some are more than 3".
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labbie
13 years ago
We used plugmolds, like some folks do under cabinets to avoid having outlets in the backsplash. Our cabinetmaker was able to recess them a bit. On our island they are hidden by the countertop overhang.
Here's a photo of the one on the end, prior to the counters going in. Granted this end has the corbels/larger overhang, but even on the other end of the island, the strip isn't visible unless you bend down and look up.
(the box with outlets you see inside the island is for the beverage fridge)
oldbat2be
13 years ago
The marble waterfall sounds lovely! You can decouppage outlets like this (we've since replaced the white outlets with brown):

I've seen outlets incorporated beautifully into island legs.

Or we did this to match our island color (not done yet), think of the same thing with a marble custom cover and a white outlet:

A search on island outlets might help:
Copy this into google:

site:ths.gardenweb.com island outlets

Best of luck and looking forward to seeing your pictures!
2LittleFishies
13 years ago
These may have some info:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0513024512288.html?11

This one is about switchplate covers but maybe will help with finding one that blends:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0621451717854.html?4
kaysd
13 years ago
Oldbat2b, who made the flush wood outlet plate for your island? I've seen wood plates before, but not flush like that.
oldbat2be
13 years ago
DH did (and will be pleased to hear someone noticed!).

I think he had to build a jig to make them. I really wanted flush, hated the wood plates with which we started. Good luck!
jerzeegirl
13 years ago
You need to check with the electrical inspector because you may not be allowed to 'hide' the outlet. Here where I am the outlet is supposed to be at the end of the peninsula and not under the overhang (we almost failed our inspection because the outlet was under the overhang but luckily our overhang was 8" instead of 12" so he passed it)