Under cabinet mounted receptacles and lights

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ammklq143

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Location
Iowa
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Electrician
I have a customer than wants her kitchen counter receptacles installed on the underside of her cabinets instead of the wall. She showed me a picture that had them mounted using a Wiremold box and raceway but I think I can get her cabinet builder to build them with a lower wood panel on the bottom of the cabinet and a gap with another wood panel that would be inside the cabinet for the dishes, etc. to sit on and I could run the cables inside the gap and cut in self contained receptacles. I'm looking for a self contained tamper resistant receptacle. I think they use them (or used to) in modular homes. Does anyone use these that can give me a part number? I can find them online but none of them have said they're tamper resistant.

Also, she wants under cabinet lights. I'd like to find some small recessed lights that I could cut in. Any suggestions?

Thank you.
 
augie47 said:
IMO, you are trying to reinvent the wheel :) Systems like this seemingly work well

Under-Cabinet Lighting & Power | Wiring Devices | Legrand

The secret recipe for a clean, organized kitchen: space. Make the most of yours, by bringing lights, power and more, up off the counters with under-cab solutions.
www.legrand.us www.legrand.us
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link. I'll show this to her but I've offered some other similar alternatives to her and she's pretty determined that she's going to have them installed on the cabinet bottom facing down. I think that would get pretty tiring having to bend over and look up every time you plug something in but she doesn't seem to care. :rolleyes:
 
I had a customer like that. She didn't want any outlets. She brought a pic of a beautiful kitchen. It was out of one of those home and garden magazines. Sure enough the kitchen had no outlets. Not visible any how. She said she did not cook.:cry:
 
I have done this many times. I use standard Wiremold boxes, each the shallowest that the device will fit into.

For lighting, I use LED ribbons, typically about 2" back from the cabinet front for the most even lighting.
 
I might add a word of caution from an inspection standpoint. Be sure to check the volume on your boxes if you use Wiremold. Some of the shallower boxes will not provide the required volume.
 
You could put wire mold on the lip on the bottom of the top cabinets. The max height of recps was changed from 18 to 20 inches many cycles ago to allow for that.
I installed plug
mold w/ gfci in a kitchen and I could not end feed and run # 12 past the gfci.
Splicing in plugmold requires patience.
 
ammklq143 said:
I have a customer than wants her kitchen counter receptacles installed on the underside of her cabinets instead of the wall. She showed me a picture that had them mounted using a Wiremold box and raceway but I think I can get her cabinet builder to build them with a lower wood panel on the bottom of the cabinet and a gap with another wood panel that would be inside the cabinet for the dishes, etc. to sit on and I could run the cables inside the gap and cut in self contained receptacles. I'm looking for a self contained tamper resistant receptacle. I think they use them (or used to) in modular homes. Does anyone use these that can give me a part number? I can find them online but none of them have said they're tamper resistant.

Also, she wants under cabinet lights. I'd like to find some small recessed lights that I could cut in. Any suggestions?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
How about this? http://www.sillites.com/newconstruction.php
 
I have done this using a tamper wire mold strip. I use GFCI breakers. I mount the wire mold and entrance end fitting on a 45 degree. Then the tile guy tiles right up to it. Than use led tape light and have trim carpenter put a trim piece around base of cabinet.
 
I've been installing LED tape under cabinets lately. Lights up the counter more consistently and way more cost effective. I install an outlet above the uppers and rub the low voltage wire behind one of the cabinets.

Sent from my BE2028 using Tapatalk
 
I use the Legrand adorne system.

I did have a customer recently that wanted wiremold and puck lights. The cabinet builder made a 1” inset at the back of the cabinet for the wiremold channel, and a removable cabinet bottom for the puck lights. If I were to do that sort of setup again, I’d use the Hubbell wiremold. It has a square profile and I think would look much better than Wiremold brand.

I still think the Legrand adorne is nicer. It comes in white now also, and they have linear LED lighting that can be installed the full length of the cabinet.

9363ad0c407c7ea982250309b5219ebd.jpg

308736ef5014a7babadb5a935ec304c7.jpg


If you go with the Legrand setup, know that the lighting and power rail for the USB charging outlets share a neutral that is separate from the receptacle neutral. I pull a 12/2 for receps and 14/3 for lighting/USB.

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