Under cabinet mounted receptacles and lights

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ammklq143

Senior Member
Location
Iowa
Occupation
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.
 

ammklq143

Senior Member
Location
Iowa
Occupation
Electrician
IMO, you are trying to reinvent the wheel :) Systems like this seemingly work well
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:
 

Buck Parrish

Senior Member
Location
NC & IN
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:
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
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.
 

augie47

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee
Occupation
State Electrical Inspector (Retired)
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.
 

tom baker

First Chief Moderator
Staff member
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.
 

Lembro6

Member
Location
Frederick, MD
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
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.
How about this? http://www.sillites.com/newconstruction.php
 

Tulsa Electrician

Senior Member
Location
Tulsa
Occupation
Electrician
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.
 

DrSparks

The Everlasting Know-it-all!
Location
Madison, WI, USA
Occupation
Master Electrician and General Contractor
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
 

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
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.

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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.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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