undercabinet power strips and gfci at kitchen

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cyado1607

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i have a customer who wants to have undercabinet power strips instead of having wall receptacles......will these meet the code requirement if they are gfci protected and at the right spacing locations? Has anyone ever seen these?
 
In fact I belief that was why 210.52(C)5 was changed from 18" to 20". Cabinets are generally 18" above the counter and these strips were put in the bottom lip of the cabinet making just more than 18".
 
i have put these in before. they are ok but i believe they have to be at least 20 inches from the counter if im not mistaken. check the code for the specific height though.
 
scottytoohottie said:
i have put these in before. they are ok but i believe they have to be at least 20 inches from the counter if im not mistaken. check the code for the specific height though.
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If they're more than 20" above the counter top that will not qualify as the required counter top receptacles. 210.52(C)(5).
 
The change in cabinet height over the countertops was instituted due to the european kitchens being installed, they typically have 20 inch heights from countertop, american cabinets were typically 18 inches.

The is no minimum height requirement over countertops, just maximum, which is guess....20 inches. ;)


The wiremold issue with the tamperproof receptacles is interesting. I believe the CMP was unrealistic in making the requirement so strict, I wonder if this will be addressed for the 2011 cycle.
 
John25 said:
Under what year code are you? If '08 do they make tamper resistant plug mold?
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I like to use an angled plugstrip in the custom homes we do. They are a lot more $ than the wiremold product but looks mean alot to people having a custom home built. The ones that I use can be seen @ www.tasklighting.com. A quick call to the factory this morning and I found out that the tamper resistant version of the product is in for UL testing now and projected to be released sometime in Feb. 2010.
 
Make sure you add plenty of extra time for the installation of plugmold. The sizing, cutting and wiring of plugmold is quite tedious, and you'll also be installing it on the bottom of cabinets which is quite an awkward working position.
 
undercabinet power strips and gfci at kitchen

It literally depresses me to bring up this most oft neglected part of proposed situation--Why?-because very often in hi end installs for kitch these days this is the route taken to avoid those gfi recpts spoiling the designers tiling.
The plug mold/multi outlet system that you install must ,per code ,be rated 20A just as the recpts-GFI or otherwise installled in the kitch would be.
Fact of life is that if you place an order at the supply house for the material specified above without saying it must be rated 20A ...,well.,you will get something that looks the same but is rated at 15A--if you are not aware of this ,than you have only yourself to blame for the aggravation that you will swimm in when an insp. who knows his stuff brings it up and makes you replace it---or worse yet ,when it becomes apparent during a fire investigation ,which even though may have been brought on by the h/owner leaving their coffe maker and old toaster oven on for 2 weeks while they were on vacation,ultimately can be pawned off on you,because you put in the plugmold shipped to you which was 15A rated--not suitable for use in a kitch on the required 20A appliance ckt---
 
mthead said:
The plug mold/multi outlet system that you install must ,per code ,be rated 20A just as the recpts-GFI or otherwise installled in the kitch would be.
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The NEC does not require 20 amp receptacles in either the bath or kitchen, all that is required are 20 amp circuits and 20 amp circuits can supply 15 amp receptacles.
 
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