ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Kitchen Island

<--- VERY glad he thought ahead when designing his kitchen, and not only selected island cabinets and counter compatible with receptacles, but also remembered to lay conduit before pouring the slab.

The more practical problem I see is that if you're unable to install a box due to cabinet design, you're going to have a hard time installing a pop-up, too. You *may* get enough clearance behind the drawers to slip that sucker in, but it's still going to be tight, and you still have to get power up to it, too. Are those pop-ups UL listed to have the cord fed through a small hole in the base of the cabinet to a handy box in the crawl space?

You have to do a little research to know for sure. Of the models I have looked into, some aren't listed at all. Some are listed as relocatble power taps, some are listed as multioutlet assemblies. Each has it's own set of listing instructions and labeling requirements.

There appears to be no consistency.

I do kitchens all of the time. Although I have a good working relationship with the kitchen designers, my stuff comes second.

I can usually satisfy the code by being a bit creative though. On an island with overhangs I will usually do one of two things. If there is no apron beneath the overhang I will install a surface mount box to the underside of the counter and attach it with epoxy. If there is an apron beneath the overhand I will then mount a recpt in that.

If there is no over hang and mounting a recpt in the side of the cabinet is not an option due to decorative panels etc. I will have them delete on of the drawers and fill in the opening where the drawer would go and cut in a recpt there. Have the carpenters then attach the drawer front with hinges mounted so the front will swing down to access the recpt, much like the tilt trays that used to be so common at the sink. I've not had a problem with an inspection yet and my inspectors have found this to be a acceptable solution.

One thing that I refuse to do is to not install the recpt. It is required and it will be installed. I use those two words right out of the book, "shall" and "may". I let them know that there shall be a recpt installed in the island however they may have a few options as to the location.

FRANK

I wonder if it would be acceptable to mount the receptacle to a working cabinet door, and connect it with flexible armored cable?

Solid conductors in AC cable would not survive long in this application. Maybe stranded THHN in Greenfield would hold up but I think I would want finer stranding if this door was opened a lot. In the end I doubt I would let this pass without a "discussion".

If the ahj allows it but I doubt it. If you can demostrate the installation and the components that are used are listed or approved for the application, you can demostrate there is no other reasonable solution, and if you can demostrate that the installation is safe installation then you may have a chance. However, being is a swinging door, cords are subject to damaged or getting yanked on.

Years ago I was helping on a high end house and the Mrs. wanted an outlet in a drawer for her hot rollers. The AHJ allowed it. We cut in a box in the back of the drawer and attached with heavy use SO cord and good quality cord grips. The side rails for the other draws provide a protective cavitity for the slack of the SO cord to ride in. It was a beautiful thing. Although I would not normally recommend such an installation, everyone did their part and pending on the situation, I would allow it today providing it did not pose any un-reasonable risk. BTW, the hot roller holder was warm to the touch on high and it had a built in over-temp protection and the outlet was a GFCI.