OK, so we're all recovering from our Thanksgiving feast. Many folks are, as I type, getting ready to hang the Christmas lights, while the kitchen goes into a cookie-baking frenzy.

I'd like your comments. Look around you. How well did the electrical design hold up? Were there receptacles where needed- or were cords strung out all over? Was the outdoor lighting receptacle well placed- or is it in the one place the ladder can't reach?

Let's look at that kitchen layout. How was that island really used? Would you have been better off if you could simply wheel the thing into the dining room?

Were you happy with the lighting? How about the switch locations?

The kitchen layout has been keeping my wife happy since day one. Her only complaint is the TR devices are a pain.

Lighting in kitchen is OK with her also.

Exterior? No problems. planning on some exterior renovations come springtime.

I have a counter plug in the corner. It meets code but it's a long reach to plug something in.

My first journeyman put so many halogen pot lights in his little kitchen that you could cook food simply by placing it on the counter...well, slight exaggeration but not by much. Seriously, it was uncomfortably warm in that kitchen.

Wife? in the kitchen? Not likely here.
I am the cook and the electrician so I have receptacles everywhere I need them.
I also have plenty of places to plug in holiday lights.

I haven't done it yet but I think a great addition would be an X-10 timer and modules for the lights.

Greg:
Not afraid to say, but I don't cook.

Basically there is a receptacle every 2'+/-, some are 2 gang. LED under cab lights were a nice touch.

BTW, I share the opinion of many that the TR devices are a pain when doing inspections.

My Christmas lights (Non-PC) are controlled by a <$10 timer/photocell plug-in big box special.

I put in a regular old "Tripper" style intermatic timer for my holiday lights. Right now it only has a single pole 20 dedicated to it but if my wife decides to go nuts, it is a 2 pole timer so I could put in 20 more. I do have a "repeater", an SSR in a box that is controlled by a low voltage wall wart on a ling cord so I can isolate the load from there on a different circuit but I haven't needed it since I put in the dedicated 20.

Speaking strictly from a 'design' or 'user' viewpoint ...

Counter receptacles? Dining room receptacles? It seems to me that simply spacing them every so often, according to the tape measure, is bad design. For that matter, so is the practice of placing receptacles at the "usual" height, which will place them below any table you might set up.

Lest I use foul language, but here goes: Plugmold? Alas, I'm not aware of any sort of plugmold that includes a GFCI. (There are some that use two circuits )

Timers are nice, but ....

I've had pretty poor luck with the timers that replace the usual light switch. Ironically, my 'no name' box-store brand has lasted far longer than any Intermatic switch I've tried.

The Intermatic DIGITAL 'box' has worked quite well ... but how do you use it in a household setting? It mounts on the surface, and your wires are set inside the walls - so it's either adding pigtails or jury-rigging it into the wall. Nor is the case designed for mounting to the face of a box or mud ring. Moreover, the case is (strictly speaking) not designed for wet locations. The result? I've NEVER seen one installed in a code-compliant manner in (or on) a finished wall.

I once built a custom house, and I paid a great deal of attention to the electrical layout. Naturally, this meant that I got a call-back a few months later about a 'switch that did nothing.' You guessed it; it controlled the receptacles I had put in the eaves for the Christmas lights.

I question the wisdom of "Bubble" covers on any receptacle that faces down ... no matter how 'wet' the location.

Reno:

"I question the wisdom of "Bubble" covers on any receptacle that faces down ... no matter how 'wet' the location."

You forget...a home for the bees, wasps, hornets, etc....!!!

Yes, there are things that I would change, but what my island needs is a breadboard. My wonderful wife requested it and I and my cabinet builder out voted her. I should have listened.