I am adding a tile backsplash to my kitchen, between the counter and the overhead cabinets (about 18" height). There is a poorly located electrical outlet in the line where my backsplash would end. Should I:
The first step is to determine whether you need the receptacle or not (almost certainly "yes") and, if so, where it needs to be.
Generally speaking (there are some exceptions) you need (a) a receptacle at least once every 4 feet and (b) each place on the counter should be within 2 feet of a receptacle. You also don't have to make things comply with current code (but I'll note one really good idea below) but you can't make things worse.
In your case, that likely means:
You really don't want to chop the faceplate. Trivial to do. But (a) possibly not safe (because that may leave an exposed opening to the junction box) and (b) it will look really strange, which goes against the idea of making things look better with a nice backsplash.
Which leaves: Move the receptacle into the backsplash area. How? That depends on what is inside the wall. If there is currently a stud to the left of the receptacle then move the receptacle to the other side of the stud. If there is currently a stud to the right of the receptacle then it is harder to say what the best location is.
There are going to be three key challenges:
Your receptacle may be protected by a GFCI breaker or by another receptacle that has GFCI protection built-in. If so, fine. If not, then this is the time to replace it with a GFCI/receptacle. GFCI protection is extremely important in kitchens and has been required for decades. You probably don't have to add it now if you don't already have it, but it is a very good idea to do so and costs very little for potentially life-saving protection.
You should follow electrical code whether or not you are technically required to do so. Electrical code exists to protect you and your house from stupid stuff happening.
Moving the outlet left is likely to move it too close to whatever your water source is.
Moving it at all is a whole lot of pain: you’d have to replace drywall and repaint, not to mention mess with the electrical in ways that are not fun.
(You should, however, swap that outlet out for a GFCI, though, assuming that there is no protection elsewhere on the line.)
I know that people do this, and often enough it works fine. Just remember, that cover exists to protect you (and kids!) from the wiring behind the cover.
If you do chop the cover, you need to make sure that the backsplash performs the same function. This means that the old cover and the backsplash must join in a way in that, say, knives or pennies or fingers or whatnot cannot be inserted between the chopped cover and the backsplash.
What makes it worse, though, is that doing this makes any future maintenance on that outlet a nightmare, because access to the box is now restricted by installed backspash tile on one side and by drywall and plastic (or metal!) on the other.
People do this all the time. It looks fine. It works great. And it does not make life difficult for future maintenance.
Here is my (very quick, very poor) edited version of what that may look like using a simple metal image from the internet:
It would obviously be much prettier if you used tile. Either way, it looks fine and is infinitely more maintainable and, importantly, no more difficult to install than it would otherwise have been. Win!
How about an offset mud ring. Looks like it should offset the outlet far enough out of the backsplash so you can use a standard plate on it. This will require some patching but it looks like your wall could use some patching. This assumes you have a double gang box in the wall. If it were me and if it wasn't a major project I would move the outlet further into the backsplash for aesthetic reasons.
A potential solution would be to purchase a slim fit outlet cover.
There a several ranges that do outlets that are the same width as the inner part of the outlet show, without the outer part.
Some basic DIY would be required to make good the hole left behind, but one side would be covered by the splashback.
Both. Add a double outlet over the counter for counter things and one at standard wall height for room things eg vacuum.
If you're doing a backsplash the extra cost and effort for this is trivial.
- slice off a half inch of outlet cover plate (least effort)
It will probably look okay-ish once you learn to ignore it.
- relocate the entire outlet into (or out of) the backsplash area (most effort)
Yes, this would be preferential. Make it a double-gang while you're at it.
Let's hope this is the final outlet on the circuit so that you can freely move the wire.
- something else entirely
Stop the backsplash early?
If you think that doing things "right" is time-consuming and expensive then you'll be happy to hear that doing them wrong is twice as expensive because you won't be satisfied with the result and will likely have to do it again.
I would look at moving the outlet from the wall to the side of the kitchen cabinet. If the cables come up from the floor inside a stud wall and local regulations allow it would be easy without needing to change cables.
Moving a socket if the cable needs expending is always hard as the connector needs to go somewhat and always best if such connectors are easy to access in a visible location.
