New kitchen cabinets covered an electrical outlet
Contractors often install cabinets directly over existing wall boxes, leaving live wiring trapped in an inaccessible space behind wood. Homeowners are left trying to figure out whether to use a box extender safely or legally relocate the outlet to meet building codes.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Using box extenders or adapter rings to bring the outlet flush with the inside of the cabinetDid this help you?
- 2Cutting into the cabinet backing and wall to relocate or extend the wiringDid this help you?
- 3Attempting to pull down glued cabinets to redo the wall box properlyDid this help you?
- 4Installing a surface mount gang boxDid this help you?
- 5Asking a contractor beforehandDid this help you?
- 6Adding GFCI protection instead of moving the outletDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“We had kitchen cabinets installed (through a local contractor, cabinets sourced through a Big Box store) and just found out that the cabinet where our microwave was supposed to go was installed directly over an existing electrical outlet box on the wall.”source ↗
“We're trying to figure out our options for actually fixing this correctly.”source ↗
“The handyman I had over today made it seem like even if we went with the box extender option, it would still be a hazard to leave that open behind the other cabinet.”source ↗
“I need to move the electrical box to be center with the sink what is the absolute best way to do this?”source ↗
“I feel a bit lost on how to navigate this with the ship lap.”source ↗
“We were really stupid when doing this and I didn’t even think about the light fixture until after the vanity was put in.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How to remove old flooring stuck under kitchen cabinets
- 2How to hide a surface-mounted electrical panel
- 3How to fix cabinets pulling away from the wall
- 2No room for new wires in switch box
- 16How to replace two-prong outlets with three-prong without rewiring
- 2How to convert an electrical box into an outdoor outlet