Get Your Outlet or Switch to Sit Flush with Wall

When your home is built, the outlets and switches are all installed flush with the drywall. But if you add decorative elements to your walls - a tile backsplash in a kitchen or wainscoting in your entry way - you'll find that your electrical box ends up recessed, making it difficult to put the switch plate cover back on.

There are 2 ways to fix a recessed electrical plug - with spacers or a goof ring.

Raise an Outlet with Spacers

Spacers are really easy to use. They come in a strand and can be folded over to reach your desired height (in increments of 1/8"). Simply fold the strand to the thickness you need and cut off the excess.

Buy electrical device spacers here.

Keep in mind you may need a longer screw if you raise your outlet more than 3/8 of an inch.

Raise an Outlet with a Goof Ring

If you need to lift your plug up from your electrical box, but 1/8" increments won't fix your situation, get a goof ring.

Goof rings slide into your electrical box and the tabs rest on your new surface - for instance, a black granite backsplash. Then, your receptacle can be installed over it to sit flush with your wall, tile or wainscoting.

They are also made for 2 devices here.

Whether wall tile, paneling, board & batten, beadboard, granite, corrugated metal or shiplap is creating a problem, you can easily fix it using one of these 2 safe solutions for recessed plugs and light switches.

Fixes for Kitchen Backsplash Switches & Outlets

Sometimes there just isn't room to fit an electrical box vertically on your kitchen backsplash or bathroom tile. A great solution is to simply mount your kitchen outlets and light switches horizontally instead.

I've seen this in many kitchens by the sink where the half-backsplash wall tile or marble leaves little room for electrical devices. Usually it's when there's a ledge that opens up into another room or a split-level island that has a breakfast bar.

In some cases, switches have been mounted sideways but too close together for the cover plates. In that case, you can use plates in which the openings have been shifted to create a short side. Then, you can put the short ends of the plates together like this:

This looks like 2 normal cover plates, but if you look closely, you'll see that where they meet in the middle the screws are closer to the edges of each plate than on the outside edges. Here's what a single plate looks like:

See how the rocker opening and screw holes have been shifted to one side of the plate?

Using these half short wall plates made for kitchen tile or granite backsplashes is an excellent solution when you don't have room for a regular switchplate.

They also come as short duplex outlet covers and as short toggle plates for tight spaces too.

Switch plates with shorter edges are the only solution f you've remodeled your kitchen and run into this problem:

"Oops! My horizontally mounted kitchen switches are too close together for cover plates!"

It's a common problem that we get calls about so often that we've custom created these plates with you in mind. You're welcome!

For more tricky switch plate solutions see our post on Narrow Switch Plates for Tight Spaces.