Switch Plates for Tile Backsplashes {with trimmed edge}

Updating your home is a fun way to personalize your living space. Adding a tile backsplash to a wet bar, installing board and batten to your walls, or upgrading your kitchen with marble counter tops are all popular ways to make your living space your own.

One issue that DIY homeowners often run into when doing projects like these, however, is that the newly installed tile or wainscot materials can leave little space for your light switch or outlet cover.

When Your Switch Plate Won't Fit

Here, an existing light switch and outlet were tiled around after granite was added to a wet bar countertop:

We've outline the area that the cover plate takes up around these electrical devices. As you can see, the trim around the tile eats into the space where the outlet cover needs to rest.

Note: There is some wiggle room with switches and outlets. Loosen the screws mounting the device into the electrical box and push as far as you can in the direction you need the devices to shift. Sometimes, that's all it takes to get a cover plate to fit into a tight spot.

In the situation shown here, shifting the devices as far to the right as possible wasn't enough.

But a 2nd solution is very simple - a cover plate with all of the openings shifted in one direction.

The {trimmed} left edge of this narrow plate allows it to fit:

Narrow Switch Plates Fit Tricky Tight Spaces

In some cases, you'll need a cover plate that has a single edge that is "trimmed" or narrower than a standard plate (as shown above). Other times, you may need an outlet cover that is narrow all around.

Find a variety of hard to find narrow cover plates at Kyle Switch Plates - where we specialize in switch plate solutions for DIY homeowners.

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.