Outlet Covers with Offset Openings for Tight Spaces

Problem: There's not enough room for an outlet cover.

Causes: Board and batten, wainscoting, tile, cabinetry, paneling, granite countertop, backsplash, trim, door jamb, mirror, etc.

Solution: Narrow cover plates for electrical receptacles.

When updating your living space, you may run into this common problem:
outlet cover won't go back on due to lack of space around the electrical box.

Here's a prime example:

This backsplash has a bullnose tile trim, which is blocking the cover from going back on the switch and outlet.

A cover that used to fit just fine, no longer works after this wet bar's renovation.

Narrow switch plates are the perfect solution. Depending on your needs, Kyle Switch Plates carries 2 types of narrow covers:

• "narrow" covers that aren't as wide overall as standard ones
• "half narrow" covers with offset openings (cutouts closer to one side of plate to allow room for obstructions on one edge)

Shop all narrow covers here.

In the tile example shown above, a half narrow switch & outlet cover is all the homeowner needed (same overall plate size, but with offset or shifted openings for the devices).

Here's another example in which there's not enough clearance for an outlet cover. The board and batten accent wall shown below has a batten beam that's partially obstructing one edge of the electrical box.*

The homeowner chose a narrow outlet cover for the single duplex outlet.
But a half narrow duplex plate would have worked also.

*Obstructing an electrical box may be a code violation - be sure to heck your local electrical codes.

Find the right narrow cover plate here.

Need covers with less trim on top or bottom edge instead?

Shop short wall plates to find the solution if materials are blocking the top or bottom edge of your device cover.

Stainless Steel vs Nickel Plates - The Difference

Choosing coordinating granite, tile and paint colors is tricky. In fact, much tricker than I thought when I recently updated my builder-grade kitchen. Costly mistakes were made. *Sigh*

Finding the right updated light switches & cover plates is an unexpected part of most remodel projects. And it's something most homeowners only think of as an afterthought.

Getting a perfect match to your marble, tile, wallpaper or paint isn't likely. But there are lots of finishes to choose from, so with a little bit of effort, you can find switches, outlets and covers that blend with your fresh new color palette.

One of the most popular finishes for kitchens is stainless steel. Many customers want to coordinate with stainless steel fridges, ovens and other kitchen appliances.

We always recommend our residential grade stainless steel faceplates for rooms in which you're trying to match appliances with a satin stainless finish.

Stainless switch & outlet covers are neutral, and don't pull toward any particular color like nickel plates do. Here you can see that nickel switchplates have a yellow tone in comparison to stainless steel:

Note that you can't get actual light switches in stainless, but you can use white, gray, black, red or ivory switches with stainless plates.

A customer emailed us this week to share a picture of her white electrical devices with an oversized stainless steel plate on white mosaic tile:

Pretty fabulous, huh?

Shop stainless steel switch plates in every size and get $6.95 flat-rate shipping. And please send us pictures when you have them installed! 

We'd love to see how our plates have improved your living space.

What To Do When a Switch Plate [Or Outlet Cover] Won't Fit

DIY projects often come with some unforeseen hiccups and surprises along the way.

My husband and I have done a number of projects that involved working around outlets and light switches and even though I know the importance of planning ahead and leaving plenty of space for the covers, even I've run into the predicament of ending up without enough space to fit the cover.

*Sigh*

Good news is, there is a solution and it's so simple!

Our outlet cover mishap was the result of a board and batten project that went under a redesign mid-project.

A more common reason a switch plate cover doesn't fit is when you've added tile to enhance a wall in your home.

Here are 2 examples - 1 was avoidable and the other was not:

In this bathroom remodel project, an inexperienced DIYer brought the height of the tile too high, leaving no room for the cover plate - probably a result of a last minute decision to add the row of tiny brown accent tiles in between the tile & the finishing trim:

In this home bar project, the bullnose edge for the tile backsplash was thick enough that the cover no longer fit:

Kyle Switch Plates makes both short switch plates & narrow switch plates that will still cover your entire electrical box opening, but fit these tricky situations. The difference is that the openings in the plates are shifted to allow extra room on 1 edge of the plate.

For the bathroom tile incident, a 2-rocker half short plate is the perfect fix. The plate is trimmed, or short, on the bottom. It can be rotated upside down to be short on the top as well.

The home bar project was also fixed with a double rocker plate, however, instead of being trimmed on the bottom, this plate is narrow on one side. Adding a half narrow double rocker plate only required the homeowner to swap out their toggle switch for a rocker switch.

An alternative to changing the switch from toggle to rocker would be to convert the left plate opening to a toggle with a toggle converter for rocker switch plates.

If you find yourself in a similar situation leave us a comment! We'd love to hear how our half short or half narrow switch plates saved your DIY project mistake!

Shop short switch plate covers.

Shop narrow cover plates.