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.

Protect Your Walls & Paint with Switch Plate Expanders

Standard switch plates don't cover a large portion of the wall around your switches and electrical devices. Over time, fumbling for the switch either in the dark or while not looking can lead to a lot of fingerprints or paint chips around your cover plates. Especially if you have children.

In high traffic areas of your home, office, school or day care, you can protect your walls with switch plate expanders.

Wall plate expanders are easy-to-install white metal plates that sit between your switch plate and the wall. They can be used with any switch plate - toggle, Decora rocker, outlet and combination. Above, we show a 6" x 6" 2-gang expander plate sitting under a combo rocker outlet cover.

Extra Wall Protection for 1-, 2- and 3-Gang Electrical Boxes

Protective expanders are available for single, double and triple gang electrical boxes. Use with your current plates or buy new white metal plates for an exact color match.

Click the images below to shop Kyle Switch Plates' expanders and find fewer fingerprints and less dirt on the walls around your cover plates.

1-Gang Switchplate Expanders:
6" high by 4" wide - place underneath any single switch plate or outlet cover.

2-Gang Wall Plate Expanders:
6" x 6" square plate fits 2-gang electrical boxes. For use with any 2-gang cover plate.

3-Gang Expanders:
8" wide by 6" tall back plate for triple gang electrical box. Use with any configuration of triple plate.

Guide to Light Dimmers & Dimmer Switch Plates

Dimmer switches are great as they offer a way to control the amount of light in the room as well as save on energy costs. Whether you're looking to add new dimmer switches to your home or you've done some remodeling or redecorating and you want to update your light switches to match, there are a variety of dimmer switch styles to choose from.

Dimmers with or without On/Off Switches

One of the most notable differences between dimmer types is whether they have an on/off switch or not. If the dimmer has an off/off switch, you can leave the dimmer pre-set to a specific level, then just toggle the switch on and off. That's ideal if you don't plan to adjust the dimness of your lighting very often and don't want to fuss with adjust it each time you turn on the lights.

In my own home, I generally have the lights either on full blast or off. For that reason, I have dimmers without off/on switches - I just push the slider all the way up when I enter the room and all the way down when I leave. Then, on the rare occasion I choose to dim the lights, I slide it to the right spot.

Dimmer Styles & Finishes

As you can see, there are a number of types of dimmers. Light dimmers come as rocker, slide, rotary and toggle. Choose the look and style that fits your home, or that fits the type of switch plate opening you are trying to fill.

One thing to note is that not all styles are available in every color or finish.

Here are the other options available for each finish:

White Dimmers:

All dimmer types are available in a white finish.

Black Dimmer Switches:

There are also a good variety of dimmers to choose from in black.

Brown Dimmer Styles:

The only style you won't find in brown is the slide dimmer without the on/off switch.

Gray Dimmers:

If you're looking for gray toggle dimmers, you won't find any. But, you can get a gray rotary dimmer which fits the same opening as a toggle switch, or select a clear toggle dimmer as shown here:

Shop affordable dimmers in all finishes at Kyle Switch Plates.

Coordinating Switch Plates for Dimmers

Dimmer switch plates are easy to find - rocker and slide dimmers fit decora rocker plate openings, and the rotary and toggle dimmers fit toggle plates. These very common plate openings can be found in a variety of combination switch plates here.

How to Replace Rotary Dimmer Knobs & Find Cover Plates

Searching for replacement dimmer knobs?

You may have an old dimmer knob that broke.

Or maybe you're updating the look of your home and the old yellowed knob has to go.

A trip to the hardware store may have revealed that your dimmer has a different stem style than the knobs they carry and so you're having trouble finding a replacement knob.

Kyle Switch Plates carries every dimmer knob style in over 15 colors in our online store.

First, you just need to flip over your old knob or take a look at the stem that's sticking out of your wall and identify your stem type.
You'll either need
-Leviton
-Lutron
-GE / Pass & Seymour (the current GE replacement)



Once you have your stem style narrowed down, you can select a color and easily buy replacement dimmer knobs here.

Did you know that rotary dimmers don't require a special switch plate opening? They fit right into the slot on a toggle switch plate and the knob is large enough to cover the entire opening.


You can shop toggle switch plates for rotary dimmers in 17 finishes or find the perfect combination cover plate at Kyle Switch Plates.

Get Your Outlet to Sit Flush With the Wall in 1 Easy Step

If you've done any remodeling to your home, you've probably run into this common problem:

"My outlet box sits too far back in the wall!"

When you add board and batten, wainscoting (shown above), panelling, a tile or granite backsplash or any other surface to your walls, your electrical box will no longer sit flush with the wall's surface, but will instead be recessed into the wall (where it's always been).

The good news is, there's a quick an easy fix to this problem!

Add what's called a Goof Ring to your electrical box. It's a cheap plastic sleeve that slides into your electric box. It rests between your electrical box and device and the front tabs sit on your outermost surface.

Here's what it looks like installed in a kitchen with a new granite backsplash:

It can adjust the depth of your device up to 1.5" which is plenty for pulling an electrical outlet or switch out to sit flush on your pretty new surface.

These rings are UL listed and are the safest way to bring your outlet out from your electrical box so it sits firmly where you need it.

Have the opposite problem?

Another problem DIYers encounter is when the electrical box & outlet protrude from the wall. This happens after you remove existing paneling or other decorative surfaces from your walls. Then, the electrical box is left sticking out from the drywall or sheetrock.

If that's the case, simply add some deep cover plates.

You know how a normal switch plate has a beveled edge that bends back to meet the wall? Deep switch plates simply have a deeper bevel so the plate can reach even further back to meet your wall without leaving a gap.

So, whichever problem you encounter, there's an easy fix at Kyle Switch Plates.

Get Your Home Prepared for Holiday Guests

Are you hosting your family for Thanksgiving or having a Christmas holiday party with friends? This is the time to get your home guest-ready. Many people love having family and friends over during the holiday season and it's a fun time to show off any renovations or work you've done to your home since last year.

Do you have a tricky switch plate that needs to be replaced but you weren't able to find it at your local hardware store? We get a lot of calls this time of year from people who have waited last minute to fix this problem.

Many times you don't even realize you have an odd switch plate until a trip to the Home Depot. You'd be surprised how many configurations they don't carry. And, the more switches you have in the same plate, the more tricky it can be to find the right match. It gets even trickier if you want a specialty finish like stainless steel or oil rubbed bronze.

Save yourself the stress and order your plates early from Kyle Switch Plates. That way, you won't have to pay a fortune to have it shipped overnight it last second (although that's something we can do if need be!).

Kyle Switch Plates' oil rubbed bronze switch plates are especially popular with the rustic look everyone has going on in their homes these days. Adding quality wall plates to your room is the best way to polish off Restoration Hardware decor in any home.

Shop Kyle Switch Plates for coordinating light switches, outlets, decorative dimmer knobs and beautiful cover plates made in the USA.

Replacement Parts for Old School Low Voltage Light Switches

We've heard a lot of terms used when referring to low voltage lighting systems. But our favorite is when callers describe their outdated light switches as "old school."

Do you have some old school light switches and cover plates in your home? There's a variety of older, outdated systems out there. So, to clear things up, here are the most popular lighting systems used in the United States in the early 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.

Once you identify the system you have, we can direct you to the proper replacement parts.

Despard Style Switches

If your toggle style light switches go sideways and are stacked 3 high in a single switch plate, or if you have low voltage trigger switches by Sierra, then you have Despard switches. You might even have some Despard style outlets as well.

These switches and electrical outlets are all sold separately and sit in metal straps or brackets. They may say "Sierra" or "Leviton" on them.

Shop Replacent Despard Switches & Outlets

Shop Despard Cover Plates

Shop Relays for Despard Lighting System

GE Low Voltage Lighting

If your home has low voltage lighting, you might have these old fashioned GE light switches, which were discontinued years ago.

The good news is, GE does manufacture replacement switches, cover plates, relays and other parts.

You can learn more here: GE Low Voltage Replacement Parts Guide

Shop GE Low Voltage Parts



Bryant Light Switches

If your old style switch was made by Bryant, you will replace old parts with new GE low voltage lighting here.











Remcon Lighting Parts

Remcon was commonly installed during the 1950's and 1960's in U.S. homes. Most everything from this system has been discontinued and you won't find original replacement parts for a Remcon system, with the exception of new Remcon relays sold here.

If you need new Remcon brand light switches or cover plates, you can swap out your old switches with the newer up-to-date Touch Plate system.

Note that with Touch Plate, you'll have 2 buttons ("on" and "off") that replace each of your old Remcon switches. To replace an old plate with 3 Remcon switches, you will need a Touch Plate unit with 6 buttons - "on" and "off" for each old switch.

Shop Remcon Replacement Parts

Pyramid

Pyramid parts were discontinued in the 80's, and the replacements for Pyramid parts are Remcon relays and Touch-Plate light switches.

New Pyramid cover plates like the one shown cannot be purchased. If you need a new plate you will have to replace the switches as well (with Touch Plate).

Shop New Parts for Pyramid Lighting Systems

More Information On Low Volt Lighting:

For more info about old style light switches and currently manufactured replacement parts, see Kyle Switch Plate's Comprehensive Low Voltage Lighting Guide.