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One of the things that bothered me about our old kitchen was the amount of stuff that lived out on the countertops. We had so many items plugged in and the cords drove me bonkers. I vowed that in the new kitchen we would find a way to manage our electronics and figure out how to hide anything that needed power. 
We were able to tackle that in a couple of ways. First, all of our outlets are either hidden in cabinets (like our appliance garage) or they’re underneath the kitchen cabinets and not on the back wall. You can see pictures of this over in this blog post about the kitchen electrical plan. 
Second, we decided to add a dedicated charging drawer to our setup so we could still charge our everyday necessities, but everything would be out of sight. Pretty much all of our electronics are being charged in the photo above, yet you wouldn’t even know it!
Choosing an In-Drawer Charging Outlet
We first realized that a charging drawer was an option when we were going through the KraftMaid booklet while shopping for our kitchen cabinets. They have tons of ways to upgrade each and every drawer or cabinet, but of course, these come with big price tags. We were tempted to just go ahead and get the charging drawer through them, but in the end, Finn decided that he wanted to shop around and find one that he could add himself once the kitchen was done. 
Finn ended up buying this in-drawer charging outlet. It’s far less than we were going to pay if we ordered through the cabinet company (but definitely not cheap), plus he was able to choose the exact one he wanted. This one can charge up to eight devices at a time and works with most drawer sizes.
Tips to Add a Charging Drawer
We didn’t take any photos of the installation because we were knee-deep in moving back into the kitchen, but here are our best tips…
- Make sure you have a spot to plug in the outlet. We had our contractors add an outlet into the cabinet beneath the drawer. Our wine fridge also plugs into this.
- The outlet comes with a template and you’ll use that to cut the back of the drawer. We used our jigsaw to make the cut.
- Have your drill handy because you’ll need it to attach the mounting bracket to the back of the cabinet.
- The diagram above shows how it works. It’s plugged into the outlet, the cord goes up through the mounting arm that swings in and out when you open the drawer, and the outlets are then installed in the back of the drawer.
The product we used actually has a pretty good how-to video tutorial that walks you through the installation. You can find it if you click the images in the Amazon listing.
How We Keep Our Electronics Organized
With the outlet installed in the back of the drawer, Finn incorporated a few additional items to really make this an organized spot for our electronics. He added a liner to the bottom of the drawer so all of our items wouldn’t slip and slide around. We actually had this drawer liner leftover from our IKEA closet makeover in our bedroom. This felt really keeps things in place and also looks nice. 
We are big fans of clear storage bins around here and use them all over the house. We used one in this drawer to hold extra items that aren’t being charged (like our portable sound machines for Rory) and the other holds extra cords. 
Finn is really good at keeping cords and electronics organized and he swears by cable ties. We use both velcro ones and these clip ones in our household. These keep cords wrapped nicely so things don’t turn into a tangled mess! 
These are great when items aren’t in use, but they’re also important in a charging drawer to corral the slack on the cords.
What We Charge in Here
There are so many items that we charge in this drawer and it has been the best addition to our life. I’m no longer searching for chargers when our iPad dies or trying to find the correct plug for our sound machines. It’s so nice to have everything organized in this spot. 
We keep extra batteries charged in here (like the one for our video doorbell). Our portable chargers are always juiced up and ready to go. Finn charges his watch, and our iPad stays plugged in here when we’re not using it as a baby monitor. 
All of that hard work is happening inside that drawer and you’d never know it! If you’re looking to hide some of your electronics and have an extra drawer, I highly recommend creating a charging drawer. It has been a game changer and makes our everyday lives a tad easier.
For all of the kitchen sources, head to this blog post.
Casey
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