John Meade
Owner, Coastal Creations Kitchen & Bath
Vineyard Haven, Mass.
I heard about Docking Drawer last year from a contractor customer who wanted it in his kitchen. It’s an outlet that can be recessed into the back of a cabinet drawer, turning the drawer into a charging station. I immediately liked it because it lets me offer customers a solution to the growing problem of cord clutter.
The product requires the contractor to cut a hole in the back of the drawer for the outlet. It must then be plugged into another outlet somewhere inside the cabinet, but since the typical kitchen already has so many outlets, adding one usually isn’t a big deal. The standard model includes two USB slots and two standard DC plugs, but the company also sells other configurations.
The original product’s one downside was that it was thick enough that the drawer needed to be shorter than a standard one. If the cabinets came with 18-inch drawers, I’d need to special order one 15 inches deep. But this June the company came out with a low-profile series it calls the Blade, which works with standard-depth drawers.
Although the outlet has a circuit breaker to keep homeowners from plugging in high-wattage devices, the company also makes a high-wattage Charging Drawer outlet for bathroom vanities that includes a breaker that shuts it off if the surrounding temperature gets too hot—for instance, if someone forgets to unplug a curling iron, then closes the drawer—and it requires a hardwired electrical connection.
Costs range from $239 to $399, but it’s well worth it. Organization accessories are popular with clients and, of course, this one also frees up counter space.