Outlet / Switch / Wall Plate Sizes Explained
Many folks don’t know that receptacle (aka outlet) and switch plate covers come in three standard sizes. Home Depot, Lowes, and other improvement stores usually offer all three. They are: standard, mid-size (or mid-way), and jumbo.
Most decorative plates will either be standard size, or somewhere between standard and mid-size, while nylon (plastic) plates will generally be available in all sizes.
Which wall plate size is right for you depends on two things:
(1) Most important: how big of a hole you’re trying to cover. Good drywallers won’t leave much gap between the outer edge of electrical boxes and the surrounding wall board. If you’re lucky, the drywall surrounding the box will not only be cut close, it will be undamaged. If this is the case, a standard plate will work just fine. If you’re the victim of a less-than-optimal drywall job, you’ll have to use the mid-grade or jumbo variety. (If the job is really terrible, and a jumbo plate won’t do the job, you’ll need to do a drywall repair).
(2) Personal taste. Some folks, including me, actually like the look of bigger receptacle plates. If you’ve the luxury of choosing which size plates to install, pick the one you like best. I personally like the look of mid-grade white nylon plates with matching white receptacles, especially against darker paint colors (as found in my dining room). I find the standard plates just look too small, and jumbo plates look juvenile, for whatever reason.
Sassy switches offers a dimensional table at the bottom of their site which can save you that trip to the local big box to buy test plates for your job. Of course, there’s no substitute for seeing what you’ll end up with. Sassy also offers a variety of designer switch plates for those of you who need your switch plate covers to make a statement.
What do you think? Do you have a plate size preference? Is it just me, or do the jumbo plates look silly?
March 17th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I think it depends on the scale of the house, room, and the rest of the trim/molding.
In our tiny bathroom with tiny 1980’s trim, the jumbo cover is ridiculously large.
We have the standard sized covers in the rest of the house… they seem to match the scale of our house much better.
I could see in a house with a very open floorplan/vaulted ceiling/huge moulding that you might want the bigger plates?
March 18th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Yo, bigger isn’t better when it comes to plates. I think the large ones look gaudy and draw attention.
On a personal note, as we renovate rooms at Chateau McD, we’ve been replacing all the plates and switches. The OLD plates were all different types (some wood, some ceramic, some ornamental!) with a common white plate. And I’m in love with the switches with built in LEDs. In the OFF position, the LED glows very faintly. During the day it isn’t noticeable, but at night they are fantastic. Just an FYI.
-Jon
March 18th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Jennifer: I’d have to see the bigger plates in action to tell. I think the problem is primarily one of scale between the receptacle/switch itself and the plate (rather than the plate and the room) that makes it seems funny to me. But, I suppose that in certain circumstances, they might look good.
Jon: I tend to agree with you about the bigger plates… and the LED lights sound intriguing (and rich!) I may end up putting them in the basement when we finish it. Have you found a good price online? When I looked in Depot, I think they were pretty expensive.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:13 pm
We learned about the different-sized plates after volunteers replaced our Katrina-destroyed sheetrock. The cut-outs for the outlets, etc. were less than optimal and we were told to buy the ‘jumbo’ plates to cover the gaps. However - when we got them home and started putting them up… It was all wrong. The jumbo plates are so out of proportion to the receptacles that they give the appearance of a movie prop - you know like the giant telephone prop used for dramatic phone-ringing-in-the-foreground scenes?
We then opted to repair the biggest gaps and size the plates down to ‘midsize’ - and I totally agree with you… I actually prefer the midsize plates to the standard size plates. Therefore - even as we move upstairs with repair and remodelling projects where sheetrock gaps are not an issue - we’re replacing old plates with new midsize ones!
April 1st, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Anita,
Thanks for stopping by. Yep, yours and my take are the same. The Jumbo plates just look silly. I’m glad there’s another like myself out there