Power strips are everywhere: behind the TV, under the desk, on the kitchen counter. They feel like a harmless way to get more outlets. Electricians see it differently, and there is one room of the house where they are especially adamant: the kitchen.
Why the kitchen is the worst place for a power strip
The kitchen combines the two things a power strip handles worst: high-wattage appliances and water.
Most countertop appliances heat something. A kettle, a toaster, a coffee maker, an air fryer or a microwave typically draws between 1,000 and 1,800 watts, which is close to the limit of a standard household circuit on its own. Plug two of them into the same strip, and the strip, its cord and the wall outlet behind it carry a load they were never designed for. The plastic heats up, contacts loosen over time, and that is how many electrical fires start.
As HomeServe explains, appliances that heat, like coffee makers, toasters, kettles and air fryers, draw a large current almost instantly and can overload a power strip. Refrigerators are another bad candidate: their compressor causes power spikes every time it starts.
Then there is water. A strip lying on a counter sits next to the sink, the kettle and the dish rack. A splash or a spill on an ordinary power strip can cause a short circuit. Kitchen wall outlets near the sink are required to have GFCI protection, which cuts power within a fraction of a second if current leaks. Most power strips offer no such protection.
The kitchen is also where appliances accumulate. A coffee maker in the morning, the toaster, the kettle, the air fryer at dinner: it is tempting to line them all up on one strip at the back of the counter. That is exactly the setup electricians find after kitchen fires, often with crumbs and grease collected around the plugs.
What to do instead
- Plug heating appliances directly into a wall outlet, one per outlet, and avoid running two of them at the same time on the same circuit.
- Unplug small appliances after use, especially the toaster and the kettle.
- Never chain one power strip into another.
- Keep any strip you do use away from the sink, off the counter and out of reach of splashes.
- Short on outlets? Have an electrician add circuits or outlets. It is cheaper than any repair after a fire.
The warning signs
A strip or a plug that feels warm, a burning plastic smell, discoloration around the outlet, flickering lights when an appliance starts or a breaker that trips often: each one means the circuit is overloaded. Stop using that setup right away.
Power strips are fine for low-draw electronics such as lamps, phone chargers, routers and TV boxes, ideally models with a built-in circuit breaker. The problem is not the strip itself, it is what we plug into it and where. Our electrician also lists the appliances that should never go on a power strip, and during storms there is one appliance worth unplugging first.
Heating appliances straight into the wall, strips away from the sink. That’s the trick.
