[Turnip]

Appliances are ordered, plan is "almost" final, and waiting for contractor to come back from vacation to get all paperwork finalized.

One of the things I wanted to do was create a charging station in the kitchen to keep my cell phone, ipod, maybe digital camera etc.

I'm not sure i quite understand how this works. I've seen devices you can buy that let you organize them (this was in Domino mag this month).

I guess my questions are these:

1. Where would I put it in this layout?

Help creating a charging station 

2. How do I do this in a "green", eco-friendly way? Meaning..... there's been a lot of press lately that leaving your phone plugged in etc after it's fully charged wastes electricity.

So how do I make a "green" charging station?

Or is that an oxymoron??

[kisaacs]

My first thought was to put an outlet behind the cabinet to the left of the oven. Then, run a power strip from the outlet into one of those shallow drawers and use the IKEA drawer organizers to create little cubbies for each of your electronic devices.

As for doing it "greenly", I don't think you'll get it to turn off the power automatically when things are charged, so in that respect, it might be better to have them out where you can see them.

Or, maybe if you have a schedule you'll be charging them on (plug them in when you get home at 7pm for example) and you know they take 4 hours to charge, you could put a timer on the plug that you plug the power strip into. But then the timer might take power - I'm not sure about that.

Kristen

[DesignDiva]

I don't know that you've got the counterspace to spare (especially so close to the sink) for an on-counter unit. You could put one in the tall pantry, if you can install an outlet in there, or in a drawer but that's a little trickier with the cord and all.

The unit that you saw in Domino (love that magazine, btw!) basically has a power strip that you plug all your adapters into, and then you stick the little plugin end up through the box. With adapters usually being bricklike, I would prefer to use something like the Squid as the power strip so you didn't have to worry about covering outlets. You could easily create a nice little box to cover and house everything.



Here's a link to something similar using IKEA components

One of those DVD racks with the sliding doors would make a cool charging station...you could put the strip behind the door and drill holes through the top for your components.

Maybe a FIRA box?

[murphaph]

IKEA sells an actual charge station. It's a black felt like thing. I saw it in the store.

[Turnip]

BTW, the "tall pantry" all the way to the left is actually (hopefully) going to be my Liebherr integrated refrigerator.

Eva, per your suggestion I eliminated the tall pantry in favor of more counter space!

Reading the link you had above, it seems like having a mechanical timer between the power strip and the outlet is the way to not keep the charger from constantly absorbing power.

I wish they made a solution that had switches built in. I wonder if you turn off the "power" on the power strip, does that mean the chargers are no longer sucking electricity? So is that the green solution?

BTW the more i read the info no the product i linked to above from domino, that Charging Station doesn't even come with the power strip.... you're just buying the box it seems.

So i'm still not sure where'll I'll put this maybe on the counter next to the fridge?

I think I"ll need both shallow drawers on my 36" base for silverware and "junk".

[DulcineaK]

yes, to answer your question, the "green" solution is to switch the power strip off.

a charging station is such a good idea. i plan on doing this for power tools in the garage

[zeuss]

I wonder if the kitchen is the best place for a charging station. You need that space for so many other things, couldn't it go elsewhere?

[DulcineaK]

i know for me i'd love to put it in another place, but unfortunately i can't be counted on to charge my phone if it's anywhere else... when i plugged my charger into the kitchen i actually used it!

[zeuss]

I have it all by my computer because that is where I remember everything. For Christmas I got a I-touch from my hubby and Bluetooth from my SIL & her hubby. So along with the camera batteries, the video camera, and the cell phone plus the kids Nintendo DS and DVD player, there is a lot of charging to do around here. No room in the kitchen for all that.

[MiamiBeach]

There are lots of charging station posts over at Apartment Therapy.

Here are some of them:
Apartment Therapy Unplugged | Inspiration: Customized Charging Station
Apartment Therapy San Francisco | Charging Stations
Apartment Therapy Unplugged | Top Ten: DIY Charging Stations
Apartment Therapy Unplugged | Powerstation Cable Organizer
Apartment Therapy Unplugged | Kangaroom Charging Station