Switch Board Design Ideas, Room by Room

Switch board design: start with what the board controls

Good switch board design is decided by three things, in order: what the board has to control, where and at what height it sits, and only then how it looks, because the lights, fans and sockets give you the modules, the modules give you the plate size, and the plate size limits the designs.

Most disappointing boards fail at the first step, not the last. A beautiful glass-style plate cannot fix a board that is missing a 2 way switch at the bed or a 16A socket where the iron is used, and a board fixed behind the door stays there once the wall is plastered.

This guide is about layout and height, room by room. For colour, our switch board colours for every room guide covers each room’s palette; for rockers and statement switches, see designer switches for home. We make modular switches, sockets and plates at our works in Mumbai under KEMPS and VIZA, in 13 plate designs from 1M to 18M. The ideas below use our own range, but the planning applies to any modular board.

Switch board design photos: 12 real boards

These are twelve switch boards from our own range, photographed as made, not rendered. Each shows the plate with real modules in it, so you can see how a finish looks with switches and sockets rather than as an empty frame. Tap a photo for that design’s plate sizes and every colour it comes in.

texture glass-style acrylic metallic gloss

Switch board designs from the KEMPS and VIZA ranges

Our product photographs. The pill is the finish family; glass-style plates are not real glass. The room is a suggestion, not a rule.

How to size the plate for each board

To size the plate, count modules: a switch is 1M, a 16A socket is usually 2M, a 6A 2 pin socket can be 1M, and a fan regulator is 1M or 2M. Add them up and pick the next plate size: 1M, 2M, 3M, 4M, 6M, 8M, 12M, 16M or 18M. Leave a spare module only if you know what will go there.

count first The plate size calculator does the counting, and our modular plate sizes guide shows each size. If one board would need more than 12M, consider two smaller boards grouped by what they control; they are easier to use in the dark.

What height should a switch board be in each room?

In Indian homes, switch boards by the door are commonly fixed about 4 feet (around 1.2 m) above the finished floor, bedside boards about 2 to 2.5 feet, low sockets for the TV about 1 foot, geyser points about 6 feet and AC points about 7 feet, with kitchen sockets just above the backsplash.

door board about 4 ft bedside 2–2.5 ft about 1.2 m AC and geyser high These are the same heights as in our house electrical layout plan. They are a starting point: who uses the board matters, so a home with children or an elderly parent may want door boards lower. Measure from the finished floor, not the bare slab, because tiles and screed add height.

Heights for the TV unit, kitchen counter, fridge and washing machine, in mm and in feet and inches, are in our switch board height from floor guide.

Bedroom switch board design

A bedroom usually needs two boards. At the door: switches for the main light, fan and any wall light, a fan regulator if the fan has no remote, and one socket, which typically fits a 6M plate at about 4 feet. At the bed: a small 2M–4M board with a 2 way switch for the main light and a socket for a phone charger or lamp, just above mattress height.

The 2 way switch is the detail people regret missing: without it, you walk to the door in the dark. It needs a matching 2 way switch at the door board, wired before the walls are closed. Our 1 way vs 2 way switch guide explains how the pair works, and a USB socket at the bed saves an adapter.

Put the bedside board on the side of the bed where the headboard ends, not behind it; a headboard wider than planned is the commonest reason a bedside board disappears.

Bedroom door board layout, 6M

A suggested order, drawn to module width. A regulator is 1M here; some are 2M, which makes this a 7M board on an 8M plate.

Bedside board layout, 4M

The 2 way switch here pairs with the one at the door. The USB charger needs a neutral at the board.

Kitchen switch board design

Kitchen boards are about sockets. Put 16A sockets above the counter for the mixer, microwave and kettle, a separate socket for the refrigerator, and a switch for the chimney near it. Heavy appliances such as an oven or induction hob should have their own circuit, which your electrician sizes.

Counter boards usually sit just above the backsplash, so the plate clears the tiles and the plug clears the counter. Choose a finish that wipes clean: a smooth white or glossy plate handles oil and turmeric better than a deep texture. Keep boards away from the sink and the hob, and never above the gas.

A long counter is better served by two 6M boards at the two working areas than one 12M board in the middle, because appliance cords are short. Count the appliances you use at once, not the ones you own.

Kitchen counter board layout, 6M

Each 16A socket has its own switch beside it. An oven or induction hob still needs its own circuit; this board is for countertop appliances.

Living room switch board design

The living room board is usually the largest in the house, and the most visible. It often controls the main lights, cove or accent lights, one or two fans and the entrance light, so 8M to 12M is common. The TV wall needs its own board, with low sockets at about 1 foot or at the height of the TV unit.

This is the board where a premium finish is worth it: a VIZA Glasso glass-style plate, a VIZA Cristal acrylic plate in a colour, or a KEMPS Peony glass-style plate. None of them is real glass; our glass modular plates guide explains the difference and prices each size.

If the board is long, consider splitting it into two smaller boards, one per group of lights, so it is easier to use. Put the switches in the order of the lights across the room, left to right, so the board reads like a map, and keep the entrance light switch nearest the door.

Our Glasso, Cristal and Peony range pages show each finish in every size.

Living room board layout, 12M

Two rows of six. Lights first, each fan beside its own regulator, and a blank module kept for a light added later.

Bathroom, balcony and passage boards

A bathroom board usually sits outside the door: the light, the exhaust fan and a DP switch for the geyser, which typically fits a 3M–4M plate. The geyser point itself sits high, about 6 feet, near the heater. A socket inside the bathroom, if you want one for a hair dryer, belongs well away from the shower.

A balcony light is best switched from inside the door. A passage longer than a few steps needs a 2 way switch at each end. Both are easy to forget, and both mean a new wire in the wall if you add them later.

AC points sit high, about 7 feet, near the indoor unit, usually on a DP switch on a small 2M plate. Size the circuit with which MCB for an AC.

Bathroom board layout, outside the door, 4M

The DP switch breaks both phase and neutral to the geyser. The geyser point itself sits about 6 ft high inside, near the heater.

Modular switch board design: laying out the modules

A modular switch board design lays the modules out so the board can be used without looking: switches in the order of the lights they control, the fan switch next to its regulator, the 2 way switch where the hand expects it, and sockets grouped at one end so plugs and cords stay clear of the switches.

lights in room order fan beside regulator sockets at one end indicator for geyser or pump blank module for later. An indicator switch shows when a geyser or pump is on; a blank plate fills a module you are keeping for later.

Two-row plates change the shape: a 12M plate is 225 mm wide and 160 mm tall, and an 18M is 225 mm wide and 230 mm tall. Check the width next to a door frame or wardrobe before you pick 8M horizontal over square.

Where to place a switch board

Place the door board on the latch side of the door, the side your hand reaches as the door opens, never behind it, clear of where the wardrobe, bed or sofa will stand, and at the same height as the other boards in the room, so that it can be found in the dark without searching.

latch side behind the door clear of furniture same height clear of the door frame. Leave a small gap between the plate and the door architrave so the plate sits flat on plaster, not half on wood.

Heights vary by home and by who uses them, so agree them with your electrician or interior designer before the boxes go in. Once the concealed box is plastered in, the position and height are fixed; only the plate can change later.

Modular plate design: which design for which room?

Choose the modular plate design by how the room is used: a compact, easy-clean design such as VIZA Decore or Cherry for kitchens and utility areas, a warmer V-Wood or Orchid texture for bedrooms, and a glass-style Glasso or Peony, or a Cristal acrylic, for the living room where the board is seen most.

We make 13 plate designs: nine in VIZA and four in KEMPS. They differ in face size as well as finish: a Decore 1M plate is 87 mm tall, most designs are 95 mm, and V-Wood is the largest face at 116 mm. A bigger face can cover an old, wider box; a smaller one sits quietly on a busy wall.

spend where seen Our designer switches guide walks through all 13 designs, and the modular switch board price guide prices whole boards.

Modular plate colour: one finish per room

For modular plate colour, keep one finish per room and choose it from five finish families — white or gloss, metallic, texture (wood and stone), glass-style and acrylic — so that every board in the room matches, and spend on the rooms guests see rather than the ones you use most.

white / gloss metallic texture glass-style acrylic. Across our 13 designs there are 48 colourways. Which colour suits which room — pearl white in the living room, wood texture in the bedroom, stone in the kitchen — is the subject of our switch board colour guide, so we do not repeat it here.

One layout rule does belong here: a dark plate at a child’s height shows every mark, and a deep texture beside the hob holds grease. Pick the finish for the board’s position as well as the wall colour. Plate finishes compared covers cleaning each one.

Matching switches, plates and the rest of the house

Our plates fit all major modular switch systems, so you can mix finishes room by room — a white plate in the kitchen and a glass-style one in the living room — with the same switches behind both, and change a plate later without touching the wiring.

same switches, different plates change plates later KEMPS VIZA. For a matching look, VIZA plates such as Royal and Cherry come in black as well as white, which suits dark walls and wood panelling; our VIZA Black switches match them.

Browse KEMPS and VIZA switches, the Royal and V-Wood plates, or a single module such as the KEMPS Orchid K142 2 way switch.

Plan every board before the walls are closed

The cheapest time to get switch boards right is before plastering. Walk every room with the electrician, stand where you will stand, and decide each board’s position, height, size and modules. Mark the 2 way switches in pairs, and note which sockets carry heavy loads.

After plastering, moving a board or adding a wire means breaking the wall. The plate design, by contrast, can change any time: with modular boards you can swap a white plate for glass-style years later without touching the wiring. check box level before plaster, because a crooked box cannot be straightened by the plate.

board position height modules plate size finish Two modules deserve their own reading before you finalise a board: fan regulator types and the USB socket for a switch board.