A wall plate may seem like a simple electrical product—until you need one that is a little different.
Maybe you need an oversized wall plate to cover an imperfect drywall opening. Maybe you have six switches grouped together. Maybe you need a combination of toggle switches, rocker switches, outlets and blanks. Or perhaps you simply want a more durable or better-looking wall plate than standard plastic.
That is where Made in USA metal wall plates really stand out.
Metal wall plates are available in an enormous range of sizes, configurations and finishes, from inexpensive everyday 1-gang white plates to oversized, multi-gang and specialty configurations that are manufactured in much smaller quantities.
At Wallplate.store, our metal wall plates are made in the USA and include painted steel, stainless steel and numerous specialty metal finishes.
Metal Wall Plates Can Be Surprisingly Economical
One of the biggest misconceptions about metal wall plates is that they are automatically an expensive upgrade over plastic.
For many common configurations, that simply isn't the case.
Standard white painted metal wall plates can be priced very competitively with plastic wall plates. In some configurations, the difference is surprisingly small.
For that modest difference, metal provides several important advantages.
A metal wall plate is rigid and durable. It is less likely to crack around a mounting screw, and it does not flex the way a thin plastic plate can. This becomes especially noticeable with larger multi-gang wall plates, where rigidity helps keep a long plate sitting straight and clean against the wall.
For homes, offices, apartment buildings, schools, healthcare facilities, retail stores and other commercial installations, metal can therefore be an extremely economical long-term choice.
You don't necessarily have to choose between affordable wall plates and Made in USA metal wall plates. For many everyday configurations, you can have both.
Where Metal Really Shines: More Configurations
Price and durability are only part of the story.
One of the biggest advantages of metal wall plates is the enormous number of configurations that can be manufactured.
Walk into a typical hardware store looking for a 1-gang toggle switch plate or a basic duplex outlet cover, and plastic will probably work just fine.
But what happens when you need something unusual?
Perhaps you need:
- One toggle switch and one blank
- A rocker/GFCI opening next to a duplex receptacle
- Two rocker openings and two blanks
- A centered device in a 2-gang oversized plate
- A 5-gang combination of different device types
- A 6-, 8- or even 10-gang switch plate
- An oversized plate in an uncommon configuration
These are exactly the situations where metal wall plates become especially useful.
Metal manufacturing allows an enormous variety of openings and combinations to be produced without requiring every plate to be a huge mass-market product.
In other words, when the plastic wall plate you need simply doesn't exist, there is a good chance a metal version does.
That is particularly important for electricians, contractors and remodelers working with existing electrical boxes. Sometimes changing the electrical box or relocating devices would turn a simple job into a major project. Finding the right specialty wall plate can be a much easier solution.
Made in USA Metal Wall Plate Sizes
Another advantage of metal wall plates is the range of available sizes.
It is important to understand that wall plate size and gang size are two different things.
The physical size—Standard, Princess, Maxi, Jumbo/Oversize and so forth—describes the overall dimensions and coverage of the plate.
The gang count—1-gang, 2-gang, 3-gang and higher—describes how many side-by-side electrical device positions the plate covers.
For more details, see our complete wall plate size guide.
Standard Size Wall Plates
Standard wall plates are what most people see throughout homes and commercial buildings.
A typical 1-gang standard wall plate measures approximately 4.5 inches high by 2.75 inches wide.
As more gangs are added, the height generally remains the same while the plate gets wider.
Standard-size metal wall plates are available in everything from simple 1-gang covers to very large multi-gang configurations.
Princess Size Wall Plates
Princess wall plates provide slightly more vertical coverage than a standard plate while maintaining the same general width.
A typical 1-gang Princess plate measures approximately 5 inches high by 2.75 inches wide.
The extra height can help hide minor paint lines, drywall imperfections or slightly oversized openings while providing a more decorative, rounded profile.
Maxi Wall Plates
Maxi wall plates provide additional coverage around a single electrical device.
A typical 1-gang Maxi plate measures approximately 5 inches high by 3.5 inches wide.
They are useful when you need more coverage than standard without moving all the way to a full Jumbo/Oversize plate.
Jumbo and Oversized Wall Plates
Oversized wall plates, also commonly called jumbo wall plates, are among the most useful specialty sizes.
A 1-gang oversized plate is approximately 5.5 inches high by 3.5 inches wide, compared with 4.5 x 2.75 inches for standard size.
A 2-gang oversized wall plate is approximately 5.5 x 5.5 inches, with larger gang sizes continuing to increase in width.
That extra coverage can hide:
- Oversized drywall cuts
- Paint lines from an older wall plate
- Small cracks or chips
- Tile openings that were cut too large
- Uneven wall surfaces
- Remodeling imperfections around the electrical box
Instead of patching, sanding and repainting the entire area, the right oversized wall plate can often provide a much cleaner finished appearance.
From 1-Gang to 10-Gang Wall Plates
Metal also becomes particularly valuable when dealing with high-gang wall plates.
Wallplate.store offers wall plates organized from common 1-gang and 2-gang configurations through much larger multi-gang plates, including 6-gang, 8-gang, 9-gang and 10-gang options.
You can browse our selection by wall plate gang size to find the configuration that fits your project.
These larger plates are commonly found where many lighting controls are grouped together, including:
- Large homes
- Conference rooms
- Restaurants
- Hotels
- Commercial offices
- Houses of worship
- Retail locations
- Smart-home installations
- Building automation systems
With a large switch bank, metal also provides something particularly important: rigidity.
A long plastic plate can flex. A properly manufactured steel or other metal plate provides a much more solid structure across a wide group of switches and devices.
More Than White: Metal Wall Plate Finishes
Metal wall plates also offer dramatically more finish options than conventional plastic plates.
Depending on the size and configuration, Made in USA metal wall plates may be available in materials and finishes including painted cold-rolled steel, stainless steel, satin brass, bronze, aluminum, chrome and galvanized steel.
You can also shop wall plates by color and finish.
Painted Cold-Rolled Steel
Painted steel is one of the most economical and versatile choices.
Common colors include white semi-gloss, black, gray and red, with red frequently used for emergency or designated-power applications.
A quality painted steel wall plate combines the strength of metal with a clean, consistent finish.
Stainless Steel
Stainless steel wall plates are extremely popular in commercial, industrial and institutional environments, as well as modern residential interiors.
They provide a clean professional appearance and pair especially well with stainless appliances, commercial kitchens, offices, workshops and other high-use areas.
Satin Brass and Other Brass Finishes
Brass wall plates provide a warmer, more decorative appearance.
Satin brass wall plates work particularly well with brass lighting fixtures, cabinet hardware, plumbing fixtures and other architectural finishes.
Bronze
Bronze finishes provide a darker, traditional architectural appearance and can work especially well with classic or rustic interiors.
Aluminum
Aluminum offers another metallic appearance while providing a different texture and character than stainless steel.
Chrome
Chrome-finish wall plates provide a bright, reflective metallic appearance appropriate for certain contemporary and specialty installations.
Galvanized Steel
Galvanized steel wall plates have a more industrial appearance and are a natural choice for utility spaces, workshops, garages and exposed electrical installations.
Not every configuration is available in every finish, but metal provides considerably more choices when a project requires something beyond basic white, ivory or light almond.
Why Do Some Oversized and High-Gang Wall Plates Cost So Much More?
This is a question worth addressing honestly.
A customer might see an inexpensive 1-gang metal wall plate and then find an unusual oversized 5-gang, 6-gang or 8-gang plate that costs considerably more.
At first glance, that can seem strange.
After all, it is still "just a wall plate."
But the price of a specialty wall plate isn't determined only by the amount of metal in it.
Manufacturing Volume Makes a Huge Difference
A common 1-gang white toggle or duplex wall plate may be manufactured in very large quantities.
The machinery is set up, the tooling is established, and thousands upon thousands of identical plates may be produced.
Now compare that with an unusual oversized combination plate.
Perhaps only a relatively small number of customers need that exact size, opening configuration and finish.
The manufacturer's setup costs still exist—but they are spread over far fewer pieces.
Consider a simple example. If tooling and production setup costs are spread across 100,000 common wall plates, the setup cost per plate is tiny. If a specialty plate requires its own production setup but only a few hundred are manufactured, much more of that manufacturing cost has to be absorbed by each plate.
That is one of the basic realities of specialty manufacturing.
Tooling and Machinery Still Have to Be Set Up
Metal wall plates must be stamped, punched, formed and finished accurately.
Different sizes and opening configurations can require different dies, tooling, machine setups or production steps.
Whether the manufacturer runs a massive production batch or a relatively small batch, that equipment still has to be prepared.
Smaller runs simply have fewer finished products over which to spread those costs.
Larger Plates Require More Material and More Precision
An 8-gang wall plate obviously uses more metal than a 1-gang plate.
But material isn't the only difference.
Every device opening and mounting position must remain properly aligned across the entire plate. As the plate becomes wider, maintaining dimensional accuracy becomes increasingly important.
A small dimensional error on a 1-gang plate may involve one device. On an 8-gang plate, every opening needs to line up correctly across a very wide electrical box.
Specialty Finishes Add Another Production Step
Painting, plating, polishing and other finishing processes have their own setup and handling requirements.
A very common white finish can be produced in large batches.
A less common combination—perhaps a high-gang wall plate in a specialty metallic finish—may be manufactured in much smaller quantities.
Again, the economics of a small production run are very different from those of a mass-produced product.
Specialty Wall Plates Still Have to Be Stocked
There is another cost that is easy to overlook: inventory.
Offering thousands of wall plate combinations means stocking products that may sell every day alongside products that may sell only occasionally.
Yet when an electrician needs that unusual configuration, he or she often needs that exact plate.
Keeping specialty products available is part of what makes a broad wall plate selection valuable.
So when a specialty oversized or high-gang plate costs substantially more than a standard 1-gang plate, it usually isn't because the extra few inches of metal are expensive.
It is because you're buying a low-volume, specialized manufactured product rather than a mass-produced commodity.
The Right Wall Plate Can Save a Lot More Than It Costs
The price of the wall plate itself is also only one part of the job.
An electrician who can find the exact combination plate needed may avoid relocating devices, replacing an electrical box or repairing the surrounding wall.
A remodeler who can install an oversized wall plate may avoid patching and repainting drywall.
A facility manager who can replace a damaged 6-gang plate with the correct configuration can finish the repair without modifying the existing installation.
That is where specialty metal wall plates provide their real value.
Sometimes spending a few dollars more for exactly the right wall plate can save considerably more in labor and repair costs.
Find the Made in USA Metal Wall Plate That Fits Your Project
Whether you're replacing one ordinary switch plate or trying to locate an unusual multi-gang configuration, there are far more options available than most people realize.
At Wallplate.store, our metal wall plates are Made in the USA and available in a wide selection of:
- Standard, Princess, Maxi and Jumbo/Oversize sizes
- 1-gang through high-gang configurations
- Toggle, rocker/GFCI, duplex, blank and combination openings
- Painted steel, stainless steel, satin brass and other specialty finishes
- Residential, commercial, institutional and industrial styles
The goal is simple: find the wall plate that actually fits the installation.
Browse our Made in USA wall plates, explore oversized and jumbo wall plates, shop by gang size, or browse by color and finish.
And when the plate you need isn't obvious, contact us. Specialty wall plates are exactly what we do.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Made in USA metal wall plates expensive?
Not necessarily. Common painted metal wall plates can be very economically priced and, in many configurations, cost only slightly more than basic plastic alternatives. Specialty sizes, finishes and unusual configurations generally cost more because they are manufactured in lower volumes.
Are oversized metal wall plates available?
Yes. Oversized or jumbo metal wall plates are available in numerous configurations and are especially useful for covering larger wall openings, paint lines, drywall imperfections and other problems around electrical boxes.
What is the difference between wall plate size and gang size?
Wall plate size describes the overall dimensions of the plate, such as Standard, Princess, Maxi or Jumbo/Oversize. Gang size describes the number of side-by-side electrical device positions the plate covers, such as 1-gang, 2-gang, 4-gang or 8-gang.
Why are 6-gang, 8-gang and other large wall plates more expensive?
High-gang and unusual wall plates are produced in much smaller quantities than common 1-gang and 2-gang plates. Tooling, machinery setup, finishing, inventory and manufacturing costs are therefore divided among fewer units, increasing the cost per plate.
What metal wall plate finishes are available?
Depending on the configuration, choices can include painted cold-rolled steel, stainless steel, satin brass and other brass finishes, bronze, aluminum, chrome and galvanized steel.