Extension cords are shitty, boring, but unfortunately, essential things you need to buy. Unless you’re living in a home built after 2010, you almost certainly don’t have enough outlets, and so you depend on (irresponsibly) adding extension cables, surge protectors, and splitters to every single visible socket. Extension cords are also, by and large, very ugly. You know what I’m talking about: beige, boxy little things with an angry orange light. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Luckily, we live in the age of aesthetics, the age of “hygge”; a word I still don’t fully understand but, in this particular moment, am choosing to mean “buying nice-looking extension cords”. Here are some of those.
7. 360 Electrical Habitat Harmony Braided Extension Cord
360 Electrical’s Habitat Harmony collection uses some elegant color swatches and a low-profile plug (to fit that one outlet blocked by your couch) to make a damn good, damn fine-looking extension cord. You can also get a version with fast-charging USB ports. [Amazon, $12.99]
6. ON Smart Solution Household Power Strip
A sleek, modern approach to the classic power strip, featuring a six-foot cable, four outlets, and four USB ports with fast-charge. [Amazon, $16.99]
5. JSVER 3 Outlet Compact Cube Power Strip
The lowest of low-profile power “strips”. Here, it’s actually a cube, in order to service bulkier plugs as well as the very sensible notion that not all your electric devices are to one certain direction. Smart. [Amazon, $16.99]
4. Tessan Power Strip with 3 USB & Switch Control
The TESSAN is designed to be small and attractive enough to sit on, rather than under, your desk while it charges your various gadgets. [Amazon, $15.99]
3. Aukey Power Strip with 6 USB Ports and 12 AC Outlets
Here’s a heavy-duty option that looks as much like a super-cool alien trashcan (in a good way) as it does a “cord” or a “strip”. [Amazon, $43.99]
2. Great Useful Stuff Cord Corral and Cable Organizer
Not just a nicely-put-together extension cord, but a cute little box to store it, and your unsightly wires in. With this baby, people will think you’re some kind of off-the-grid shaman while you secretly charge your three tablets. [Amazon, $79]
1. OviiTech 5 Outlet Power Strip
A cute lil’ circle that also juices up your phone battery. [Amazon, $19.99]
