It makes sense to put the best in the kitchen and other high frequency, or high drain, or critical electronics use areas. It also makes sense to take the time to wire them correctly, using the screw terminals. I re-wired our kitchen during lockdown, after my wife re-painted it. All the counter-accessible outlets are safety outlets now, and GFCI protected with new GFCIs. The house was built in '99.

In most places, it is illegal to sell electrical components that don't meet code... I checked my three spare Eaton receptacles that cost less than $.90 each. All are UL approved and have a couple other countries' regulatory approval stamps as well. Interestingly, they are 15-Amp rated, but if and only if you connect them via screw terminals, they may be used in 20-Amp circuits where the local code permits. For back-stab wiring, which I never do, they are for 14 gauge wire and 15-Amp circuits only. These are still better than the contractor installed in our house originally!

I use these only as replacements in places where they will see little use, like bedrooms, dining room, pantry (vacuum charger outlet) and front hall closet (alarm)... All the dedicated outlets for high drain/high starting current devices and electronics are higher spec. The office outlets are the best I could find, as are those in halls, laundry, baths, garage, shop. We have replaced nearly all incandescent and CFL lighting with LEDs. So in most rooms, the load for outlets with lamps and clock radios and such is under 100 Watts about 99.5% of the time. Kitchen, dining room, breakfast nook, and master bath (fixed lighting circuits) used to take 360 to 540 Watts each, and with LEDs it's more like 55 to 85 Watts each. So those switches and sockets should last a LONG time.

A couple months ago, I went around and checked for zombie current drain devices such as instant-on TVs, wall warts for phones and hard drives, etc. I counted 66 of them. Reducing that count is on my to do list...

This is a double problem because China has most of the high-tech equipment - and experienced people - needed to make high-tech things. I watched a video about a company in this country that sells model trains. After doing the designing here, they traveled to China to discuss production. I doubt that you'd find similar facilities in this country. They had all sorts of modern, high-tech equipment needed to make these models. If you bought an iPhone in the past few years, it was made in China, and that goes for any of the other high quality products that Apple sells.

The Chinese can turn out cheap junk, but they can also turn out products with world-class quality, something we can no longer do in this country. But, on the plus side, CEO salaries are up!

After fifty-nine years, the three-way light switch in the dining room is getting iffy. Getting one from Amazon would take too long, so I looked at what Lowe's has to offer. Eaton - $2.52 or $5.46 "For heavy-duty use areas." I wonder how many people decide to save money on a switch that transfers 110 volts within their wall. It would be like saving money on a parachute or a fire extinguisher. I never try to save money on things that could cause my death.

I emptied the dining room hutch, which was loaded with all sorts of stuff I don't need. Now that it's empty, I can slide it out from the wall and get access to that switch. As it is now, there is almost enough room to remove the switch.

Trivia question: Why do light switches snap when you turn them on and off, instead of moving smoothly?