Could he install the outlet above the cabinet, then run the lamp cord
through the cabinet to plug in the outlet above (with some kind of
physical protection for the cord)?

I used that method when we remodeled my in-laws house, but I had
built dedicated chases in the cabinets for the cord to pass through.
Once the cabinets were installed, I simply slipped the lamp cord up
through the chase and plugged them into the outlets above. The
outlets aren't visible from below unless you stand on a ladder.

Could you describe the "dedicated chase"?

The upper cabinets at my in-laws kitchen are L-shaped in the corner of the
room:

http://www.watsondiy.com/2011kitchen.htm

Because the walls were out of plumb and the cabinets referenced off the
stove area, I planned a one inch gap in the back corner where the cabinets
met. I simply passed the lamp cords up this gap and plugged them into a
switched outlet above.

On the left side of the stove I built a special cabinet with two layers of
plywood on one side. I routed a half inch groove in each layer, giving me a
full one inch slot to pass the cord up from the bottom to the top of the
cabinet. You can just barely see the slot in bottom right side of the
cabinet, in the photos where they are laying on my garage floor (a bit
easier to see in the unfinished cabinets).

In both cases the cord is on the outside of the wall, just passing through
the empty spaces in or around the cabinets. The cord is protected and
completely out of sight, but plugs into a standard outlet. As you can see
in the final photos, the outlets are not visible above the cabinets, even
when standing on the other side of the room. I did mount those outlets
horizontally to minimize how far they stuck up above the cabinets (visible
in the photo with the bare sheetrock).

Anthony Watson
www.watsondiy.com
www.mountainsoftware.com