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Can a dishwasher be wired to a kitchen counter small appliance receptacle circuit?

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

The kitchen small appliance circuits are allowed to only serve countertop and wall receptacles in kitchen, dining room and pantry, except that they can also be used for a refrigerator receptacle. However, the refrigerator may also be on a separate circuit if you want. Any installed appliance (meaning secured in place and not readily moveable) like a dishwasher is required to have a separate circuit.  

    Although these requirements have been in place for quite a while, other rules for kitchen circuits have been gradually added over the past several decades:

  1.  A kitchen requires minimum of two 20-amp small appliance circuits, and they must be GFCI-protected. 
  2.  Dishwasher circuit must now be GFCI-protected, with cord/plug to a receptacle. If the receptacle contains the GFCI-device, it must be accessible (not behind the dishwasher). The access requirement is usually resolved by putting the GFCI-receptacle on the back wall of the cabinet under the kitchen sink.
  3.  A dishwasher and disposal can share a single circuit, but only if the combined rating of the two appliances does not exceed the circuit amperage rating.

    Also see our blog post Is a refrigerator required to have its own dedicated circuit?

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Here’s links to a collection of our other blog posts about ELECTRICAL WIRING:

How can I find out the size of the electric service to a house?

Can old electrical wiring go bad inside a wall? 

What is an open electrical splice?

What are the most common electrical defects found in a home inspection? 

What is the life expectancy of electrical wiring in a house? 

What is an "open junction box"? 

How dangerous is old electrical wiring? 

What is a ground wire? 

I heard that aluminum wiring is bad. How do you check for aluminum wiring?  

What is "knob and tube" wiring?  

What is the code requirement for receptacle outlets in a closet?

    Visit our ELECTRICAL and APPLIANCES pages for other related blog posts on this subject, or go to the INDEX for a complete listing of all our articles.

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