I'm looking at rewiring my kitchen. My question is, how many breakers (20 amp) are used in a kitchen nowadays?

My current setup seems very strange, but seeing it is an old house, i think things were added on at time went by. Here is my current setup:

main kitchen florecent light - 20 amp (along with part of the downstairs lights and dinig room)

garbage disposal - 20 amp (all on its own)

Disk washer - 20 amp ( all on it own)

microwave/fan - 20 (with 2 outlets in kitchen)

4 outlets and the fridge - 20 amp

range - 50 amp (i just switched from a gas)


Does this seem right? can't my dishwaser and disposal be on the same breaker? I figure i could rewire a few things seeing my main box is completely full now. But it seems odd to have a disposal on it own...

Help?

 

Your dishwasher and your disposal can be on the same circuit. Some people recommend against this, and my question is, why would you change this now? However, do not add any other outlets to this circuit if you do change it.

 

I prefer lots of circuits. If you have panel space, the cost of a circuit is small. So consider a subpanel or some other way to generate panel space if you need it. For a kitchen, I prefer:

• A 20 amp circuit dedicated to the dishwasher.
• A 15-amp or 20-amp circuit dedicated to the disposal.
• A 15-amp circuit dedicated to the refrigerator.
• A 20-amp circuit dedicated to the microwave.
• The required two 20-amp small appliance circuits.
• Whatever the cooking appliance(s) require.
• Lighting is almost incidental. You can put it on some circuit serving lighting in nearby rooms.

Yes, you can put the dishwasher and disposal on the same 20-amp circuit. Many people do. But some day when you want that 1 HP disposal and that sterilizing dishwasher, you might need more power than one 20-amp circuit can offer.

I didn't see a mention by you of the two required 20-amp small appliance circuits. Make sure you carefully understand this code--what must be on these circuits and what can and cannot be on these circuits. The code is very picky here, and inspectors tolerate no deviations.