Kitchen Ideas Faqs

Is it against electrical code to have my microwave wired to the same circuit as my kitchen lights?

Is it against electrical code to have my microwave wired to the same circuit as my kitchen lights (and possibly more)? I think I recall that major appliances require their own circuit. I know electrical codes can depend a lot on the municipality but is this against general electrical codes?

Public Comments

1. If it's "hardwired", yes - it should be on a separate, "dedicated" circuit. If the microwave just gets plugged into a wall receptacle, it's not contrary to code.
2. yes
3. some microwaves draw a lot of current and should be on a separate circuit.. I had a circuit installed just for the microwave but it was not required. If you have two major appliances on the same circuit you could blow a fuse or trip a breaker.... for example and toaster oven and a microwave.. but if you are careful not to use the both at the same time there should be no problem. If you have several lights in your kitchen replace them with the low voltage florescents. You should check your breaker box to see how many circuits you have. They should be labeled but most are not.
4. Consider that most lighting circuits are limited to 1440Watts - (80% of 15A @120V). Most microwave ovens take in at least 1200Watts. Simple math shows that there are only 240Watts left for all the lights on the circuit. Actually, the national code does deal with this in that it requires all kitchen recepticals to be wired to one of at least two 20A small appliance branch circuits (lighting is excluded from these circuits). So adding a kitchen receptical to a lighting circuit would violate the rule. Most municipalities have adopted the national code, so it's a good bet that these rules apply to where you reside. Run a new 20A branch circuit for the microwave, and you won't have to cook in the dark.
5. The short answer is yes, it is against the electrical code for a very simple reason. the code requires lighting circuits to be separate from receptacle circuits so if you blow the lighting circuit you can plug in a lamp and have light to fix it. If you blow the receptacle circuit you still have light to fix it. While it is not necessarily a code requirement, many of the better home builders place the refrigerator, the microwave, and the dishwasher on separate circuits. In addition there should be two other circuits so you can toast bagels and make coffee at the same time.
6. It all depends on when the house was built as to the code. The code changes every three years; this year is one of them. The technical answer is that it probably was not out of code at the time but would now be. Don't think that you need to run out and change it right away because unless you change the circuit it is still compliant with the code used at the time(we hope). Now if someone has just recently done this it would be out of the normal but not necessarily out of code if it is not hardwired and/or load calculations were made to ensure that the code was met. I am speaking on a national level of code (using the current NEC2005) and the only way to for sure know would be to give your local building inspector a call. Microwaves are a tricky appliance because some draw less then 5 amps while some draw over 15amps.