Every 120V 15 or 20A receptacle in the kitchen that serves a countertop or is within 6' of a sink must be protected by a GFCI. It's up to you whether you use a GFCI breaker or use a single GFCI receptacle that protects downstream ones or you put in individual GFCIs every place there's a receptacle.

There is required to be at least 2 20A small appliance circuits serving the kitchen (and related area) receptacles. Nearly all the 120V 15/20A receptacles need to be on these circuits (small exception for lighting, refrigerators, and clocks) and no other outlets (lighting anywhere or receptacles in other rooms) are permitted on these circuits.

There's no requirement on how things are distributed across these circuits. You could put two on one and twenty on the other. For practical matters, you look at what the loads are. If you have a fridge or microwave or some other heavy draw you might consider placing it on it's own additional circuit. for example.

The refrigerator is not required to be on its own circuit, but as I said, it might be a good idea.

I hate popping breakers, it almost always happens at the worst possible moment, just at the last critical moment of prepping food for a big dinner. I'd give any load that can be over about 10A it's own circuit, and at lest two, preferably three 20A circuits for the countertop outlets, not dedicated to a fixed appliance. So I have dedicated circuits for:

1) fridge, 2) microwave, 3) DW/disposal, 4) range hood blower, 5) range (my gas igniters have a big draw), 6) lighting

That's a lot, but wire and breakers are pretty cheap in the scheme of things. Even then you have to be careful about where you plug in and try to run the tea kettle, toaster, waffle iron, and espresso machine at the same time. When things are hopping in the kitchen everything can be running at once, so it takes a lot of capacity. The fridge is relatively low draw, so could share a circuit, but I'd hate to blow that breaker and not notice until everything defrosted. I put the lights on their own because I hate it when the lights go out while I'm juggling hot pans. This is all way beyond any code requirement.

It is illegal to put the lights on the kitchen receptacle circuits.

Ok so over the weekend I found out that my DW/GB are on the same circuit and it's 15A. I've been Googling if this is OK but have found conflicting answers. Yes/no they can be on the same circuit, yes/no it has to be a 20A circuit.. any thoughts? Does it vary per local codes?

Ron Natalie, what if there are 2 outlets by the sink that are on the same circuit? Does only 1 need the GFCI, or will both still need it?

I wish I could follow rwiegand's layout of having individual circuits for everything but I don't have any more breaker box space. :/

Here's my current setup:

• blue font are the appliance dedicated circuits
• red font are the GFCI outlets
• yellow shapes are my lights
• breakers are labeled as "B#X", this is how I can understand electrical :P

So is having a counter outlet and pendant lights on the same circuit (B#6) a no-no? If I'm reading Ron's comments right..

You are correct. With small exception (that doesn't apply here) all 15/20A receptacles in the kitchen area must be on one of the two or more small appliance circuits. Nothing precludes the dishwasher and the disposal from being on the same circuit (provided that the manufacturer doesn't mandate otherwise, and I've never seen that).

Note one other rub is that the dishwasher needs an accessible disconnect. Most people just route the plug to a receptacle under the seat (that works) but you could add a switch as well.

As I stated before EVERY receptacle that is either serving the countertop OR is within six feet of the sink needs to be GFCI protected. As I stated in my original post you can put in individual GFCIs or you can connect the additional outlets to the protected side of the GFCI or you can put a GFCI breaker in the panel.

Yes, it is illegal to have the countertop receptacle and the lights on the same circuit. The small appliance circuits must not have any other outlets on them.

I think you are going to have a problem with the outlet which is going to be inaccessible, behind the pantry. I thought that all boxes, whether or not they contain a receptacle, must be accessible. If it is inside the pantry rather than behind it, I guess that's OK. This would be true even if you put a blank cover over the box. Comments, Pros?

Any box with connections in it needs to remain accessible. Inside the cabinet is fine, as long as you can get to it without having to remove any of the "finished surface" of the building to get at it, it's ok. Having to move the cans of food out is fine.

Ok so just found out that local code requires the DW/GD to be on their own breaker -- that's a problem, considering I don't have any empty breaker slots. My panel doesn't have a wiring diagram either so I don't know where tandem breakers are "allowed", and I tried Googling the model # and no results! Wtheck!

Also when we take the panel off, the main lugs are NOT protected, which is terrifying. I don't mind doing electrical work but I've heard the main lugs can be super dangerous since they're still live. Is this true?? I think we're gunna have to call in an electrician... :(

Regarding B#6 that has a counter outlet and is powering the peninsula recessed lights - I think the culprit are the pendant lights. B#6 not only controls the outlet to the right of the sink, but also ALL the outlets in the neighboring living room. So I'm thinking instead of taking out the kitchen outlet, I need to power the pendant light from some where besides B#6.. is this correct?

What do people do with their stove outlets? When we moved in, behind the stove on the floor there was an outlet box attached TO the wall but not INSIDE the wall. Is this legal? How do people usually set up their stove outlet if it's supposed to be accessible?

Updated diagram (blue are dedicated circuits, red are GFCI, yellow shapes are my lights):

Ron Natalie - when you say "you can connect the additional outlets to the protected side of the GFCI" - is the protected side the outlets that come AFTER the one right before the power? The breaker is in the basement below the sink which is why I labeled the counter outlet that I think is being "powered first".

mtvhike, you're right, thanks for pointing that out. I think that's the last outlet in the series so I'll just disassemble it/remove the connections and wires so the one before it (for the fridge) is the last one in series. Then I should be able to just patch the hole with drywall right? No need for a cover plate if there's no wires there..?

Also thanks for the feedback everybody. I love learning about this stuff!

Adding a subpanel (can be right next to your main) is a cheap, easy solution to not having enough breaker slots.

YOU CAN ADD SUBPANELS!?!? I'm Googling this right now!

Make sure that the first receptacle in the string is a GFCI one and that it is easily reachable. It's really inconvenient if the GFCI is under a counter or behind a refrigerator and you have to move something to press the reset button.

mtvhike ok, I think I have it right then.. for B#2 (which will serve all my countertop outlets), the first one in the series is the one I have dedicated with a GFCI. It's above the counter too, so easily accessible. The refrigerator is the last outlet in the circuit #2 series.. thanks!!