The Branch Circuits Every Dwelling Must Have

Why this matters

Most dwelling circuits are the designer's choice: how many bedrooms share a circuit, whether the hall lights ride with the living room. Five are not. NEC 210.11(C) (NEC 2023, 2020 where the section moved, as adopted, local amendments checked) requires a minimum set of 20 A, 120 V circuits, and each one comes with a "no other outlets" condition that is where panel schedules fail. The usual miss is not forgetting a circuit, it is hanging a light on one: a dining chandelier on a small-appliance circuit, a laundry room light on the laundry circuit. Both are an easy hour at rough-in and a ceiling opened up after the cover inspection. This card owns how many of these circuits there are and what each may and may not serve. Where the outlets go is owned by 'Countertop Receptacle Spacing Rules' and 'Dwelling Receptacle Spacing: The 6 and 12 Foot Rule'; the 1500 VA each of these circuits contributes to the load calculation is owned by 'Standard Method General Load Pieces for a Dwelling'.

The checklist

The artifact a shop fills in at plan review or at rough-in, one per dwelling unit:

REQUIRED 120 V CIRCUITS, NEC 210.11(C), 20 A EACH
Job: ____________   Edition adopted: ______

[ ] SA-1  small-appliance  kitchen, pantry, dining,
[ ] SA-2  small-appliance  breakfast area recepts
          countertop split across SA-1 AND SA-2
          no lights, no other rooms
[ ] LAU   laundry          laundry area recepts
          only; no lights
[ ] BATH  bathroom         bath recepts only, any
          number of baths; OR all of ONE bath
[ ] GAR   garage           garage recepts; may add
          readily accessible outdoor recepts;
          no lights

Minimum: 2 SA + 1 LAU + 1 BATH + 1 GAR = 5

Every line is a minimum. A large kitchen may have three or four small-appliance circuits; a house with four bathrooms may give each its own. The count only sets the floor.

Small-appliance circuits (210.11(C)(1), 210.52(B))

Two or more 20 A circuits serve, in substance:

• all wall and floor receptacles in the kitchen, pantry, breakfast room, dining room or similar area,
• all countertop and work-surface receptacles,
• the refrigerator receptacle.

What else they may serve: in substance, only a receptacle installed solely for an electric clock, and receptacles that supply the supplemental equipment and lighting of a gas-fired range, oven or counter-mounted cooking unit (the igniter and clock on a gas range).

What they may not serve: lighting of any kind, including under-cabinet lights and the dining chandelier; receptacles in other rooms, such as the living room; and fastened-in-place appliances like a dishwasher, disposal or built-in microwave, which take their own circuits sized from their nameplates (see 'Reading an Appliance Nameplate for Circuit Sizing').

The countertop split. Countertop receptacles in a kitchen are supplied by not fewer than two small-appliance circuits (210.52(B)(3)). Two kettles and a toaster on one 20 A circuit is the scenario the split exists to prevent. Either circuit may also feed the other small-appliance areas.

The refrigerator exception. The refrigerator may instead go on an individual branch circuit rated 15 A or more (210.52(B)(1) Exception No. 2). Individual means that receptacle and nothing else.

Laundry circuit (210.11(C)(2), 210.52(F))

At least one 20 A circuit for the laundry receptacle outlets, with no other outlets. The washer receptacle and a receptacle for a gas dryer in the laundry area belong on it. The laundry room light does not, and neither does a receptacle in the adjoining hall or bath.

An electric dryer is a separate 240 V circuit sized from its nameplate. It is not the laundry circuit and does not replace it.

Bathroom circuit (210.11(C)(3))

At least one 20 A circuit for bathroom receptacle outlets, with no other outlets. It works one of two ways:

• Receptacles only, any number of bathrooms. One 20 A circuit may feed the receptacles in the hall bath, the primary bath and the powder room, and nothing else in any of them.
• Everything in one bathroom. Where the circuit supplies a single bathroom, other equipment in that same bathroom (lights, an exhaust fan) may share it, within 210.23(A)(1) and (A)(2) of the 2020 edition (210.23(B)(1) and (B)(2) in 2023, which added 10 A circuits as (A); in substance, check your edition). The limit that bites is the second: fastened-in-place equipment other than luminaires may not exceed 50 percent of the branch-circuit rating, 10 A on a 20 A circuit.

You cannot mix the two: a circuit feeding receptacles in two bathrooms may not also feed the lights in either.

Garage circuit (210.11(C)(4))

At least one 20 A circuit for the receptacles 210.52(G)(1) requires in an attached garage, and in a detached garage with power, with no other outlets. In substance, 210.52(G)(1) asks for a receptacle in each vehicle bay, not more than 5.5 ft above the floor, in the editions that have that wording.

• May add: readily accessible outdoor receptacles, by exception. The front porch or driveway receptacle can ride on the garage circuit.
• May not add: the garage lights.
• Additional garage receptacles, such as the opener receptacle on the ceiling, are commonly accepted on it; confirm your AHJ reads "no other outlets" the same way before the layout depends on it.

This circuit first appeared in the 2017 edition. A jurisdiction still on an earlier edition does not require it.

Worked example: reviewing a panel schedule

The job. A three-bedroom one-family house with an attached two-bay garage, kitchen with island, dining room, pantry, laundry room, hall bath, primary bath and powder room. The jurisdiction has adopted the 2020 edition. The designer's schedule lists ten 120 V circuits. The office checks each against the checklist.

The tally. Six pass (1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9), three fail (2, 5, 10), one is outside this rule (4). The two small-appliance circuits both serve countertop, so the split is met once circuit 2 loses its light.

The checks behind the passes.

• Circuit 7, the 50 percent limit: the powder room fan's nameplate reads 1.2 A. 50 percent of 20 A is 10 A, and 1.2 A is under it. The light is a luminaire and is not counted against the 50 percent.
• Circuit 8: the porch receptacle is beside the front door at about 18 in above grade, readily accessible.

The fixes.

• Circuit 2: the chandelier moves to a general lighting circuit. One cable rerouted at rough-in.
• Circuit 5: the laundry light moves to the hall lighting circuit.
• Circuit 10: the pantry receptacle moves to circuit 1 or 2, both of which are already in the kitchen.

All three fixes are an hour or so of rough-in work before the cover inspection. Found after drywall, each is a fishing job.

Existing houses and remodels

210.11(C) is written for the circuits you install. An existing 1960s kitchen on one 20 A circuit is not illegal because the code moved on; it becomes your problem when the work you are permitted to do touches it.

• A kitchen remodel with new countertops and new receptacle locations is new work for those receptacles in most jurisdictions, and the AHJ will expect two small-appliance circuits split across the counter. Price the second home run from the panel into the remodel, not as a change order after the inspector asks.
• A new bathroom in a basement finish gets its own compliance: either it joins an existing receptacles-only bathroom circuit (if that circuit really serves only bathroom receptacles) or it gets its own circuit.
• Moving a light off a small-appliance circuit in an occupied house means working in boxes that may hold both small-appliance circuits. Breaker off, locked and tagged, and absence of voltage verified on every conductor in the box with a CAT III or better meter proven on a known live source before and after (NFPA 70E Article 120, current edition; 29 CFR 1910.333(b)(2)). When the circuits are restored, check every receptacle on both with a plug-in tester and confirm the moved light works from its new circuit.

What moves the answer

Each of these changes a different input to the same house:

• The owner adds a 1500 W wall heater in the powder room on circuit 7. At 120 V, 1500 divided by 120 is 12.5 A, over the 10 A that 50 percent of 20 A allows for fastened-in-place equipment. The heater needs its own circuit.
• The powder room light moves onto circuit 6 to save a cable. Circuit 6 serves receptacles in two bathrooms, so it may serve nothing else. Fail.
• The jurisdiction is still on the 2014 edition. No dedicated garage circuit is required; circuit 8 becomes a design choice rather than a requirement, and the garage receptacles could share a general circuit. Check the adoption before you price it out, and before you tell a customer it is optional.

References

• NFPA 70, National Electrical Code, 210.11(C), 210.23(A) (210.23(B) in 2023), 210.52(B), (F) and (G) (NEC 2023, 2020 where the section moved), as adopted by your jurisdiction.
• NFPA 70E, Article 120 (current edition); 29 CFR 1910.333(b)(2).
• See related: Countertop Receptacle Spacing Rules; Dwelling Receptacle Spacing: The 6 and 12 Foot Rule; Standard Method General Load Pieces for a Dwelling; Reading an Appliance Nameplate for Circuit Sizing.