I am in the process of renovating the kitchen in my 100+ year old home, including cleaning up the electrical “situation” the previously owner attempted and bringing up to code.
NEC requires that there be two 20A dedicated small appliance circuits in the kitchen. My current breaker box, which was completely replaced by an licensed electrician, when we purchase the home last summer, has a tandem 20A-20A breaker labeled for the kitchen outlets.
Does a tandem breaker satisfy the code requirements as two circuits, given I run one set of outlets on one of the tandem breakers and the remaining on the other tandem breaker?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Best Answer
Tandem breakers are totally legit and are two totally separate circuits. In fact they can ONLY be two totally separate circuits. The error that people sometimes make is in thinking that they can use the two poles of a tandem breaker as a 240V circuit, and THAT will not work.