Wiring – Shouldn’t a kitchen ‘fridge be on it’s own circuit

A 15A outlet is rated for 15A, with a 20A pass through. That is to say that the 20A circuit is in continuance throughout the circuit, however the receptacle itself (the contacts) are rated for 15A continuosly. Any single appliance with a 15A plug will not normally draw more than 80% of 15A, or 12A. The total circuit draw (multiple appliances - same circuit) can be 20A before the breaker trips.

A 20A breaker used with 12awg wire can feed multiple 15A outlets, one example is the kitchen. The reasoning is so that today's demanding appliances, which draw more current, can be used with a 20A breaker without the worry of nuisance tripping. If more than a total of 20A were to be drawn from the circuit, the breaker will trip.

It should be noted that any circuit that is intended to be 20A must use a 20A recepticle.

If the appliance were using 15A, it will be safe with the 20A breaker ( @ 80% = 16A). If it were to short, it will trip the 20A breaker just as it would a 15A breaker. A 15A receptacle can take 20A for a short time with no problem. The receptacle is overrated, otherwise it would blow up upon a short. A short circuit in actuality can be hundreds of amps in a very short duration. The breaker and receptacle are rated as "Time overcurrent" meaning it can take a lot of current for extremely short durations, and will trip on lesser currents that occur for a longer time.

An example one can relate to (refer to chart): Joe plugs in two electric heaters in his family room. Everything works fine until 20-100 seconds later the breaker trips! Joe overloaded his 20A circuit, by drawing 40A! The breaker will allow this overload for a short time. If the overload were bigger, say 60A the breaker would trip faster from 10-35 seconds. If the trip was due to a direct short, the breaker will trip Immediately. Breakers actually have a "Load characteristic curve" that you can tell when it will trip in time vs current.

Yes it is sufficient.

A 15A receptacle is designed such that an appliance with a 20A plug should not be able to plug into it. This means that at most under normal operating conditions of a 15A appliance, that the receptacle itself will only draw 15A. If the circuit shorts then the breaker will kick at 20A however.

The tab of a 15A receptacle is designed to handle a 20A load.

EDIT for clarification above: A duplex 15A receptacle contains a tab that connects the hot lead to the hot load. This allows the receptacle to carry the load of another outlet by wiring the lead of Outlet(2) to the load of Receptacle(1). When you break off this hot tab then you are specifically wiring for a switch to control only of the receptacles of the outlet, or you are specifically wiring for each receptacle to have its own circuit on a shared neutral. For two circuits to be wired to a single receptacle on a shared neutral, then you need to ensure that the breakers are on different service legs or you risk overloading the neutral. If you also break the neutral tab then you are wiring the receptacle to have two separate circuits each with its own dedicated neutral. These should be considered fringe cases for residential so it is probably best not to break the tabs if not needed so as to avoid confusing future DIY'ers and licensed electricians. Every time a DIY'er or electrician gets confused then they are potentially risking themselves.

The NEC states that this is acceptable as long as:

1. The wire is 12 AWG sized for a 20A circuit

2. There is more than one receptacle on the circuit.

It is important to note that under no circumstances should you install a single 15A receptacle onto a dedicated 20A circuit. This is against code.

210.21(B) Receptacles (1) Single Receptacle on an Individual Branch Circuit. A single receptacle installed on an individual branch circuit shall have an ampere rating not less than that of the branch circuit.

(3) Receptacle Ratings. Where connected to a branch circuit supplying two or more receptacles or outlets, receptacle ratings shall conform to the values listed in Table 210.21(B)(3), or where larger than 50 amperes, the receptacle rating shall not be less than the branch-circuit rating.

Table:

Circuit Rating (Amperes)
Receptacle Rating
(Amperes)
15 Not over 15
20 15 or 20
30 30
40 40 or 50
50 50

In conclusion, a standard 15A receptacle that one would buy in your hardware store is quality tested and approved to comply with all NEC codes to be legally sold in the United States. If the tab couldn't handle a 20A load without overheating then they would call this out specifically.