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Kitchen outlet spacing "horizontal" measurement

Y

Yikes

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Location
Southern California
2016 California Electrical Code section 210.52 requires "Receptacles must be installed so that no point along the counter wall space is more than 24 inches (2 feet), measured horizontally, from a receptacle outlet. Exception: receptacle outlets are not required on a wall directly behind a range, counter-mounted cooking unit or sink".

I have a question regarding measurement, and it relates both to ADA and to the electrical code.
Picture a typical kitchen cabinet, 24" deep with a 25" deep countertop, but this is an ADA compliant unit.
ADA has a maximum reach range of 24" when a wheelchair is parallel to the cabinets. ADA requires that all outlets be within the 24" reach for the user
  • The inside corner is inaccessible and is 25" deep. If I put the outlets within reach, they are further than 25" from the back corner, in violation of electrical code.
  • If I put the outlet on the front of the cabinets, this too violates the distance rule of the electrical code, because I measure to the back wall.
  • If I put an extension box on the outlets, this is still further than 24" away from the inside corner.
Is there any solution for conventional 24" deep cabinets / 25" deep countertops that doesn't violate the electrical code?
 
Pcinspector1, even if I add another receptacle, or turn a duplex outlet sideways, then at least one receptacle still remains not accessible. I don't know if ADA 205.1 allows me to have any general use kitchen receptacle to be non-accessible.

ADAguy, even if I use 24" deep counters, etc.,
and somehow the D-pull handles on the base cabinets do not interfere with the reach range,
and I can position the outlets centered EXACTLY 24" from the inside corner,
I still have a situation where one of the two pins in each outlet is not within reach range. Does that violate ADA/CBC 11B-205.1?
 
Last edited:
my250r11, installing in the backsplash or even in the countertop itself doesn't negate the problem that the electrical code takes its measurements along the back wall ("counter wall space"). About the only thing that would work is having cabinet depth (including door faces and D-pull handles and countertops that are 23" or less. Subtract for D-pull and cabinet door depth, and the boxes are pretty shallow for a regular kitchen sink.
 
Mark, thanks for the photo. But how would that solve the "letter of the law", where the electrical code requires the measurement to be made along the back wall itself?

Using your photo above, imagine this is an L-shaped plan and there is an inside corner, to the left, just outside of view. Imagine the countertop and cabinets (including cabinet pulls) was 24" deep in both directions.
- If this this duplex outlet was installed in the tile backsplash, and the center of the duplex was 24" away from the corner, then the right outlet is accessible, and the left outlet is not. so one of the outlets does not comply with 205.1.
Moving the outlet out towards the middle of the counter makes it even further away from the inside corner; the hypotenuse of a triangle. For example, moving it straight out 18" from the back wall would mean it is diagonally 30" away from the corner. So from an electrical code 210.52 standpoint, we are making the situation worse, even as we make accessibility better.
 
The intent of the provision in both the NEC and the I-Codes is to limit/eliminate the need for extension cords.
There have been several reasonable alternatives suggested that would be code compliant.
AHJ's have no authority to enforce the ADA (some very limited exceptions possibly), and clearly it must be possible to satisfy both the spacing and the reach range requirements or there wouldn't be any new apartments being built and not facing DOJ litigation.
I think you may be overthinking this one.
 
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