My father's house has a short (as in lower height) wall with a narrow countertop on it. It is also the separation between the kitchen and the family room. It is also an island wall, not connected to any other wall (if that matters). On the side facing to the kitchen, there are two separate receptacle boxes, each connected to one of the two kitchen countertop circuits (verified by testing the two GFCI receptacles that lead the kitchen circuit runs).
The side facing the family room has no receptacles. It is about 20 feet long. One might have considered this wall design to be a "kitchen bar" with bar stools on the family room side (room for 6 of them). But it is not actually used that way. Instead there is furniture as well as 3 electrical appliances having cords that hop over the wall to gain access to the kitchen side outlets.
Should the family room side of this wall have had its own outlets? Or is it considered OK to hop over the counter space or top of the wall? Or is it considered that electrical utilization there is unanticipated?
Note, the appliances with power hopping over the wall are minor: a lamp with a 25 watt bulb, power for a cordless phone base station, and power for a wireless access point (cable TV also comes on on the kitchen side of the wall). There is a bread pop-up toaster on the kitchen side that does not hop over.
Opinions?
