The more things change....
Even though the exact wording of the NEC would allow for an infinite number of receptacles on a residential circuit, the mind recoils at the idea of an entire house on one circuit.
Or does it? It was once common for homes to have but two circuits ... one for all the lights, and one for all the receptacles. Of course, such homes were commonly like mine ... 400 sq. ft. on a 30 amp service. Our lives have changed quite a bit since then. That small house, even with changes made over the years, probably had less than 15 receptacles, total.
Now, let's look at a 'modern' home. I just put 110 receptacle in a single home. Seems a bit much for one circuit, doesn't it? Well, in an indirect manner, the code forces us to break that down into more than one circuit.
The bathrooms - 5 in this house - need to be GFI protected, and on a dedicated circuit. That takes maybe 8 receps off the "big" circuit.
The kitchen needs two dedicated circuits ... that removes another 12.
Furnace is a dedicated circuit (2). Laundry (3). Garage (6). Sump pumps (2). Specific appliances (10). That's 23 removed form the total.
Code calles for the bedrooms to be AFCI protected. While yuo could place the entire house on one AFCI breaker, the requirement strongly encourages you to place each bedroom area on it's own circuit. It's just easier that way. There's another 40.
Just looking at this rough breakdown, we've pruned the number of general use receptacles from 110, down to 25.
That's just the roughest of breakdown. In reality, this house was wired by a chaep-as-sin "tract hack" (not I), who missed no opportunity to cut corners .... and I doubt there is any circuit with more than 9 receptacles on it.
We sometimes forget that the NEC is but one of many factors that govern our work. As the NEC itself says, it is NOT a design manual. "Code compliant" and "good design" are completely different matters.
