The house I grew up in was very limited on outlets throughout until I learned enough (and with my EC cousin's direction) to install more outlets & circuits.... 1 ungrounded to each room, 1 for a kitchen counter about 10' long, 2 in the living room, and one on the ceiling in the dining room (???). 4 circuits and a Bulldog panel with the screws broken off in most of the breaker spaces =(
We all know the codes in place nowadays that give us a fairly copious amount of outlets throughout a new house, but it's interesting seeing how things have evolved to where we are today. It seems in alot of the 1950's homes I've come across that it, at least, was industry standard to place an outlet about 40"+AFF in the dining room for a toaster or percolator. But kitchen counter outlets were scarce for the most part. A 1906 house I went to once had no outlets whatsoever in the bedrooms, (but there was a gasline in the baseboard. A 1903 house in LA I went to had an outlet halfway up the stairs, and one for the entire kitchen...
