Over the course of my career I have wired hundreds of homes in Las Vegas, NV, but I haven’t wired one in the past ten years. The rule for kitchen receptacles was always, a minimum of two small appliance circuits with no more than four receptacles per circuit (local code perhaps).

Currently we are in the process of buying a new home from one of the national home builders in Texas and their electrician just finished roughing in the house. They provided the required minimum two circuits, but have seven outlets on one and eight outlets on the other. Is this acceptable?

It's legal. Whether it is acceptable is up to you. It's your house.

Along those same lines, if they install more than two 20a. small appliances circuits (and I would) the NEC only requires that we count two circuits when sizing the Service. On the other hand, if we are using the IRC (International Residential Code) we count all of the 20a. small appliance circuits and all are figured into the Service calculation.

Well that cleared that up. Guess I have no qualm with them then. I searched through 210 and 220 couldn’t find a four outlet rule for the kitchen. Thanks for your replies.

Do any of you put more than four outlets on a small appliance circuit?

I wouldn't considering the heavy load most kitchen appliances have, but I don't know of any code requirement that prevents it.

The GFI device they are all fed from may determine how many you can have on each circuit. Most devices are 6. CB different story.

7 and 8 is a bit too high. If this kitchen is big, with lots of counter space for appliances, use the "Thanksgiving method" for load calculation. (Or TLA, Turkey Load Amperage, it best to size the service for X-mas load amperage.) How much stuff can you have going on Thanksgiving? Micro, toaster oven, mixer, blender, electric knife, slow cooker, wok, turkey deep fryer? If you can fit all kinds of stuff up there, do your own per-counter-top-foot calculation, like 700w per foot.

With 17 outlets on 2 20A circuits, you could have a max of 68' of countertop, @ 70+watts fer foot. One could put a lot of appliances on 68'!

I agree with attempting to cover the likely load. If I have them option (and the customer's understanding) I usually provide a circuit per two receptacles, plus a dedicated circuit for the refrigerator; not because it uses that much power, but to reduce the likelihood of spoiling food.