[Johnny555]

>Just a waste of copper and a beaker really.

But also helps avoid the case where your coffee maker trips the breaker shared with your refrigerator and you don't notice until the food in the refrigerator is warm. (which was a risk in my previous apartment - the counter circuits were shared with the refrigerator). I think it makes sense to have it as a separate circuit.

[Scoundreller]

My thought was to share it with the lights, so you get an early indication if/when there is a fault than just your fridge going out.

> But also helps avoid the case where your coffee maker trips the breaker shared with your refrigerator and you don't notice until the food in the refrigerator is warm.

Didn’t notice the coffee was cold?

Overall, given the massive fears of a fridge failure, which can happen beyond just electrical failures, very very very few people have any kind of monitoring/alarming for this event. You’d think that would be the first requirement.

[bregma]

> counter circuits were shared with the refrigerator

Ouch. Code here (Ontario) is that not only does the fridge need a separate circuit, but counter outlets need two separate circuits: each socket on the duplex outlet is required to be on a separate circuit (although multiple outlets can all share the same two circuits, but you're supposed to alternate top and bottom).

Of course, if your home is older than I am or it's a handyman special, all bets are off. If I run the microwave while someone is vacuuming in another part of the house it'll trip the breaker.

[brewdad]

Good point. I haven’t tripped a GFCI in a long while but I don’t actually know if my fridge will lose power when I do trip the GFCI. My guess is that it will since it does have a water line and ice dispenser so probably requires being wired into the same circuit.