What are those two regulations? The California Electrical Code 2010 has that no point on the wall space behind a countertop can be more than 600mm (24in) away from an outlet, which actually means an outlet every <i>4 feet</i> (2 feet space are allowed either side) (Article 210.52). I don&#x27;t see 18 in in there.<p>There&#x27;s a good diagram of the regulations here: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;buildingincalifornia.com&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2014&#x2F;01&#x2F;ResKitchenReceptacles.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;buildingincalifornia.com&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2014&#x2F;01&#x2F;R...</a> ... but there&#x27;s similar drawings explaining this in the code itself.<p>I&#x27;m not doubting that there&#x27;s weird inconsistencies in the rules, but the 18in thing struck me as weird from my own experience of remodelling my house recently, so I looked up the CA code. Apparently SF are still fighting Carl Malamud to stop him putting their building code online. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;stream&#x2F;gov.ca.sf.electrical&#x2F;ca_sf_electrical_djvu.txt" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;stream&#x2F;gov.ca.sf.electrical&#x2F;ca_sf_electr...</a><p>(edited to fix 300mm to 600mm. I know 600mm isn&#x27;t quite 24in but that&#x27;s what the code says)