I am trying to figure out how to SAFELY be able to use more than one appliance at a time, given my plugs, counters, etc.
Someone upthread misunderstood or I misspoke: the OUTLETS are not all 3 prong…
Yeah, it’s a bitch to fix a meal when you have to use cooking tools sequentially…making some piccata the other day, my instant pot was doing my pasta (perfectly…it is amazing) and I fire up the induction to start sauteeing my chicken… poof. 
It sounds like you are using a portable plug-in induction burner. Do you have a stove? Maybe use that instead of the portable induction burner.
Also, I strongly recommend plugging the high-power devices directly into the wall outlets instead of using the old power strip and extension cord.
No stove…hence the electrical appliance array.
Any chance you can connect the appliances directly to a wall outlet (no extension cord)? This is much the best practice with high-current (e.g. heat-producing) devices.
Locating the pasta pot across the room is probably inconvenient, but better than blowing breakers or causing a fire.
All of that is current code. When was the OP residence built?
A house from the 60s might have 2 outlets in the kitchen and a 10 amp breaker behind both of them.
It may not be possible to do this safely at all. The preliminary evidence is that it is not. Here’s how to know for sure …
What you need to do first is to map out which circuit breakers (or fuses) in the power panel connect to which kitchen outlets. Including the outlet the fridge plugs into. You do this by plugging something low-powered into the outlet, turn the device on, then flip circuit breakers one at a time until you find the breaker that controls that outlet. Lather rinse repeat. Do NOT assume that both outlets in a pair are on the same circuit breaker; test them separately.
Label all the outlets on any single breaker/fuse the same, e.g. “A” or “B” or whatever. That way for every outlet you’ll know which breaker/fuse feeds power to it.
Then …
Whichever breaker has the fridge on it (let’s say it’s breaker “C”) can never have ANY heating appliance used on it. No heating appliances can ever be plugged into any outlet labeled “C”.
At most 1 heating appliance can be used among all the A outlets simultaneously. Never 2 or more.
Separately at most 1 heating appliance can be used among all the B outlets simultaneously. Never 2 or more.
etc. for however many other labels/breakers/fuses feed power to your kitchen.
I suspect you will find that you have at most 2 circuits. If your lucky it’s two plus the fridge for a total of 3.
Once you know how many appliances you can use at once …
In every case the appliance must be directly plugged into the wall outlet using the appliance’s built-in cord. No extension cords of any kind. No power strips of any kind. No multiple plug thingies AKA “cube taps”.
The above is the ONLY safe way to do this. Anything else is a fire hazard. It sucks to live with an inadequately wired kitchen. But wishful thinking won’t turn it into a modern one equipped for many high-draw items to be used at once.
Note all my restriction apply to heating appliances. ONE small thing like a hand mixer, coffee grinder, mini-cuisinart, can opener, blender, etc. can be used in in addition to the heating appliance(s).
That’s it. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
I very much appreciate the information and clarity thank you.
You reminded me of a house I lived in about 20 years ago that had such a messed up set up with the garbage disposal and dishwasher and so forth that I actually got shocked multiple times by the water running over my hands in the sink. That was great.
I’m not used to this new board, That was directed at Jackie…
Aside from the electrical factors which have been mentioned, there is another reason to never, ever use an extension cord or power strip in the kitchen. If the cord is pulled on somehow (by a child, by getting caught on something you are moving, etc.), it may pull the hot appliance off the counter and onto a person. This is obviously very bad if the appliance has a pot of hot oil or boiling water.
Electrical cooking appliances have 2-foot cords for this reason, not because they are cheap. Many people have suffered horrific injuries because a long cord was pulled and the appliance tipped its contents out. Accept the inconvenience and never use extension cords. Pay an electrician to install additional outlets if you must.
Interesting thread. The short answer: bring in an electrician. You will most likely need him to install more outlets and check the circuit breaker box to determine how much power you can draw in total and per outlet.
Since you are using cooking appliances, they are each drawing a lot of power. Here you do need someone to check what is permissible if you don’t know much about electricity. And yes, there is a good reason why cooking and heating appliances have short cords.
Happy and safe cooking!
There was a boy in my grade school class with horrible burn scars on his neck and shoulder and what I was told (by someone else; never asked him directly) was that as a toddler, he pulled the coffee maker off the counter and was burned by the hot water.
I likewise knew someone in junior high with horrific burns on his torso. I wouldn’t have noticed if he weren’t in my gym class. I didn’t know the details why, aside from it being a kitchen accident with hot oil.
It can happen very easily. I pulled a steaming cup of coffee off the table when I was 11 months old when I used the tablecloth to try and stand up. Ended up in the burn ward for a month.
I’ve told this story a time or two.
As a 15yo I had an office job in the bookkeeping office. At the adjacent desk was a hot older woman of about 22. The break room had those multi-gallon coffee urns that dispensed 150F coffee all day. She’d gotten a very large styro of coffee and as she finished sitting down at her desk she set it directly in front of her, but mistakenly only halfway on the desk and halfway out in space. As she let go it tipped towards her and dumped the whole contents onto her tummy and into her lap. I can still hear that primal howl she let out. Not a sound you ever want to hear.
Ambulance hauls her off to the ER, and after two weeks off work she returned walking bow-legged, wearing muumuus, & AFAIK no undies for another month. She survived with no permanent damage she was willing to show me, but I never saw her drink coffee again. She did tell the other women in the office that she never had to shave again.
The worst part: She was a nursing student who did her practicals at that ER. She knew everybody on duty when she was brought in. And they knew her. Poor thing!
I have never owned a deep fryer and never will. The thought of that much hot oil in my house scares me too much. Boiling water is bad, but 300+F oil’s a whole 'nother kind of life changing experience.
OP, while you are doing this take note of the little number on the breaker that states its size. 15 & 20 should be the most common. Depends on the age of the wiring as to which you probably have.
On the subject of power strips, here is a earlier thread on the subject. In that thread I said,
I have a power strip rated for 15 A. I took it apart. As you can see, the hot contacts for the six receptacles are tied together using a stamped, elongated metal strip. There’s an identically-looking strip used for the neutral contacts. Each strip contains spring tabs for making electrical connections to the prongs of each plug. It looks like the spring tabs are made using a punch and die.
I don’t know what the strips are made of. They look like they’re brass, though I’m not sure if they’re solid brass or if they’re solid copper with some kind of plating (brass or nickel plating?).
In pics 7, 8, and 9 I insert a plug into the contacts. I’m not an ME, but I am skeptical the spring force can remain constant after many years of use based on this design. It just looks very sub-par in my book.
There is a UL sticker on the enclosure. I assume this means it complies with UL 1363, which also means each of the six receptacles must meet UL 498 requirements. According to UL 1363, if a 15 A load is plugged into one of the six receptacles, the temperature rise of the electrical contacts should not exceed 30 °C above ambient.
So yea, my power strip should be O.K. when the load current is 15 A. But something still bothers me about it. I have heard quite a few stories (albeit anecdotal) about power strips melting or catching fire. Regular 120 V / 15 A wall receptacles (NEMA 5-15R / UL 498) do not seem to have this reputation.
So let’s compare a power strip to a standard 15 A/120 VAC wall receptacle. Here is a folder showing how I took apart a brand new 15 A/120 VAC wall receptacle. Note the large size of the contacts and “real” looking springs. I also noticed the insertion force was significantly greater when compared to the power strip.
So power strips might meet spec when they’re new, but I suspect the contact force decreases over time due to a crappy & cheap design.
BTW, a quick check suggests that induction plates, instant pots, electric grills and electric skillets are all rated in the 1000 - 1800 watt range. Running any two of them on a 15 amp circuit may draw enough to trip the breaker. A 20 amp might handle two of them if they add up to less than 2400, but it’s getting close, and I’m guessing you don’t know which outlets in your kitchen (and other rooms in the house) are on the same circuit. It’s worth investigating to figure that out, BTW. If nobody’s done that and written it down, just shut of the breakers one by one and see which outlets / built in appliances are dead. It can be surprising what’s sharing a circuit. The guys who put in a whole house fan in my house, for instance, wired it to a circuit that one of the kitchen outlets and the whirlpool tub in the bathroom are on. Conceivably, I suppose I could overload it by turning the fan on set to high, plugging in a power hungry appliance in the kitchen, and having a whirlpool bath.