zlacker

It's certainly an issue in Europe, especially in older buildings. As an example, my apartment has two breakers - one for the oven, and one for everything else. Which means that in terms of appliance use, I can run my washer, dryer, microwave, or vacuum - attempting to run any two of those at once practically guarantees tripping the breaker.

>>tallan+(OP)
I guess it depends if regulations have forced an upgrade of the wiring.

My mum's house is from 1905, but had to be required when she bought it in 1980, and there's no problem running everything in the kitchen at once, plus many portable heaters. We did this at Christmas a couple of years ago when the gas heating broke. I can't remember ever tripping a breaker.

My apartment's main breaker is rated to 50kW, with the oven and hob and laundry machines on 3-phase power, and several 230V 16A circuits for lights and sockets.