I want to put a small window air conditioner in the kitchen. And the only outlet within what seems a hundred miles of this window is the fridge. Could I put it in the same outlet with the fridge? The air conditioner is 5000 BTU, and it states in the manual that it uses 490 watts. The fridge, I couldn't say for sure. But it is your average fridge, although it doesn't have a freezer section, it that matters or not. If using the same outlet isn't a good idea, my only other option is an extension cord that will need to run about 10-12 feet behind the fridge and stove to a gfci outlet at the counter. But that would be ugly. Anyway, thanks guys!

You could try, 490 wats is 4.08 amps. The fridge probably pulls a little less than 10 amps. If the fridge circuit is 20 amps you are OK. If the fridge line is 15 amps you are real close to the limit. If the power company cuts back on voltage to avoid a brown out you will probably trip a circuit breaker. Won't hurt anything. If it trips and you are not at home you may loose your ice cream.

Thanks for the info. Its on a 15 amp circuit, so it would be like you mentioned, close to the limit. But the fridge doesn't have a freezer, so I don't have to worry about my ice cream :) All kidding aside, I know that if it is overloaded, the breaker will trip (in my case, fuse). But I just wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be possibly doing damage to one or the other, because of the load. Particularly when either one comes on. I imagine it pulls a lot of current when they fire up.

I assume my other option, 12 foot extension cord behind the fridge and stove to the counter outlet is a worse idea?