If your kitchen is like mine, the countertop is home to a lot of high-powered appliances, including a pressure cooker, though mine lives in a base cabinet when not in use. That begs the question: Does a pressure cooker need to be used on the countertop? With the help of an extension cord, couldn’t it work its magic anywhere, freeing up workspace along the counter?

That’s a hard no. The reason has to do with the intense power draw of a pressure cooker, some of which operate at 1,250 watts or higher. (The same goes for multi-cookers, with their high-powered sear settings.) A standard 15-amp, 120-volt electric outlet, the kind common to kitchens, can handle around 1,500 watts, so a pressure cooker is no problem. Indoor extension cords, by comparison, might only be rated for 10 amps, in which case the wattage capacity will top out around 1,200 watts.

In that scenario, the intense electrical current produced in the pressure-cooking process could end up frying the extension cord’s thin wiring, leading to the risk of fire. At the very least, the extension cord will be ruined, and the pressure cooker could end up cooked as well.

It’s also important to never overload your kitchen’s electric outlets by running two or more high-powered appliances at once. I once made the mistake of popping a piece of bread into the toaster oven while the pressure cooking was going. Even though the appliances were plugged into separate outlets on the backsplash, the outlets ran off the same circuit, so the breaker tripped.

Because the outlets in my home are all grounded, all I had to do was flip the breaker switch to get the power back. But many older homes still have ungrounded outlets. When these become overloaded, the buildup of heat can cause wiring behind the walls to melt and eventually ignite, creating a serious fire hazard.

More pressure cooker safety tips

  • Always pull the plug when not in use. A power surge during a storm or electrical fault in your home’s wiring could cause the heating element to turn on, creating the risk of fire.
  • Don’t let the cord dangle. A curious child or mischievous pet could pull on the cord, potentially yanking the pressure cooker down off the countertop.
  • Keep the cord away from heat sources. The open flame from a gas burner could light the cord on fire, while high heat from an electric cooktop could cause it to melt.
  • Never use below-counter plugs. Some kitchen islands have outlets down by the floor. Plugging a pressure cooker into them leaves the cord exposed.