Thanks normel, that makes one less thing I have to worry about on this basement project. I'm not much more than half done with it and it's already cost almost as much as I had estimated for the whole thing. I put in a full bath by myself down there a couple of years ago and that got real expensive real fast, so I should have known this would too.

I vote cord and plug as you described.

lcskaisgir- thank you for sharing this is really helpful! I love your backsplash tile - very pretty. ctydm (I wish I knew your real name - you've been so helpful). Now that I'm seeing these junction boxes and envisioning this thing stuck on the bottom of the shelf I'm tending to agree. I wasn't as concerned with the cords hanging but I really don't think there's going to be any way to avoid seeing the plugmold given that our kitchen is long and narrow and everything will be viewed on an angle. This really screws me up for the backsplash though - I think the plugs horizontally and low on the backsplash will work just fine, now how do I rectify the outlets in the 3x12" glass tile. I'm going to research glass outlet covers, or maybe stainless? i'd like to keep it clean and tidy as possible, and not require the tileguy to do too much cutting. Thusly?

Interesting thread. Our 20 year old Kitchen Aid DW smoked badly 2 weeks ago and probably was a couple minutes from flaming. Had we not been there to turn the breaker switch off out in the garage the acrid smoke from the smoldering PC board with lots of plastic parts would have ruined every bit of carpet, drapes, and upholstery in the entire house. But lucky for us, no house fire, just a small amount of smoke damage. Others not so lucky (search "Whirlpool dishwasher fires" if you want to understand how unsafe their different brands of dishwashers are (includes Kitchen Aid, Maytag, and some Kenmores)). Bought a Bosch 300 replacement. Old installation was hardwired (meaning a 4 foot section of 12 gauge Romex cable was attached to the old Kitchen Aid with wire nuts. The cause of the near fire was the fact that most manufacturer's PC boards that handle 10-15 amps of current cannot reliably OVER TIME handle that high of a current safely-eventually their relatively cheap boards will wear out and start to fail-generally with a small amount of arcing at first. Kind of like a small hole in a dam that leads to a huge flood. I had a circuit board failure on a GE oven-luckily the circuit trace open circuited and did not smoke or flame. Another case of a cheap circuit board being asked to handle large currents. I too added a wall mounted receptacle in a convenient spot under the kitchen sink very close to the Bosch's power cord outlet. Still with me? Sorry, I'm an engineer and don't know how to keep things short-here's the important part: I installed a 20 amp dual function AFCI/GFCI receptacle (Leviton brand, $32 at HD) in hopes of avoiding damage should the Bosch fail sooner or later. AFCI is critical (Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter); it detects very low level arcing that you will never hear-especially if you go to bed and run the dishwasher-and quickly remove power from the failing appliance. This is (as Leviton's lawyers probably demand) to "help" reduce the risk of fire. GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interruptor-aka "GFI") performs its age old task of removing power in the event it detects 0.005 Amps of leakage current; it is designed to "help" reduce the risk of shock or electrocution from that leakage current going through you and me. My guess: AFCI was invented to cover a new type of hazard coming from appliances now having electronic control boards that are inadequately designed to handle large currents needed to run heaters in dishwashers and clothes dryers as well as most any appliance having a larger motor. A secondary concern is the small power relays that are mounted on the control boards-they have very little safety margin (the Kitchen Aid used a 10 amp relay to operate a heater that required at least 10 amps)-over time that is a failure guaranteed to happen. Bosch's junction box was a $30 option at HD and I wanted nothing to do with it-and that was before I learned anything at all about all the JB's failures. Good engineering practice told me to do the job right with the best parts I could find. When the Bosch fails-not if, but when-my hope is the Leviton receptacle will do its job. Oh yes, as found at other sites that delve into the Whirlpool/Kitchen Aid control board fires, neither the fusible link on the my control board nor the house circuit breaker tripped to remove power and lessen the damage. My best guess is that the current draw while the board was smoldering was below the trip current for those two devices. Bottom line for me: most "modern" home appliances have a high risk of failure over time. I will make sure that every circuit that powers an appliance in my house has an AFCI/GFCI for protection to life and home. I installed a second one for the garbage disposal and will do the kitchen appliance circuit next. The house is 20 years old and for whatever reason only has GFIs for the bathroom circuits. At $32 bucks a pop that is pretty cheap insurance. Note: dual function AFCI/GFCI circuit breakers are also available and may be a better choice for your house. I did not go that route because our breaker panel is in the garage which gets quite hot in the summer and I don't want to have failures due to the heat (my understanding is there are electronic devices in both types of AFCI/GFCI units). If the breaker panel were inside the house I would put the upgrade in the breaker panel, as that adds extra protection for the wiring from the panel to the appliance-something the receptacle version does not do. The dual function breaker unit typically runs around $70-$80. Back to the Bosch junction box-none of the pictures of damaged boxes shown here surprise me-thanks for showing them. In a way, those poor things are being asked to do a tough job and if anything is wrong-either with their design or their installation-then problems are likely. Kind of like trying to run a marathon every month in 125 degree weather-sooner or later even the best athletes will fail. I designed and built high end factory automation hardware for a company that never took short cuts-I don't think I could live with myself working for an appliance manufacturer, especially after seeing how they try to avoid any responsibility for their unsafe products. Suggestion: never leave any heat generating appliance running with no one at home or with the family asleep. Good luck!