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I'm remodeling my kitchen and noticed my dishwasher's electrical power was bare romex coming out of the wall. I thought to myself "I should install an outlet box and GFCI outlet to make this safer while I'm at it". But my spidey sense of effery tingled, so I decided to look up my muni electrical code.

Bare romex? Totally fine when the place was built, and totally fine now so long as I dont alter it. But if I want to do something sensible like install a GFCI outlet near water? Eff you skippy, you have to knock holes in walls to make the outlet "accessible". And behind the dishwasher isn't "accessible". Because apparently retards need to be able unplug their dishwasher for maintenance (why?) instead of flipping off the dedicated circuit it's on like a normal person.

No way in heck I'm turning 30 minutes to install an outlet into an all day job of fishing wires through walls. I'm literally less safe in my own home because of "safety" regulations.

I'm remodeling my kitchen and noticed my dishwasher's electrical power was bare romex coming out of the wall. I thought to myself "I should install an outlet box and GFCI outlet to make this safer while I'm at it". But my spidey sense of effery tingled, so I decided to look up my muni electrical code. Bare romex? Totally fine when the place was built, and totally fine now so long as I dont *alter* it. But if I want to do something sensible like install a GFCI outlet near water? Eff you skippy, you have to knock holes in walls to make the outlet "accessible". And behind the dishwasher isn't "accessible". Because apparently retards need to be able unplug their dishwasher for maintenance (why?) instead of flipping off the dedicated circuit it's on like a normal person. No way in heck I'm turning 30 minutes to install an outlet into an all day job of fishing wires through walls. I'm literally less safe in my own home because of "safety" regulations.

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Okay, so. It's modern code to have a GFCI on a kitchen dishwasher. I don't really agree with this; GFCIs can be overly sensitive and trip on perfectly safe equipment. But I understand. Even so, since it's grandfathered in I'd say leave it alone. If you want to improve safety I'd recommend adding a supplemental ground to the chassis. That way a short to the chassis will be more likely to trip the breaker.

As for making the GFCI "accessible" what I would recommend is installing another box with your GFCI in an accessible area, then chaining the outlet behind the dishwasher to it, rather than trying to make a hole to be able to reach it. Be careful to follow the instructions on how to chain additional loads to a GFCI outlet, I've seen a lot of people do it wrong. You can make sure it's wired up properly by using an outlet tester with a GFCI test button; you can get one for $6 at Horror Fright. This way you have an extra outlet if you need one.