Whether you have to do it or not depends on the extent of your renovations. If your contractor has had to pull permits from your local building department, the local code enforcement inspector may require the disconnect - or, he may allow your old wiring to be grandfathered.
It's not a lot of work, even if it has to be done after-the-fact.
It worked before, it will work again. You might want to check with your building department as to what code is in your area. I've heard of that regarding garbage disposals, but not dishwashers. With a dishwasher where I am, all that's needed is water valves in case of a leak. But local codes do vary.
It would certainly have to be done in NEW construction, but a renovation, there may be grandfather provisions.
Still, if you want to have it done, it's not expensive.
House was built in 1989 in NY (not NYC), recently bought a new Bosch SHX68T55UC dishwasher. The old dishwasher (located on first floor) was hard wired in the house to the circuit breaker in the basement - no "safety switch". My question is, I'm being told that I have to have an outlet or a safety switch within reaching distance of the new dishwasher, and cannot have it hard wired to the circuit breaker - is this true? A friend of mine says he spoke with 4 electricians that said that must be done, since we just had the kitchen remodeled (new flooring, cabinetry, new oven/stove, new sink, but old dishwasher). However, the contractor that did the kitchen said he'll wire the new dishwasher in the same way the old one is. I'm so confused and don't want to end up screwing something up in the house that could cost me a ton of money!
