Come on People !!! Stop over engineering this !
We're talking about a stove in a persons house not a restaurant.
"A work surface " How much prepping do you do BEHIND your stove ?
Not accessible ? pull the drawer, out reach in and unplug it.
Protection from floor cleaning equipment ?
OK who here pulls their range out to run the floor buffer behind it ?
Grease and BOILING water ? I can't ever recall anyone spilling boiling water BEHIND the stove . on it ,in front of it , maybe down the side. I have pulled out my fair share of ranges and have never come across ones that are coated in grease. I have seen roaches, mouse crap , I even found a dead mouse once.
I have installed the outlets on the floor and will continue to do so. Have you ever paid attention to the design of the back of the stove ? You do not have a lot of room for that big range cord. I think there is an issue with protection of the cord. I did short mine out when sliding the range in.
I don't mean to be a jerk and point fingers at any one person and if I offended anyone I do apologize, but it seems that as professionals, we ( electricians) like to take any issue and " make" the code fit.
Sometimes we must remember to use common sense and not make a mountain out of an ant hill.
OK I'm stepping off the soap box and waiting for the back lash from my comments made here.
