wasn't mean't to belittle your abilities. I'm fairly sure you have dabbled on many occasions. Just as a side note, whats the chance of the eye level microwave having a lead of about 1-1.5m in length? This would mean some poor sod is going to have to arrange some kind of platform about chest height to place the microwave on whilst faffing around trying to un-plug it. Unless of course he has a gorilla-like forearm that can easily carry a 38kg lump safely whilst trying to unplug with the other hand. (which brings me dangerously close to discussing one of my other pet hates- people who hard wire integrated ovens with a cable too short to allow the thing to be removed and put straight on the floor, gits)Even without being a practising electrician who has ever carried out an EICR, I agree with you totally, would never do that myself and have often cursed when I have encountered such a situation - although I obviously don't undertake formal EICRs, I have been known to work on electrical installations, and some of us non-electricians do undertake 'periodic I&T' for our own purposes, you know-I would always like to be able to isolate an appliance easily.
-If you were a practising electrician who has ever carried out an EICR, you would consider the person who installed a socket behind a 38Kg appliance which has then been securely fastened into a kitchen carcass to be a total winker of the highest order.
i don't see 526.3 having much scope for mis-interpretation, its very clear and simple. IMO, there are no ifs or buts about it, nothing wider to discuss.However, BAS has raised an interesting point which widens the discussion. If one interprets the regs as prohibiting any inaccessible screwed connection (between a cable and anything),
IMO, no.is it actually compliant to do anything other than bringing an unbroken 'flying lead' (replacing it with a longer one if necessary) all the way from the appliance to an accessible place (such as the cupboard you mention)?
Using simple, established methods to comply with 526.3 should not present a problem to any decent electrician.
BTW, regards your comment about the regs not clarifying the word 'accessibility' well enough for you, i don't see why they need to really. After all, its not designed to be a 'dummies guide to lecktrickery' or a DIY instruction book. Imagine the authors probably thought the readers would be able to check the dictonary for any words they can't comprehend.