Kenmore dishwasher I ran my dishwasher last night and this morning it was still on in the drying cycle had melted several things. Any ideas what is bad - control board or timer?

If the door is not locking properly there is a chance that the door lock switch is not being closed. This will shut off power to many of the circuits, including power to the water fill solenoid, etc. Latch mechanisms are available separately.

you will need a new timer

This is most likely the control panel on the door. The part is about 160 dollars. If you have a technician come and do the diagnostics and part replacement you are looking at about 300.

I will look a bit further in detail about your dishwasher problem. I am assuming you have checked the inlet water tap to the dishwasher is turned on.

You dont really need it, when the washer gets done Open the door for a minute and let the steam out and shut the door dishes will then dry. the reason there still wet is because of the steam from the Hot water

remove the water and, the burnt plastic that probanly melted on the dish drying heater coil
close and, lock the door turn the dishwasher back on and, reset the circuit breaker to see if the motor will run or, is damaged

After you turn off the power to your dishwasher, you can inspect the dishwasher with a flashlight to find where the melting happened. If it is near the circle that is the heating element, you can suspect the timer froze during the drying cycle.

But also open things up and look for shorted/melted wires (in the door panel and under the dishwasher.)

No matter what you find, if you have proof of purchase for your dishwasher, I would press for repair/replacement from the manufacturer.

Good Luck!

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replace the dishwasher thermistor if it didn't work than replace the computer board.

The problem appears to stem from the float and float switch. The float is a mushroom shaped plastic part that resides on the bottom left, just inside the door. It appears that the float does not release the float switch, causing the dishwasher to think it is full of water, and won't allow the dishwasher to fill. It's a relatively straight forward repair, but even with a new part, the same scenario is likely to repeat itself until the float or float switch is modified by Kenmore.