No one has weighed in on this, so I'm bumping. HELP!! We're planning to screw in the cabinet tonight or tomorrow and I'm still on the fence. Should we put a cover panel against the wall?

Here's a wider shot of the wall & cabinets. Bear in mind the tall cabinet it NOT screwed in yet, it's pretty much just wedged in between the fridge and wall. You can also see the cover panel for the fridge here too.

I can't tell, but it looks like the cabinet box is the exact depth of the opening. If so, then the cabinet doors will sit in front of it. I don't think you need a cover panel there. The only reason I would consider it would be if you are installing side panels on the other side so that they cover the side of the DOOR rather than just the side of the cabinet BOX. Then you might want the other panel for balance. But even then, that would be just 3/4" of panel sticking out and wouldn't really be necessary.

We used IKEA cabinets. We only have one wall cabinet and it is between two sheetrock walls. We mounted it so that the doors rather than the box would be flush with the opening. But you may not have enough room to do that.

Hmmm. Can I ask you why you have the panel on the left side (between the cab and the fridge)? From the pics, it dosn't look like it's needed there; it looks like the cabinets totally cover the side of the fridge.

If you can take out the left panel, also forgo one on the right. Unless you like the look of a little reveal between the door edge and the next item. it they are installed as you show the left one, with their front edge flush with the cabinet body (rather than with the front of the door) then they will create little shadow lines to either side of the cabinet doors. Do you want that? What is the detail like bwtween the doors everywhere else in the kitchen? Personally, I would want that gap to be consistent throughout the kitchen.

Does that make sense? Right now, you're going to have a shadow line between the doors of the over-fridge cabinet and those of the pantry cab to the right. Look at the big picture and see where other gaps like that occur. If they're everywhere between cabinets, then great, add another panel (or just a little spacer, it doesn't have to be a whole expensive cover panel) to the right of the tall cab next to the drywall. But if you don't have gaps elsewhere, get rid of the existing cover panel and don't add one next to the drywall.

If you added the panel on the right of the fridge to mirror one on the left of the fridge (can't see in the photos) then just be aware you're going to have that shadow line. If that's the case (that you need a panel on the left side of the fridge because there's open counter there), maybe you don't need the cover panel to go all the way to the top between the cabinets. Butt the uppers together and cut the cover panel to go up only as high as underneath the upper, so it covers the fridge side but doesn't extend between the two upper cabs like you have the right-hand one now. I just don't see any reason to do that. Typically the uppers -and lowers for that matter- are all butted together, and cover panels simply are cut to fill the gap between the counter and uppers. Unless there are no lowers, and then obviously it does all the way to the floor....

I can probably find some images if you need illustration.

I wouldn't put one in. You won't be seeing the cab frame, which is the whole reason to have a cover panel. I'm on the fence as to whether I'm going to bother putting one on the side of my 24" pantry, and it's about 5" from the wall, in the corner by the window.

I'm also w/ Staceyneil that I'd remove the one from next to the fridge too.

Thanks for the straight forward advice. I'm going to take out the panels surrounding the fridge. I'm so glad I posted. Hopefully we'll get these cabinets set on Saturday and I'll start to feel like we're making progress, woohoo!