I actually prefer the stainless showing instead of the panels. The appliances break up the monotony of the cabinets and bring a little interest.

We have a DW panel because you can see it from the dining room. (And it wasn't that much $$.) We didn't get panels on the frig because we absolutely wanted ice and water through the door and if the frig couldn't be totally hidden with panels, we didn't think they were worth the $$.

I think paneled frigs that are indistinguishable from the rest of the cabinetry are very slick. The ones that show a bit of stainless or black trim around the edge of each panel, OTOH, are worse than no panel at all.

erikanh:
that seems like an incredibly high price for one panel. Is it a hardwood finish? Our cabs (admittedly, painted with simple shaker design) for the entire huge kitchen were $30K, and that included panels for the Therm fridge and freezer columns, two dishwashers, and the beverage center.

At any rate, we love the panels on the Therms and the Miele DW's. The Therms are true integrated units. When closed, there is absolutely nothing showing: no edge trim showing, no exposed ventilation grills. Only giveaway is the hardware. Same for the DW's. I love the look. Hope to have pictures posted soon as we are at 95% done.

$2500 does seem ridiculously high. I think I was quoted about $1400 for wood panels for the Thermador frig/freezer columns. I wound up getting the stainless panels anyway. You should push back on that price if you're really interested.

I don't know how much our panels cost (but I do know that my going crazy with the superfluous hardware cost a pretty penny!) but I cannot imagine our kitchen any other way. Like the above posters, however, we have the Thermador columns which are integrated, so they totally blend in. It was "necessary" (ha ha) for them to be paneled.

Erika, I love the way they look. I love them, and I absolutely believe the paneled fridge and freezer help "make" our kitchen (that and the marble backsplash).

I resisted paneling the DW initially (while plans were being drawn up), but capitulated early on. DH liked the idea and I figured it would be one less thing to clean (vs a SS door and all). Very glad we paneled it!

As for the fridge, I was never a big fan of those either, and like the look of a big ol' built-in SS fridge, so we never even considered paneling that. Sometimes I think it would have been nicer to have paneled it (KA SS is hard to clean w/out streaking, espeially the large surface area of the doors, and spot cleaning is pretty much impossible to do), but we have the ice/water dispenser on the door. I think a panel might start to show more wear and water damage over time (below the dispenser).

That's really expensive for fridge panels. We got both the DW and the fridge panels because we wanted that furniture look. It all depends on what look you want. The only advantage I see other than the look you are going for, is that you don't have to deal with the smudging of stainless.

Our quote on a 3 door REF panel (french w/bottom freezer) was $644. $2500 is pretty darn expensive. Our 2 drawer DW panels came in at $464.

Panels for my sub zero (from Omega) were close to the $2500 cost (I think it was 2300 or something?). I didn't want them so I didn't have to worry about it.

I like panels when they look like RM's kitchen. Totally TOTALLY integrated into the design. But if you have a water dispenser on the outside, it's obvious it's not a cabinet...it's a fridge, so in my opinion...it's just a waste of money.

I have one for my DW because it made design sense on the line of cabinetry on that run, but for the fridge, it's just a stainless fridge and I like it that way.

I have panels on my Thermador columns with an exterior ice/water dispenser and I love the look of them. In my kitchen, I do not have a lot of upper cabinets, so I went with wood range hood and wood panels to help give the appearance of lots of cabinets. It worked. I don't know the breakdown cost of the panels (I'm sure $2500 is in the ballpark), but the Thermador columns were about $800 less each for being panel-ready instead of having a stainless door. It didn't completely offset the price, but helped a little.

Wow! We were thinking about panelling our fridge. We love the integrated look as well. If it will cost us $2500, however, we are going SS for sure.

I had wood panels in my old house on all appliances. It was expensive and wouldn't do it again. I had them on my sub zero, dishwasher, etc. I opted to have all SS and let it show and like the look, it breaks up the kitchen and I like that, not just a row of sameness. It's just your taste though.

I'm going to double check on the price. The line item says $2500, but now I'm not sure if that includes the "40% off retail price" figure that's listed on the summary page. I'm not even sure what retail price means when dealing with a cabinet company that only sells directly to the consumer (Crown Point).

We just got panels for our new Kitchenaid refrigerator and are sending the refrig back and getting a stainless steel one instead. The Kaid refrig was black with a stainless steel trim kit and then our panels fit on the front. I HATED the way it looked. The stainless steel handles and trim kit looked cheap and then we had 3 colors going..black, ss and our cherry wood. Also, the water/ice maker on the front only comes in black. I don't know how much the panels were (they were included in our entire cabinet price) but we are NOT using them. It looked like we were trying to do custom cabinets with a built in refrig but we didn't quite make the mark. I told my husband either you do it all the way (built in refrig with custom cabs - very $$$$) or not at all.

I agree, either go full integrated where you cant tell where the fridge is (that means no dispenser, flush with cabinets) or just go ss. That's how I see iy anyway

Have you seen jen4268's kitchen?

of her paneled side-by-side fridge / freezer with door water / ice.

, although in it the temporary pulls are on (it's before her pulls were put on). Just so you can get a better idea if you like the way it looks.

She's great about answering questions if you want to ask her how her water / ice is working with the panels on her thread.

(I asked about her breakfast table yesterday morning. On a whim we four piled into the car to head down to the only "nice" antiques store I know of in Denver [it is a wasteland 'round here, or else I haven't yet ferreted them out!] and found some wonderful trestle tables [like hers] but immediately realized since we want to comfortably seat six it's not a good idea for us.
{{!gwi}}
the people on the ends wouldn't have the happiest knees ...

So we found these tables
{{!gwi}}{{!gwi}}
but then I'm really wondering if it isn't better to get an inexpensive crap table that won't make my blood boil when [not if] the children abuse .... Plus, I really was looking forward to taking a break from spending money! Rather, I feel done, finito, with the kitchen. We haven't finished in the family room and the children and I are slowly but surely working on the backyard. Hmph.)

Hi Erika
I have a CP quote here too and I think the $ on the line item is before the discount so it is really $2500 discounted to $1575.

If I had a fully integrated fridge I would do it, but I don't. However I am thinking of replacing the DW with a fully integrated one so I can get the panel. I think that somehow it is more aesthetically necessary to get that DW covered and not break that line of cabinets, whereas the big fridge looks OK being a fridge. May-be it's just my rationale since we are not going to replace the fridge! (For $1575, though I could buy a new dishwasher!)

Hey, have you decided to go with Crown Point?????

Brooke, you're a mind reader ... I had saved a picture of her fridge to show the KD the look I wanted. Except her fridge is built in, and mine will be counter depth made to look built in (hopefully). I can't see myself spending $6k+ for a fridge that might not last more than a few years, which is the same reason I'm hesitant to spend $1000 or $1600 for panels, even though I really do love the look. If I were still getting the F&P fridge I could probably justify the cost of the panels to myself since we get a nice employee discount, BUT I just read on the appliance forum the fridge I was planning to buy got a bad CR rating for 10 degree temp differences.

Sounds like you gals had a fun shopping trip. =) I'd avoid a breakfast table you'd have to baby too. Mine's not an antique but even so I was worried at first about scratches etc. Luckily, the top has some distressing which hides the new scratches.

sayde, thanks for clarifying the line item price for me. I agree that the DW panels are definitely worth it. I'm still waiting to hear prices from Cabico, can you believe it? The Crown Point KD is coming down on Thursday to visit. She assured me that it wouldn't obligate me to order from them; she said she'll bring some samples and she welcomes an excuse to get out of the office.

I am happy with my panels. I dont know how much it costs, it was part of the package. No fingerprints!!

Picture of my panels(didnt go through above, new at using photobucket!!!)

Here is a link that might be useful: