The guy has no clue.

Appliances made to accept custom panels are not new . The Germans have been paneling them for close to four decades with no problems, and they certainly have high gloss finishes as do the Italians.

Maybe your guy knows something about Omega' s quality that makes him leery ?

My guess is he just has a personal bias , or is simply ignorant.

I see that configuration pretty regularly in manhattan kitchens. Outside of a few incidents, none of them have had moisture problems concerning the panels.

I think there were or are a few kitchenaid and or whirlpool models that caused some problems, but I've ALWAYS worked from the premise that a paneled dishwasher needs to be a European model/ manufacturer......PERIOD. Miele, Asko, Bosch or their siblings or cousins. Blomberg and SMEG have it figured out also.

Don't want that, or want to spend that much??? Don't want a paneled dishwasher.

Thanks folks!