Cabinet panel

A matter of taste...panel a cleaner more integrated look...stainless a little easier to find ....for guests,etc...I always feel better about a nice stainless surface for cleaning and durability

Well, you have to buy the cabinet panel ($$400-$1500) and pay someone that knows what they are doing to install it ($300 minimum trip charge from a cabinet installer) and that assumes that your cabinets are still new enough to easily source a panel from the company that built them. If they are older, that may not be possible. Partial, overlay cabinets like that are also the least successful at looking like real cabinets when paneled. Case in point is how the current DW looks right now with a full overlay panel. It was done poorly.

Sophie Wheeler, so you are saying that the current dishwasher panel was done poorly so we would have to get a new panel? If that's the case, then I might as well go with a stainless steel dishwasher? Do all of the kitchen appliances have to be the same brand name?

if hers was done poorly, what is the correct way? I don't think her current panel looks bad at all....but I'm not a professional...just wondering what it is supposed to look like when done "properly" thx

I'd go with the stainless steel, it will break up some of the white cabinets.

If you can reuse the same panel on a dishwasher you want then do that. Otherwise, stainless steel would look fine. The appliances don't need to be the same brand. Buy the brand that makes the best dishwasher. We love our Bosch dishwasher - very quiet and cleans perfectly.

Is it fairly easy to put a panel on a dishwasher? My husband is pretty handy. Or, would I need to hire someone.

My husband took ours off the old one and put it on the new one very carefully. It wasn't hard, but it was time consuming. Not all dishwashers use the same size panel. Measure well!

You have to follow the specific measurements of each appliance manufacturer. Even among the same manufacturer, the specs vary over time. It is doubtful that the old panel could be reused. And, you wouldn't want to reuse it.

The panel in a partial overlay kitchen is tricky. It should be a plain veneer panel that has a partial overlay door attached. The current panel mimics a full overlay door. That's why the whole thing looks off.

I think defiantly keep the panel, it gives your kitchen a continues look :]

I like DW with panel. It seems like there are panel only DWs. If you have a panel placed on a DW that is not panel ready, it may stick out further. The cost has gone up for this look. Check custom RTA cabinet doors on GW for costs.

I also vote for stainless steel because it will really break up all of that white you have going on.

My preference would be matching cabinet panel. You know where it is and visitors can be shown, if needed. Color matched to cabinets is my second choice.

I am so over stainless, although most dishwashers have it a color option for the panels. In my opinion stainless is a trend like black appliances were, if you like it use it. When you dishwasher needs replacing again you can always get a different color.