It’s easy to obsess over countertop slabs and cabinet hardware when planning a kitchen, but there’s one detail that quietly makes or breaks a high-end look: your dishwasher panel.
If you’ve ever walked into a kitchen where the dishwasher disappears into the cabinetry, you’ve seen the effect of a well-chosen custom panel. It doesn’t scream for attention, but it makes the whole room feel intentional, elevated, and cohesive.
At Knotty Nuff Wood, we’re all about that kind of detail—the things that make a space feel built just for you.
In this guide, we’ll walk through what you really need to know about custom cabinet panels for dishwashers. Whether you’re designing a kitchen from scratch or upgrading a few key elements, this is your go-to guide for making your dishwasher blend in beautifully.
What Is a Custom Dishwasher Panel, Anyway?
A custom dishwasher panel is a decorative front that matches your cabinetry and attaches directly to the dishwasher door.
Instead of a standard stainless steel finish, the appliance visually disappears, creating a sleek, seamless look across your lower cabinets.
You might also hear them called:
Integrated panels
Cabinet fronts
Appliance panels
Panel-ready dishwasher covers
They’re typically made from the same wood species, finish, and door style as the rest of your cabinetry, so the whole kitchen looks unified and custom, not like a mix of showroom pieces bolted together.
Standard vs. Panel-Ready Dishwashers
Before you start dreaming up wood grains and profiles, there’s one important thing to figure out: is your dishwasher panel-ready?
Not all dishwashers can accept a custom front. Here’s the difference:
Panel-Ready Dishwashers
These are designed to receive a custom cabinet panel from the start.
They’re sold with a bare door, mounting hardware or brackets, and typically have top-mounted controls that stay hidden once the panel is installed.
Standard Dishwashers
These come with a finished front—usually stainless steel or black plastic—and cannot be fitted with a custom panel.
You’ll sometimes see “hacks” like stick-on vinyl covers, but they won’t match your cabinetry or offer that seamless built-in look.
If you’re still shopping for appliances, this is a good time to press pause and make sure you’re choosing a panel-ready model.
Every dishwasher brand has its own specs for panel sizing and hardware, and getting that right is the foundation for a perfect custom fit.
How to Measure for a Custom Dishwasher Panel
Once you’ve confirmed your dishwasher is panel-ready, the next step is all about precision. Measuring for your custom panel isn’t complicated, but it has to be exact.
Even being off by a sixteenth of an inch can throw off the alignment or leave you with awkward gaps.
At Knotty Nuff Wood, we always start with the manufacturer’s spec sheet for the appliance. That one document will tell you everything you need to know: exact panel dimensions, minimum/maximum thickness, handle clearance, screw placement, and more.
What You’ll Typically Need to Measure
Panel Height – Usually just under 24 inches, but varies by brand
Panel Width – Often right around 23.5 inches
Panel Thickness – Most models recommend ¾-inch panels to match standard cabinet doors
Handle Clearance – Depending on your cabinet style, you may need to adjust handle placement or opt for a handle-free, push-to-open mechanism
And here’s the tricky part: the panel doesn’t always sit flush with your surrounding cabinets. Some dishwashers recess the panel slightly or require it to be framed within a certain zone.
That’s why following the appliance specs—not just your cabinet dimensions—is so important.
What Can Go Wrong (and How to Avoid It)
Even with good intentions, we’ve seen a few common mistakes:
Misreading the specs and building the panel to the overall dishwasher dimensions instead of the panel zone
Skipping the hardware step and assuming it’ll attach like a drawer front—it won’t
Forgetting the handle clearance, especially with inset cabinets
Overbuilding the panel so it ends up too thick or heavy for the appliance door mechanism
At Knotty Nuff Wood, we’ve worked with nearly every major brand and model, so we know how to design panels that not only look good, but open and close exactly as they should.
Designing a Panel That Actually Matches Your Cabinets
A well-fitted dishwasher panel means nothing if it looks like it doesn’t belong.
The goal is to make the appliance visually disappear into your cabinetry, so anyone walking into your kitchen has to look twice to spot the dishwasher.
That only happens when your panel matches the surrounding cabinets in style, material, finish, and proportions. Let’s break that down.
Cabinet Style: Frame, Overlay, or Inset?
This is where many people get tripped up—your dishwasher panel needs to follow the same cabinet construction style as the rest of your kitchen.
Full Overlay Cabinets
Most modern kitchens use full overlay doors, which cover nearly the entire face frame.
Your panel should extend edge-to-edge with consistent reveals, just like the doors and drawers around it.
Inset Cabinets
For inset styles, the panel must sit inside the cabinet frame opening with a tight reveal—usually around 1/8 inch.
This takes extra precision, and if your dishwasher model doesn’t accommodate an inset fit, you’ll need to adjust your expectations or go semi-inset.
Frameless / European Style
With no face frames and tight gaps between doors, this look is clean and minimal.
Your panel should align perfectly with the surrounding doors and drawer fronts. A slight misalignment can be way more noticeable in this setup.
Panel Profile: Raised, Recessed, or Slab?
Now, match the door style:
If your kitchen uses a Shaker profile, your panel should mirror that same rail-and-stile construction.
If you're working with slab-front cabinets, your panel should be a smooth flat panel with no routed details.
For raised panels, you’ll want to match the same bevels and contours to avoid a design mismatch.
We build all three styles regularly at Knotty Nuff Wood and can even replicate subtle variations if you have older cabinetry and no longer have the original specs.
Finish Matching: Stain, Paint, or Natural?
Matching the finish sounds simple—until you realize your kitchen cabinets were painted five years ago in a color you no longer remember, or the stain has patinaed over time.
Here’s how we handle it:
Stained cabinets? We’ll sample multiple test swatches on the same wood species until we get the undertone just right.
Painted cabinetry? We use high-quality color matching to replicate your existing shade, and can provide touch-up kits to blend it in perfectly.
Natural or clear-coated wood? We’ll match the grain orientation, species, and sheen to make sure it doesn’t stand out—even if it’s just a flat panel.
Wood Species Matters More Than You Think
Even with the same stain or paint, different wood types reflect light and color differently. A maple panel stained walnut will look slightly different than an oak door stained walnut.
That’s why we always match not just the color, but the species, grain direction, and texture.
Hardware, Handles, and Functional Considerations
Once your panel is sized and styled to match your cabinetry, the final piece of the puzzle is functionality.
That means making sure it’s not just beautiful, but also practical—easy to open, safe for the appliance, and built to last.
This is where your hardware choices and technical specs really start to matter.
Handle or No Handle?
Some panel-ready dishwashers come with a built-in handle. Others require you to add your own hardware, just like a cabinet door.
If your kitchen uses visible hardware, your panel should too. Choose a pull that matches the rest of your kitchen—same finish, size, and placement. And don’t eyeball it: align the handle height with adjacent drawers or cabinet doors for a clean look.
Want a minimalist, handle-free look? Opt for a push-to-open system, or choose a dishwasher model with top-edge touch controls that allow for a seamless, hardware-free panel.
At Knotty Nuff Wood, we can pre-drill for hardware placement or leave it up to your installer. Either way, we make sure everything’s lined up and ready for action.
Panel Weight and Door Mechanics
Every dishwasher has a recommended maximum panel weight, usually between 15 and 25 pounds, depending on the brand. Go heavier than that, and you risk:
Straining the door hinges
Interfering with the soft-close or push-to-open features
Voiding the manufacturer’s warranty
We carefully balance panel construction with weight requirements. That means using the right core materials, adjusting for thickness, and making sure your panel looks solid—but isn’t overly heavy.
Soft-Close, Spring-Assist, and Balance
Panel-ready dishwashers often come with spring-loaded hinges or adjustable tension systems. When the panel is attached, the door needs to:
Stay shut when closed
Not fall open too quickly
Not slam when released
If the panel is too heavy or installed improperly, those tension systems can fail or need serious adjusting.
We make sure every panel we design is built with those specs in mind, so the dishwasher opens with just the right amount of give and resistance.
Cutouts, Toe Kicks, and Ventilation
Last but not least: don’t forget the details at the bottom of the panel. Your custom piece may need:
A toe kick cutout to match the surrounding cabinetry
Vent slots or clearance if the dishwasher exhausts heat from the front (some do)
Integrated skirting if the panel extends to the floor
We design all of that into the panel so nothing feels like an afterthought.
Elevating Your Kitchen with Custom Dishwasher Panels
There’s a reason high-end kitchen designs almost always include integrated appliances: it’s not just about hiding the dishwasher—it’s about creating a space that feels cohesive, intentional, and built around your lifestyle.
Custom dishwasher panels are one of those details that might not be the first thing people notice, but they’re absolutely something they feel.
They soften the look of stainless steel-heavy kitchens, streamline visual lines, and elevate cabinetry from “nice” to “custom-crafted.”
Design That Feels Unified
When your dishwasher panel matches the grain, stain, and style of the rest of your kitchen, the whole space feels cleaner and more luxurious.
No visual interruption. No shiny appliance breaking up a warm wood tone or painted finish.
And if you’re working with Knotty Nuff Wood, we make sure everything matches—not just in color, but in depth, texture, and tone.
Whether you're doing a full custom build or retrofitting into an existing kitchen, we help bridge the gap between appliance and cabinetry so the entire room feels like a single composition.
Seamless Integration in Open-Concept Spaces
In open-plan homes, the kitchen is part of the living area.
That means every visual detail counts.
A panel-ready dishwasher tucked behind a matching cabinet face helps the kitchen blend in without calling attention to itself—perfect when your island or cabinetry is visible from your dining or lounge space.
Working With Existing Kitchens
You don’t need to gut your kitchen to go custom.
If you already have cabinetry you love, we can reverse-engineer a matching panel using photos, paint or stain samples, or even an extra drawer front.
Many of our clients send us an older door or drawer, and we craft a matching panel so seamless that even they forget where the dishwasher is after install.
Final Touches That Make It Yours
Looking for something beyond the standard? We’ve created panels with:
Vertical slats for a Scandinavian-inspired vibe
Custom inlays and routered edge profiles
Hand-rubbed finishes to match 20-year-old cabinets
Floating toe kicks for a super modern look
If you can imagine it, we can build it—because no one does wood like Knotty Nuff Wood.
Ready to Build Yours?
Custom cabinet panels may seem like a small piece of the kitchen puzzle, but when done right, they elevate the entire room.
They’re a subtle nod to craftsmanship, a rejection of mass production, and a smart way to make a hardworking appliance part of your design story—not a break in it.
If you’re ready to stop settling for stainless and start designing a kitchen that feels 100% yours, we’re here for it. Get in touch and let’s build something that blends in justright.