5+ years and no problems with my fully integrated Miele's wood panel.

If you have a careful adult loading the DW, sure, you won't have problems. If you have careless pre-teens doing it, skip the wood on the DW or fridge.

Humm...3 boys 6 and under. I dream of the day they will load the dishwasher, but I'm not sure it will come to fruition!
I wonder if the type of dishwasher matters?

I think the quality of the cabinet panel is what matters. These are now standard and done every day without incident. Odd that the cabinet guy doesn't want to do it.

My cabinet guy is hesitant to make me one because it is difficult to get them to the exact specs and I live far from their wood shop.

My Mom has has a paneled DW for 25 years and it still looks great.

He is actually the 2nd cabinet maker that has tried to talk me out of one. That is why I was wanting others' experiences.

Re getting the size exactly right, mine is a little off because the cabinet guy did not read the dishwasher specs. If they were followed exactly, the panels would have fit exactly. After 6 years there are no problems with warping.

It may depend on what kind of drying cycle your dishwasher has. If it has a heated cycle (with the heating element in the bottom of the washer) , it does cause steam and might be a problem. But a dishwasher with an air-circulating drying cycle should be okay. I would talk to an appliance store about this.

I've had fully integrated dishwashers in my last kitchen and in this one. Both were Askos, with the air-circulating drying. I've had no problem with warping.

I have had a wood panel on the dishwasher and a teenager that has to help loads dishes, no problems whatsoever.

Posted too quickly, meant to say that I have had the paneled dishwasher for almost 3 years. My stainless fridge drives me crazy so I am really glad that I do not have a stainless dishwasher to keep fingerprints off of too.

Thanks everyone! I'm going to get the panel. I am so tired of my stainless stuff too! Six grimey hands are impossible to keep off of appliances.

Mine was fine--but it wasn't one of the heated dry models.

My cabinet maker did not even measure for the panels until the DW was in place so that he could get them to look nice. Then we had to wait for them, but it seemed like a good idea.

What Chibimimi said makes sense, but I've never heard of it happening, though there were some issues with a KitchenAid model about cabinetry in general.

There are no problems with my own integrated DW and I use every heat cycle it has!

What are these guys making their panels out of to have such problems?

They are made out of wood...mine will be maple to be specific. I'm thinking they don't make a lot of them. I only know of one other person around me that has an integrated dw. I do feel better now, thanks.

Just ordered my panel-ready Bosch today...sure hope the panel holds up!