2nd option is always best. Manufacturers reserve the right to change specs without letting you know or publishing them in advance. And sometimes the are just plain wrong. If you proceed based on manufacturer's diagrams alone, and it's wrong, you'd better be prepared to eat the first panel and pay for the second because the cabinet maker won't do it and you'll never get the manufacturer to pick up the costs. They'll just point to their fine print, and the cabinet make will just say I told you so. As far as the install, it's a team effort. You need both on hand. Yes, that's twice the money, but it beats having to call the cabinet maker in the middle to modify a panel or for the cabinet maker to call the appliance guys for clarification about some bracket. Delays should be built into your expectations for the remodel. If you are lucky and everything goes as planned with a simple job, a kitchen remodel will only take 3 months. If you have a complicated kitchen, and have built ins and other issues, then 6 months would be closer to a normal time line. It ain't TV!

You can always hang the cabinets so they are pulled out 1 inch from the wall and you put a shim between the wall and the cabinet. You always need to put shims there because most walls are not 'perfectly straight' Then you put the end panel and counter top and no one will know that they were pulled out 1 inch. If you are mounting the frig next to tall cabinets, then the faces of the cabs and the refrigerator face are at the same plane. To do this, I would pull out the cabs slightly, if needed. Most of the time, the counter is mounted next to the frig and the counter is about 1 inch pulled forward (reveal) from the cabinets to give it room for the handles/knobs underneath. The countertop edge will be what is flush with the refrigerator face, not the adjacent cabinet. If you want the refrigerator flush with the cabinet face that is adjacent, then the counter top/end panel will stick out beyound the refrigerator face if you are using them. Some hinges can deal with this and some hinges cannot. (The hinge has to travel out 1 to 2 inch before it starts to swing. Otherwise, the door will run into the countertop or the adjacent panel as it starts to swing out...) hope this helps. sorry if I was not clear..... I believe SZ integrated hinges allow the refrigerator face to be recessed from the side/end panels. This is quite tricky. not sure if Liebherr allows you to recess the frig from the end panel.

Thanks everyone! Glad to hear re: Zephyr, people seem to love their wine/bevg combo. Also liking reviews on Bosch, but figure with a little more with their 1>2>Free deal we can get the Thermador range and other upgrades for like $3k more tot. We’re not locked into one manufacturer though. We’re looking for a decent cu.ft for a 30” oven and really wanting to find the right one. Will look at Bluestar again!

These are not great photos - especially the one attempting to show the refrigerator because I have a narrow galley kitchen and there really isn't a way to get the right perspective - also I was in the middle of unpacking my groceries - hence the shopping cart. Without cladding I would have had one wall which would have been a stainless steel refrigerator - a stainless dishwasher - the copper sink and a small set of drawers which I think would have looked terrible. My kitchen is a part of my dining area and living area so my goal was to make it as aesthetic as possible while also increasing functionality. Nothing I have done decreases functionality and much of the stuff I did increases it including extending cabinets, having toe kick step stools and a Bosch side opening oven. As others have stated dishwashers that use paneling are generally full featured and the controls are on the top of the door. My prior Bosch dishwasher was stainless steel and also have controls on the top as I liked not having the controls visible AND I liked not have to clean around buttons on the exterior. In terms of functionality - I do have an ice maker in the freezer section but I did not want either a water dispenser or ice dispenser on the door especially since I don't drink the water that comes out of my kitchen faucet as my building has very old plumbing pipes and terrible crap sometimes comes out of them after the building has had a water shut off. This is a photo of my "clad" and paneled refrigerator - the door to the hall of my building is immediately to the right of the shopping cart so the very first thing one would see would be the refrigerator This shows the drawers between the refrigerator and the sink This is a terrible photo of the "wall" which illustrates why not having panels really would have destroyed the look of my kitchen. I don't think the paneled dishwasher and refrigerator lack texture and interest. I am not sure why having two stainless features would have improved the aesthetics in any way nor do I think that I am "disguising" that it is a kitchen - does it look like it isn't a kitchen? This is the other side of my galley kitchen - The Bosch induction cooktop is pretty invisible. Just out of sight is a wall oven and microwaver drawer - not paneled but because of where they are the aesthetics are fine. I extended the cabinets into the rear of my dining area for additional storage. One tall cabinet is a utility closet and the other houses a pantry with rollouts plus an appliance garage so I can easily access my Cuisinart and KA Mixer This is a picture of the cabinets in the dining area with dining table and chairs in place.