Galaxy Horizon Dishwasher End Panel Cabinets

GH DWR6 is titled as a 6-inch dishwasher panel. It belongs to the same code family as the two narrow drawer panels, GH DWR1-1/2 at $123.50 and GH DWR3 at $130.00, which are on the drawer panel page. Its height and depth are not published, so confirm them against your counter height and the dishwasher’s installation sheet before ordering.

Its job is the side of the dishwasher that would otherwise show: the machine at the end of a run, beside a wall with a gap, or at the end of a peninsula. Between two cabinets it is not needed, because the cabinet sides do the job. Where the gap next to the machine is simply a gap against a wall, a plain filler (GH BF6, $43.55) is the cheaper answer; the panel is for when the side is seen.

Dishwashers are appliances with motors, pumps and seals; cabinets are boxes. In most kitchens the machine is replaced at least once while the cabinets stay. When that happens, the old unit is unscrewed, its water and power disconnected, and it is slid out of the opening. A new one goes in. The panel beside it is never supposed to move.

Problems start when the panel was fixed in a way that ties it to the machine: the dishwasher’s side brackets screwed through into the panel face, a bead of sealant bridging machine and panel, the panel fixed only at the bottom where the machine’s feet sit. Then removing the machine means prising at the panel, and a stained face levered with a screwdriver does not come out unmarked.

On a painted kitchen a damaged panel is a nuisance. On a stain there is an extra layer to it. Fabuwood says colour variation between parts is normal in its stained finishes and that replacement parts may not match cabinets already installed. A panel reordered years after the kitchen went in is exactly that kind of part, standing beside doors that have also had years of light on them. It may be fine. It is a risk you can avoid on install day for nothing.

These are installation habits we ask for on every stained kitchen. They are not Fabuwood instructions; your installer should follow the dishwasher maker’s own sheet for the machine itself.

1. Fix the panel to the structure, not to the machine: to the countertop support and to the floor or toe-kick framing, from the back or the inside, so no fixing shows on the face.
2. Mount the dishwasher to the countertop or to the cabinet on its other side where the machine allows it. If it can only side-mount into the panel, use short screws into the back of the panel and write down where they are.
3. Leave a clean joint between machine and panel. No sealant bridging the two; if a gap needs closing, close it on the machine side.
4. Keep the panel clear of the machine’s levelling feet and water line, so reaching them never means reaching behind the panel.
5. Tape a note inside the sink base: which parts are fixed where, and that the panel is a stained finished part to protect during any swap.

Everything above is about the side of the machine. A panel-ready dishwasher also needs a front: a door-sized face fixed to the appliance door so the machine disappears into the run. That face is not what GH DWR6 is, and the live Horizon list does not carry a dishwasher door front or loose cabinet doors in this finish.

So if you want the dishwasher hidden, ask before you buy the machine. We will tell you what can be supplied in this finish and what cannot; if the answer is nothing that suits, a stainless or black stainless front is the practical choice, and Fabuwood’s own photographs show this stain alongside stainless steel. It is far better to know that before the appliance is ordered than after it is delivered with a blank front and no panel to fit.

A panel-ready front also brings the removal question in a sharper form. It rides on the machine, so it leaves with the machine unless it is taken off first, and on a stain a replacement front made years later is the part least likely to match the doors around it. Whatever is fitted there should be treated as a keeper and moved to the new machine if the mounting allows.

A dishwasher panel sits where water lands: drips off plates on the way to the rack, a splash when the door is opened mid-cycle, a spill from the sink next door. Fabuwood’s care advice for its cabinets fits this spot exactly: when the finish is wet, blot rather than wipe; use mild cleaners only; never spray a cleaner directly onto the wood. The warranty also excludes colour change caused by certain household cleaners, so the strong spray kept under the sink is not the thing to reach for here.

A damp cloth, then a dry one, is the whole routine. The cabinet care guide covers the rest, including why wiping with the grain matters on a stain.

• Buy a machine that fits the opening you have. Standard built-in dishwashers are 24 inches wide, but heights and mounting systems vary; check the new model’s installation sheet against your counter height before ordering.
• Cover the panel face with cardboard held from behind or at the edges before work starts, so tools and the old machine cannot rub it on the way out.
• Read the note inside the sink base, and remove only the machine’s own fixings.
• Have the touch-up kit to hand. Fabuwood does not make spray cans for stained finishes; a scuff is fixed with the kit’s marker or fill stick. The Horizon kit is $62.40 on the loose parts page.
• If the panel is damaged anyway, order the replacement at once and ask us to send it before the new machine is installed, so it can be checked against the neighbouring doors in daylight first.

Order the panel on the same release as the base cabinets beside it, so it comes from the same finishing run and ships pre-assembled with them in about two weeks. Send the dishwasher model and the counter height, and we will confirm the panel suits the opening; a free 3D design shows it in place, and a designer replies within one business day.

The panel is here. Plain fillers for a wall-side gap are on the filler page, the rest of the trim is on the decorative accessories page, and the cabinets are on the collection page.