Looks to me like you could get a piece of Formica in an appropriate color and texture and have a long slot cut in the middle, then adhere it to the face of the panel. The brushed chrome in the center of the panel with the controls would then be visible in the slot, not a bad look with a charcoal or semi-gloss black surround. Properly installed Formica countertops are pretty much oblivious to the normal steam and heat of a dishwasher so that shouldn’t be a problem. Another possibility would be a high quality urethane automotive paint, but quite a lot of care would need to be taken to prepare the panel and mask it.

John’s story of the ‘80s Chrysler salesman reminded me of a similar occurrence that happened to my mother back then when shopping for a car. She looked at a Buick and the salesman made the mistake of bragging on the “beautiful wood” slathered all over the interior. Mom told him she considered an acre of badly done plastic wood to be a reason to not buy the car. She said he looked very surprised and told her everyone else like it because meant the Buick had more class than a Chevy with less fake wood! She ended out with a Peugeot 505 that had no wood of any type in the interior, fake or otherwise and was all the better for it.