Hm, well thats sort of the thing. I don't want the paint to almost match. I'm looking for either an exact match, or a totally different color that will work with the controls un-painted. Being a car guy, having not-quite matching paint on adjacent panels just drives me nuts. Two-tone I can handle though. I was thinking maybe a graphite color on the top section, and possibly the two sides as well but leave the inner plinth area and the front panel the original silver so I don't lose the labels. As you can see, the sides are not in spectacular shape either. The front panel looks pretty decent, and inside under the lid is of course nearly perfect.
Some pics of the ugly area: