Probably a bit late for you but having fixed this a while ago...
The front panel is only held on by a screw inside the detergent drawer. Once that is removed it just needs courage to lever the white plastic cover away from the brown plastic backing and clips: there is one on each end that need pushing in, otherwise it is just a case of gentle levering.
My cycle select knob was also broken (it freewheeled both ways): I fixed it by judicious positioning of a small self tapping screw to lock the two halves together.
TMC, February 2009
