At some point in December 2023 I ended up “modifying” my radiator panels so I could more easily turn the heat on and off by accessing and turning the valve. While it worked great, my mom and others rightfully pointed out how much of an eye sore it was:
To address the eye sore, I just ended up finding a very inexpensive pack of aluminum sheets on amazon for $70, and using a $15 pair of tin snips to cut them into the right size, to completely replace the radiator panels. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and the cost, so I figured I would share in case it's helpful.
They are much lighter and easier to remove than the previous panels, so my need for adjusting heat is still addressed. Hopefully I will be able to do away with that entirely by installing a wifi-enabled valve in the future.
The only thing I might consider changing is painting the new radiator panels white to match, and affixing them to each other and/or the radiator casing to reduce any visible seams.