Yeeah that panel. The only problem is opening the start menu with “super” though. You can always add a “default” panel.
Maybe do it like this: create a keyboard shortcut ctrl+alt+t for konsole, whyever it is not default. Then remove all panels and run qdbus org.kde.ksmserver /KSMServer 0 0 1 (alias that to “logout” in your .bashrc, its a horrible command).
Then remove all panels and logout. Log back in, add a default panel and maybe you are already good. Maybe log out again. The only default panel normally always gets the correct start menu. Its a bit messed up.
To switch between silverblue and kinoite you can just rebase, but make sure to backup all your “dotfiles” (the hidden configs for all the apps) and start plain, as you dont want to mix these.
There is a youtube video on exactly that somewhere.