Just walking around looking at people's homes, I seldom actually find a panel that meets 110.26 in the strictest sense. It seems that when the original electrician placed it and established working space in front of it he also created an open space that seems to good to waste for the homeowner. There always seems to be something stored there.
When I set the panel in my house I built it into a small enclosure that is too shallow to actually let you store anything inside and centered behind a 32" bi fold door. So far my wife has not tried to put anything there. I think blocking a door is just not something people are likely to do,.
The door allows ready access and if you really need to get into the panel, the door lifts off the pins and you can set it aside giving you 32" of clear space. (it is still around 30 with the door open).
