Incidentally I have no kitchen windows and it's quite dark w/o the lights on.

It is often hard to tell in a picture, but your wall color looks like it may also be on the dark side. You might try a lighter shade of the same color. Since the difficulty is light, I would see what you can do to increase the lighting in this room. Even with white cabinets a kitchen without a window can seem dark - so lighting is where I would put my money. Hardware will also help. There are many different styles depending on what you like. Browse through the Houzz photos - try a search of "wood cabinets" or "oak cabinets" to get some hardware ideas.

If you like the way the bathroom cabinets turned out, take one of the cabinet doors and set it against the counter and backsplash - see what you think. You could also do a color pulled from the backsplash - in a lighter shade to keep things light.

Hardware ideas:

Rustic Reclaimed Chestnut · More Info

Oak Kitchen Cabinets | Shaker Door Style | CliqStudios · More Info

Traditional Kitchen with Natural Beauty · More Info

Thanks for your suggestions JHMarie! And thanks for the examples of hardware. Here is photo of the bathroom - I don't think I'd want to do this color in the kitchen, but the process was so easy, I'm thinking I could take a crack at the kitchen this summer. The lighting in both photos kind of distorts reality...the tile needs to go, but I'm stuck for now. It's not pinky like it looks here.

I think antique white would turn out kind of blah. Are there any colors in the backsplash you could pick up? Maybe you can do antique white on the uppers and a different color on the bottom.