Walnut would be beautiful.

Thanks to you both! Project sort of initiated bc we are taking down wall bet kitchen/dining and moving island over/out from perimeter a bit (very tight right now). So need to get new island cabs and figured made sense to upgrade to all matching. If I was looking purely to update this space aesthetically I’d agree that cabinets aren’t that bad and could be brightened up as green designs suggests...

I would wait until you can afford new cabinets I do not see any drawer base cabinets at all which IMO with a new kitchen is a must The layout looks tight to me even with moving the island I would need to see the floor plan but IMO you could do better . I love walnut so with white shaker it would be nice .Maybe make all the cabinets in the island at least drawers.

Thanks Patricia. We do have drawers on the far right (out of pic) and the lower cabinets all have pullouts. I agree all drawers would be better but we will be doing that in island.
Thx for vote of confidence in white w walnut. To tie in existing gold tones in granite I was thinking maybe brass/champagne hardware? The backsplash will need to be done at some point to be more white vs the current off beige that kind of clashes w granite imo.

So what did you decide?? I am having the same debate of walnut versus quartz for a new island.  I am keeping kashmir gold granite on perimeter counters.   My cabinets are already white . Would love to see pics .