I would do the contrast but I would never do white & gray. I really dislike it and have idea why everyone wants what everyone else has. This is what I did, Cabinets are candlelight not pure white

You are redesigning your kitchen with the opportunity to do something fantastic. Absolutely, color & contrast.

I generally run the gamut as far as white-color. I love gray. I love color. Ten years ago we painted our basement, which is basically "split in half" the long way. One half is BM Kendall Charcoal and the other is BM Caponata--it's beautfiul, and the longest I've gone in 18 years w/out re-painting. Had a burnt orange living room, almost as long, up until we primed to do this main floor reno, and my desire for the rooms to all be more cohesive. Husband insists we're losing square footage w/the 3 times painting in the LR and 4 in the kitchen. I don't know if my eyes/brain could handle *everything* being white and gray. I'd have to have colorful chairs/table, art etc, in there to help as much as possible.

What do the connecting rooms look like? Are they generally white/gray, or is there contrast/color?

Color and contrast, all the way. Grey is out and boring and white is boring and cold. In fact, you should do a search here for posts from those who are trying to warm up their grey and white kitchens, there are many.

@Midwest (4b IA) well as I said about my wife, she like white and grey, so all the other room are white and grey haha. The only color accents are green plants and a couple pillows. And our kitchen table is dark brown.

If we have to do white and grey, I'd prefer something like this below, but she doesn't love the dark cabinets

Do what YOU like and what works in your house. In my own house, light gray cabinets and walls, white Corian countertops and white Carrera marble backsplash are what was appropriate. But it’s a 1948 house, separate kitchen/dr/lr, decorated very traditionally. . .

I have loved gray long before it became a popular decor color. That said, I would have still opted for some wood cabinets (probably mixed with white), just because the gray kitchen look is/was so trendy. However, my husband did not like the wood cabinets and insisted on painted, so gray is what we ended up with. We did dark gray lowers and a very light gray on the uppers and tall cabinets, and it provides enough contrast so it’s not dull or boring (at least to us). It also helps that we have wood floors and furniture in the room. I think if we had tile, it would be more cold.

I like the backbone to be neutral then bring in color with backsplash (easy to change in future) and accessories. I did wood island, off white cabs elsewhere, and Taj Majal for counters. Taj is great as it has both gray and tan so allows it to go warm or cool.