Yes, of course you can contrast. If your appliances are stainless steel, I would stick with that for your cabinetry hardware. You can also find two-tone hardware if you want a mix of black with stainless.

Your inspiration photo shows just that--dark pulls on white cabinets and SS pulls on dark cabinets. If you're doing two colors, I'd place the dark color on the lowers and the light color on the uppers. The photo above looks top-heavy.

I wouldn't do this choice based on color of cabinets. I would put the knobs on the upper cabinets, and the pulls on the base drawers, regardless of which finish is where. Also, size the pulls to be approx. 1/3 the width of the drawers. Mix the length of pulls according to the width of the drawers - you don't want a pull that looks teeny on a drawer, or a pull that looks huge on a drawer. The 1/3 is a nice aesthetic balance.

ETA: I agree with Diana Bier Interiors that the dark cabinets would look better on the lowers, with white for the uppers. Not only for the top-heavy issue that Diana mentioned, but also the white uppers will reflect the light better into the room than if they were on the bottom.

To clarify, I meant that there are hardware choices where metals or colors are mixed within the same pull or knob, if that interests you.

So...matte black hardware on white cabinets and gold hardware on black cabinets with SS appliances is a bit too busy? Or could it work?

I would go with gold hardware on both the white and black cabinetry to tie them together and create interest by mixing knobs and pulls.

I’d skip the gold on black. It’s a little Vegas in the ‘90‘s, but if you love it go for it. Maybe choose a gold faucet if you do. Tie it in or leave it out.