Painting cabinets white, will not make it much brighter. Lighting is what makes a room brighter. Add more of it, and also make sure all your light bulbs are led 3500k or 4000k daylight type. No, dont paint the island gray. You have brown cabinets, and gray wont go well with anything in your kitchen. It is something you can always paint, but, adding more of the blue in art work, and accessories, will tie the island to the rest of the kitchen. I would paint the walls a nice white. The yellowish color it is now, is dingy looking.

@cat_ky what about white island or brown island? or staining to differnt kind of brown on periphery? ( I dont know if it can be done different shade of brown). That blue looks good sometimes and sometimes dont. Added some online photos for brown cabinets and gray island.

What white do you suggest? Thanks!

online photos

Looks like good quality cabinetry. I would paint the walls, ceiling and trim all SW Alabaster

replace the window blinds with top down/bottom up blinds to get more natural light into the space. personally I would get rif of the round rug under the table.

Who installed that counter top and back splash?

A hot mess.

Far too Icy cold harsh white in the palette of flooring, walls.....and a tomb of cabinetry.

Blue is no. Lose it.

Frankly? It will be a lot less in dollars to rip the counter tops and the back splash.

Go to a stone yard

Get some TAJ Mahal quartzite if you can find slabs with warm tones.

Or ? A much warmer quartz......Cambria Ridgefield

and run it right up the splash!! No tile, or a soft white .

Paint the walls...... Ben Moore Navajo White.

CALL AN ELECTRICIAN. Under cabinet lighting,

Pendants over the island.

Bottom line? Someone created a very hot mess. That's your least expensive fix above, allowing for flooring and cabinetry no change.

Lose the blinds, lose the rugs. Blue is not your friend in THIS house.: )

Take the jarring contrasts away.

Find a green you love for the island,,,,,,,

@Jan Moyer - Yes, it looks complex. Those counter tops and splash tiles are new. Our choices since we were thinking to go all white initially. May be wrong choice. Actually, in a perfect light the blue island looks good. I think colors of wall make it too messy as well.

I am now thinking what if I just do waterfall counterop for island and change island to brown. What do you think? Of course change wall paint too.

@Jan Moyer, we got installed under cabinet light. We are thinking to do pendant lights, but there are seriously tons of lights in the celiling already. So didnt do it. I will consider this again.

What can I say?

It isn't working. If you don't want a clashing mess? Paint the cabinets to white, include all the walls and the trim. The back splash is still not good and was a rather been there, done that choice.

You want a contemporary kitchen in a house that isn't/ You will have to paint something, and soon.: )

I don't think the navy works with cabinets- if you do? Fine.....it is your home.

@Lyn Nielson. The ceiling is pure white flat in the living room which extends to kitchen. So I have to keep ceiling and trim pure white. So thinking of very light warm gray for wall. Any warm gray you know?

@Jan Moyer. I am changing blue for sure! Cannot change countertops and backsplash.

So thinking of changing island to brown, warm gray or waterfall countertop. what are your thoughts?

Paint the cabinets to white. Paint the walls to white. Paint the trim to white, same and SATIN finish on trim, matte on walls.

Pick a soft warm or deep GRAY for the island.

SW "Peppercorn " is nice. Absolutely no on the water fall.

I really would LOSE that backsplash. Truly busy and truthfully? Dated.

There is only so much we can fix. Now you have to throw money at the mistakes. Gallons of dollars, and get a serious pro for the cabinetry paint job.

If it is a one story home, Solatubes would bring in natural light at a nominal cost

Your ceiling lights are in the wrong place. they cast shadows on your counters instead of lighting them. ideally the y should illuminate the counter. to do that they need to be much closer to the upper cabinets and not over the walkways.

Yes, I was going to say the same thing about the ceiling light placement. They should be over the edge of the counter.

@housekeepingbay. You read my mind! same island and same wall, very light gray or taupe or whitish gray. If you have specic one in mindone, let me know. Tried Gossamer Veil. Too dark. Have to find lighter taupes or grays. The splash tile have these colors too.

The walls need NOT match the island. .....

@blueskysunny day

@wsea

Never thought like this! We purchased the house like this. Way too many lights and no pendant lights.

@Krupa Shukla Sure! If Gossamer Veil was too dark, you might want to try something like Sherwin-Williams' Alabaster for a softer, lighter touch that's still in the gray or taupe family. Another option could be Benjamin Moore's Classic Gray, which is light and airy but still brings that warmth you might be looking for. Both should pair beautifully with your splash tile and complement the natural tones you're working with

@housekeepingbay I just tried classic gray , pale oak and balboa mist today. Hopefully they work

Will try taupe also. Anything besides Albaster? Thanks!

Good luck! Besides Alabaster, maybe Edgecomb Gray or Agreeable Gray? The first is a soft, light gray that leans toward taupe without being too dark, while Agreeable Gray is better suited for warm undertones

Don't forget the floors! You have warm wood floors. If you change the rest of the kitchen finishes to match the cool colors in the backsplash then the floors will stick out like a sore thumb.

@deegw Any suggestions for warm gray?

Strange - on my monitor the blue island looks fine. The creamy yellow walls and ceiling don't go at all, neither does the backsplash or the floor mats.

I also agree with no to the waterfall on the island - very out of place.

Maybe paint ceiling a crisp white and do a slight off white on the walls with a similar tone of backsplash.

Good luck

Accessible beige is a clean greige that works nicely with warm and cool colors.

I like this website for comparing colors.

https://hextoral.com/side-by-side/

Accessible beige might be darker than you are looking for but I like it because it's not as muddy as the average greige.