id probably go w medium intensity in color … existing appliances gives plenty of dark ……medium green might work....perhaps blue.

these shown are both medium intense / each a different shade tho....you can see what shade works ..... there are so many greens..... bring in some sample cards for starters. Sounds like you're ready for color, but I dont find your space so much in need of a change unless the condition warrants it.

things Id do before an entire paint job to spruce it up...runner / mats ...place pendant / swap bar stools for something w color/ new hardware / consider painting island only.

To me, the floor is the problem. What is wrong with the cabinets? What are your goals with the changes?

What would you suggest for flooring?

Nothing wrong with the cabinets. It's the floors. You need wood floors in there.

What is the flooring in the rest of the house? It should match (hopefully hardwood).

The flooring in the rest of the house is red oak

Guess, we all see something different. I see the cabinets, looking good with the floors, and the walls, looking not good with anything. I would change the wall color, to a light green, or a very light bluish green, and put some accessories in there with a bit of color. Right now, it is a nice very clean kitchen, that is just a bit on the blah side. Kitchens should be bright and cheerful.

Honestly, there’s nothing glaringly wrong with any of it. As @cat_ky points out, the wall color is not exactly right. The yellow undertones in Pale Oak clash a bit with the pink tones in the floor. That said, there is very little wall space in this kitchen. This is what a similarly undertoned wall color does to the space.

Better? Sure. Brighter? Definitely. The real value of this mock-up is that it helps you to see there’s probably also a little too much yellow in your cabinet paint. If you stick to paints with the same pink undertones as your floors the colors will harmonize better.

Even more pink here.

You don’t want to go too much farther than that unless you want a pink kitchen, which could also work.

I used Sherwin Williams colors because the way they are laid out on their web site makes it easier to find what I’m looking for. You can do this with any brand of paint. On the walls I used Ibis White. On the cabinets in the third image I used Popular Grey, and in the bottom image, Malted Milk.

I don’t want to change the wall color because it’s on all the perimeter walls of my ground floor (it’s a colonial). What are your thoughts on going darker on the lower cabinets; something like dragon’s breath and lighter on the top cabinets like Ibis white?

Your tiles seem fine. I would have suggested taupe cabinets but that doesn't work with the Pale Oak paint on the walls, you need to go with a warm white. You also seem to have grey countertops? So I would paint the cabinets white and place a nice long washable runner (Ruggable) between the counter and the island.

Dragons breath looks really gray… the floor if it stays has nice warmer browns…do you have a spare tile….take it to the paint store if you want to go neutral w browns …..there are nice rich shades. i dont see why a real color wouldnt be better w black appliances but maybe youll get stainless sometime.

@elizabeth guyette your wall color does not go with your tile. No amount of cabinet paint will change that. You absolutely can change the wall color in just one room. It solves the predominant issue in the space, and you would be changing from one shade of beige to a slightly different shade, so the change would not be noticeable, except the room will look better, and you will look better in it.

Brown lowers with a black island and appliances is a tough look to carry off in a small space. Also, your counters are grey, so the items you are not changing are appliances (black) , counter (grey), and floor tile (cream/pink). You figure out what works with those, you’ll like your space better. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

I agree that adjacent rooms even in fairly open plans can have different paint, most especially when they are related but the other finishes work better with the slightly different wall colors. And maybe even more so in a kitchen, which is typically very “ busy” & walls broken up by cabinets , appliances— seldom have large expanses of bare wall.

I have a kitchen partly visible from 3 other rooms, via wider “ doorways” and it’s in a soft yellow, main living areas are in lighter color SW Creamy, and it’s fine. That’s just to consider, so tgst you think about any other changes in concert, and don’t make costly changes just to keep the Pale Oak.

Or, you may not be as focused on how the undertones of the different finishes can either fight or enhance & sometimes explain why one set of choices looks somehow more cohesive and even more upscale, while others look “ off” in some way.