I like the walnut. I'd do all the cabs in walnut, I think that would be beautiful and not as choppy as a different color for the uppers.

If MCM look is the plan I prefer a slab door and also an pretty pure white mixed with walnut . I have white high gloss cabinets from Ikea they are 18 yrs old I run a catering biz from my home and have grandkids and many parties not one damage . I do not think cabinet color has much to do with care anything can be damaged for sure .I see very few drawers in your plan and I would stongly discourage the use of wood for a hood . thye really do get gross even with good venting and over time also discolor form steam . A good quality high CFM stainless hood along with plain old stainless appliances I still my fave for those items no matter what style you are going for.. I do not like that style of door it looks like you were trying to go more modern than shaker . I do not find off wjite timeless since they all have undertones which complicate many choices .This all needs to be decided in the whole house what are your floors for instance , do you have mostly MCM decor in the rest of the home ? Kitchens are not sepearate entities they still need thought to work with the rest of the home .

I prefer the white perimeter. They have a nice finish, easy to wipe clean.

I’m not seeing how the walnut, in large amounts, works butted up against the flooring finish color. But maybe is different IRL.

^Agree that thinking about the flooring is super important - I prefer white, we put in a super simple white kitchen in 2009 and still love it

Floors will be light

Floor sample

I’m a sucker for walnut, I think it’s a gorgeous wood. But I think I prefer the off white perimeter with just the walnut on the island for your situation. My kids are all grown now, but I have 5 who are close in age and all homeschooled (meaning, in the context of this conversation, that they were home a lot more to make messes and ate all meals at home) and the nice thing about white cabinets is you notice the grime while it’s still easy to clean off. With wood cabinets, it hides the grime longer and, in my experience, takes a lot more effort to clean once you notice it. LOL! Anyways, lovely samples you have there!

I like the walnut perimeter, but I'm biased as that's what we are doing in our kitchen.

Thank you!! Do you have a picture of your walnut??

Not yet. We haven't finalized our cabinet order yet. Our island and lower perimeter cabinets will be natural walnut, plus the tall paneled refrigerator cabinet and the oven stack. Maybe the range hood, I kinda stopped caring what that in and told my husband to just get whatever he wants.

It might end up being too much walnut for a lot of people, but we have no intention of selling anytime soon and simply like the walnut for ourselves. Who knows what will be in style by the time we do well.

It might just be the picture but the walnut does not look very high quality to me. If you are going with a more affordable quality cabinet because of budget, I would do painted. It looks nicer than a lower quality wood. I also am not in love with the combo of that walnut and your flooring.

I think the walnut you're considering is too dark with the flooring you've selected. I wouldn't do that walnut on all the perimeter, but use it sparingly, like the island and perhaps the fridge surround. Perimeter should be off white. The stair treads in your sample photo below, that's a nice shade I'd be going for.

White perimeter, walnut island is my vote.

Keep in mind that no matter what you do on the island, people (not just children) will kick the back wall and it might get damaged more quickly. Make sure that wall is an easy-to-clean finish, whatever color or product it’s made of.