Kat - Thanks for the compliment. Our perimeter counters are soapstone and the island is marble. The marble still makes me nervous and I continue to etch it (which is not highly visible on the honed surface, but I still know they are there). The inset cabinets were an absolute must for us. We did tear down construction in an older neighborhood and wanted to have some elements of the 1920s-1940s style consistent with the neighborhood. With the kitchen being visible from the front door, it needed to be both pretty and fairly authentic. Sure, I lost a little storage space by doing the inset, but the look is exactly what we needed.

The problem with such a question is that, say, BM Cloud White might look totally different in your kitchen and your light than someone else's. What you want to decide is what sort of undertones are you looking for? Do you like the yellow undertone of a "cream" but don;t want it too obvious? Would a green or blue or grey undertone suit your kitchen better? Whites can even have an orange or red undertone. The best thing to do is to bring home as many chis as possible, pick three or four favorites, and purchase samples that you can paint onto large swatches of paper or cardboard. eta: I had chosen Martha Stewart's "Popcorn" for my kitchen, but it was so wrong, way too yellow. A KD at Home Depot helped me choose MS "Whetstone Grey" but at half-formula and it is absolutely perfect for my kitchen, very much a light greige. It is the perfect color for my counters and backsplash, but it will not necessarily be someone else's perfect color in their kitchen. This post was edited by greenhaven on Wed, Apr 23, 14 at 8:05

My kitchen cabinets are being painted BM Dove White as I type this now, by the cabinet maker, my hubby! My walls are acadia white. We have a lot of windows, so always lots of natural light pouring in. I loved the soft white of the Dove White. I know some people have posted that it is too drab or dingy compared to some other whites, but it works in our light filled kitchen. I can't wait to be able to post pics soon. This is a long process, never realized how much work goes into building cabinets. Now I know why they chew up so much the budget.

I had the same situation between which white to choose. I completely agree with everyone that says you can't really choose a color until you see the sample in your new kitchen. I picked during the framing stage by putting all the samples next to each other in what was to be the kitchen and looking at them at different times of the day over several days. I hung a tarp over the exterior wall to try and simulate the lighting of the kitchen after sheet rock. I have a hard time with creamy whites because they go yellow in the evening here (Seattle) so I picked BM White Dove, which was the middle of the road in my samples. Of course I was second guessing myself right up until the end, but I'm glad I went with the the mid-white of the samples as it does tend to go a little yellow at night and it's not too stark during the day. The grey undertone helps keep the yellowing minimal. Here's what I came up against that others should know...my cabinets were site finished and they were sprayed with a primer of bright white. Talk about operating room! I was glad I didn't go with the brightest white of my samples. Then the first coat of BM White Dove Satin Impervo went on. Each time I had to shut down the job site for three days and crank the heat while the paint cured. I hated waiting three days to see the cabinets and all the built-ins! Anyway, after the first coat of White Dove I snuck in the house at night. The cabinets were the dingyest yellow of all yellows! Yikes! Of course I cried because I had picked the wrong color when I was hoping I had picked the perfect color. Back to square one. Ugh. But then the next day as I moped around the job site I noticed that the cabinets didn't match my sample from the store. Here's what happened...I went to my local BM store and bought several quarts of tinted Satin Impervo paint mixed at the store. After I chose the White Dove, my painter went to his BM wholesaler and bought White Dove Satin Impervo off the shelf as it is one of BM's stock colors. Although most say the formulas are the same, they aren't! The difference was horrifying! Luckily it was the first coat, I was able to figure out the problem and the final coat went on perfectly in store mixed White Dove paint. Sadly, we had already finished all 40 shelves and 74 doors when the carcasses were painted and the mistake was discovered so we had to go back and redo all of them. My point? No matter what you choose, always go with the exact same formulation as your sample!