I respectfully disagree, jterrilynn. I think it takes a lot of creativeness to do a white kitchen well. White is difficult and vague. Online pictures mean nothing when you're standing in your own space. One man's white can look grey or blue or yellow in another man's kitchen, depending on lighting and other factors. In college, I stayed with a well-to-do French family in Paris. I fell in love with their "classic" white cabinets, open shelving and glass front cabs, and white marble counters. It was a small kitchen, not ornate, but it just spoke to me. So that's what I drew my inspiration from in my new kitchen by picking a lot of white. That said, all my friends and family who did their kitchens 2-8 years ago did dark wood cabs with light or dark granite. I think their kitchens look great too! I just need a calm, light & airy feel, especially in a small house. And I do love creamy white like Donaleen. But the trim in the rest of our house is more of a pure white, and since I was merging the spaces I wanted continuity. And yup, gray cars everywhere here. Funny, I was just noticing that a few weeks ago! It would be fun to have some color in our cars, no?

Our cabinets are BM Gardenia, a very warm white. We matched the trim to the cabs, including the baseboards. For the ceiling, we went with BM ceiling white, whatever that is. For us it worked out well. The business of "layering whites" has worked out well for many posters on this site. Personally, I think, that except for the ceiling, as long as there is some separation between the whites, you can have almost as many shades as you like. Like you, we also went with a grey-ish color for the walls. Ours is a 50/50 mix of BM Metallic Silver and Pidgeon Grey. If you're looking for a light grey, look at BM Metallic Silver. It was too light for us, but it may work for you. Also, keep in mind that paint is the easiest and least expensive thing to change. Here's a shot of our kitchen and below it, a link to the completed kitchen slideshow. HTH. Here is a link that might be useful: Completed Kitchen

update finally, I can sell them for him. The price is more than 50%,,,, $6500 for the whole lot.....not sure how negotiable or if he is interested in breaking up the order. Perhaps yes on both. Pick up would be in Boston at my house as the cabinets have been there since the mess up. If there is any interest let me know. Not sure how the message system here works though, but I set up an e-mail shilohcabinets@gmail.com If there is any interest. I am going to put them on craigslist for him in a few weeks unless someone here wants them. They are taking up valuable storag space in my basement so come get them.

Ellie, your new home is lovely. I looked into painting my current kitchen and pretty much what Live_oak_writes is what I found to be true in terms of prep, cost and quality. The guy I found here in Michigan ONLY paints cabinets and that is the kind of painter I would suggest or a cabinet shop. I am not trying to criticize house painters, but I would only want someone who specializes in cabinets (not a painter of rooms, exteriors, etc). He told me he would remove all the doors and spray in his shop (after sanding, filling in holes, etc.). The boxes would have to be sprayed on-site of course and you need to verify their prep for that. He was willing to paint a sample door for me (find an old maple door at Habitat, etc. and have them use that as a test). I liked what I saw. His Facebook page was impressive. My kitchen is not as nice as yours and I determined it just was not worth it. I recall a thread here recently in which someone painted professionally and it was absolutely wonderful. I am not as good as others at finding pictures/threads, but I will look.