IMO- While I agree with 82mainstreet about painting cabinets white and not expresso, I also believe you won't be happy unless the color combo pleases you. - First, what do you want to accomplish? Are you intending to live in the home for a long time? Or are you painting for resale? - If you are painting for resale, then classic white for your cabinets is your best choice. It has wider appeal. A future owner will find it easier to change the wall color than the cabinets. - If you are planning to stay in the house, you can be more personal in your color choices. - But be wary of fads, especially when painting cabinets. It is much easier to paint walls. From your photo, it looks like your cabinets are nicely finished wood. Personally, I wouldn't change that unless they are damaged. I would just update the wall color, but that is just my opinion. If you do paint the cabinets, don't be swayed by fad colors. I would still recommend white or maybe a pale cream. That way, if you get tired of your color combo in the future, you only have to change the walls to update the room. - Unless you are changing your appliances and flooring, very dark cabinets will probably make your kitchen feel overwhelmingly dark and warm. - Consider your lighting and how you want your kitchen to feel. Does your kitchen feel too warm or too cool when your work in it? - White will give your room a light and airy feel especially if paired with cool blues and greens. If that seems to make the room feel too cold, white or cream can be warmed up with a bright wall color like apricot, lime green or turquoise. Try looking through magazines for color combos you like...or look inside your own closet for colors that make you feel good.

Yes, to your first question. You can see the lower TV room ceiling here and how it opens to the foyer. That walkway measures 47" width ( including future baseboard.) I thought a post against that wall would balance the newel on the other side and allow for a "separation" between spaces? I don't know what the color should do in this area? My husband wants the darker brown for the TV room. Also, our color "cocoa" drives me crazy- it goes pinky (flesh beige) with an east facing window light-(the picture below was taken this morning) and goes blue(brown) and relaxed in the evening with sconce/lamp light. I love the color in the evening. Most mornings, I think I need to repaint! Thanks for your interest.

Please clarify this statement... "I like more war, colors like the beige or light tan to coordinate with each other." Also it is hard to recommend colors without some idea of the space and how the rooms relate to each other. Do you have a floor plan, sketch or pictures that you can post to help us give you ideas? Whole house open concept or 3 separate rooms with doors or clearly defined separations for different colors of paint. Also what color & type of flooring, furniture, cabinets, rugs, art etc... Without any of the above I can say I like the following colors & you might start your paint journey with:

Then you need to find a color that works with the floors so whatever white it needs to be a white that is in the flooring and IMO the counters are going to fight with any white you choose since they already do not work with the floors so maybe think of a nice color instead of white ,