I've found that with touch ups, it helps to thin the paint a little with water (assuming it is water based paint), dip the brush, wipe off excess paint and blot the paint brush on a paper towel a little. Dab the brush a few times on the area to be touched up rather than brushing it. This technique is similar to how stenciling is done. You want to work with an almost dry brush so you don't get globs of paint or brush marks. I learned this technique from the Ellen Kennon website. If you don't get complete coverage with the first coat, let it dry, then repeat. This works best with a flat or satin finish. Semi-gloss and gloss durfaces are harder to touch up evenly.

I think you should try painting the walls a color first because I think that makes a huge impact. We are building a house in a subdivision so color choices are limited. I told our sales lady that I wanted white cabinets. She, and the other salesman, warned me that they had a blue cast to them. They kept trying to talk me into the cream but I want white. They had me go look at a house that had them with the builder’s Dover White walls. The cabinets looked blue! But I had no other options for white so decided to get them anyway hoping wall paint would help. When we went to the design center to officially pick them they didn’t look blue at all. They were the perfect white! I’ve been worried that the sample wasn’t actually the same color and they’d still be blue. Last week my sales lady got me a scrap of trim to take to pick out my granite. No blue! So, my point is, it’s the stupid wall paint that makes them look blue. So I will have to paint my walls so my cabinets look good. Here’s a kitchen we looked at (not our floor plan). The cabinets look like the color from a spray paint can. Their counters don’t help either.

I'm biased because I just finished painting my kitchen and hall this color but ... Eider white? It is a little warmer but also so pale you almost think it's white until you see it against white trim and ceiling. It does not read as beige or yellow at all to me. As to the cabinet color ... it all depends on your budget and if you like any of the woods that are available. I chose a stained wood because I like wood grain and wanted something super durable against dings and dents. Maybe see if they have any wood cabinets that are not overly red or warm, it looks like you really like gray so I'm guessing you like cool colors?

Floorplan is helpful, but we also need to know how wide your aisles are currently (they look tight around the island?). Here's a quick idea (may not be feasible depending on aisle width) - it might look a little odd to leave that arch hanging but it would give you seating and remove the current barrier island. With the new opening to the LR, you could possibly close off that doorway next to the fridge (where does it go?) and/or partially close the opening between kitchen and breakfast (could be used for pantry space, etc. if necessary). I squared off the angled pantry but I was guessing at the measurements. You could leave the angle as-is with this layout, but the overall appliance arrangement can probably be improved by eliminating that angle (depending on those exact measurements). Or a similar idea with an island instead of peninsula, with the sink and DW moved to the perimeter: