We built an addition to our house and need to help choosing wall colours for our open kitchen and great room. It is a south facing room, with the kitchen window above the sink facing east. We are trying to decide on a wall colour for the actual kitchen area, and for the rest of the great room.

The cabinets are painted a Repose Gray, and are lighter than I thought they would be, so we are trying to pick colours that will warm up the cabinets, and make them pop more. We've always used different greys on our walls (usually BM Pale Oak or Revere Pewter) and been very happy, but never had a room this large or with ceilings this high, so I don't have a lot of experience picking out whites.

1. We want the Repose Gray cabinets to look as dark as possible. What colour white is not too stark or cold but would contrast with and warm up the cabinets?
2. I am concerned that if we do the entire great room in a white, it will be very bright (good) and wash out the cabinets because of all the light reflecting off the walls and onto the cabinets (bad).
3. Because of #2, It occurred to me to do the kitchen area in a white as a backdrop to the Repose Gray cabinets, while doing the rest of the great room in Repose Gray. Probably too matchy matchy?
4. Alternatively, the white backdrop to the Repose Gray could be a very clean white, and the rest of the great room a warmer white. You wouldn't be able to see a major break between the two, but it would give the feel we'd like. I'd like the feel of the great room to be airy but warm and inviting.
5. Our kitchen cabinet is a walnut stained wood. I'm not sure how much that matters. Just throwing it in the mix!
6. The wood trim on the windows will similarly be stained, not painted.
7. The backsplash is going to be glossy white 3x6 tiles. Any advice on grout colour appreciated, too. Should we match the grey hue of the cabinets or go a little darker?

Attached are pictures of where the kitchen corner where the cabinets will go; the other view from a hallway (butler's pantry) into our great room, which leads to the patio out back; and the walnut of our kitchen island. In one of the pictures there are paint samples up on the walls -- please disregard those. They are meant for another room. (If you're curious, though, the right-most one is BM's Revere Pewter.

Thanks for any advice!

This first picture is a reasonable representation of the cabinet colours.

This second picture actually shows what I mean by the cabinets are quite light and can come across as a muddy white.

Kitchen island base stain.