Soft white light has a temp color of 2700K - 3000k, which is the closest to incandescent lighting which most people will use in homes at night. Halogen lights and fluorescents come in at around 3200 - 3500k. Daylight white is 4000k - 5000k. A perception is that fluorescent light is too cold/ harsh and perhaps too commercial. On the other hand, 2700k is perceived by some to be a little too yellow. Do visit local lighting stores which have areas lit at different color temps to get a feel.

gglks, thanks for the compliment on my kitchen. Just wanted to agree with what others have said and to go with what you like for your kitchen. We get a TON of natural light in our kitchen and I think a pure white would have looked too white, BUT the real deciding factor on the cabinet color was that the place we ordered our cabinets from had a VERY limited selection for colors. I had originally wanted a custom paint job (which would have been an extra $2K so it got nixed)... I wanted a color called Sag Harbor Gray which is medium to dark in tone. My husband wanted White, so the off white was a compromise. When we started our project, I had wanted a more contemporary urban feel than what I ended up with. My husband (who is normally very agreeable and doesn't get too involved in design decisions) wanted a very neutral (safe) look. I was just so thrilled he agreed to the kitchen re-do at all, so I went along with his choice of cabinet color and in the end I am thrilled with the result (but honestly, had we done it my way (the sexy/moody/urban feel), I would have been thrilled too... it just would have been lots of different choices - surely not the granite I chose - I would have gone with suede finish on Antique Brown granite (had it all picked out to go with the custom cab color)). Anyway, I am rambling, but just trying to make the point, that depending on which color you go with will create a different look (and different choices in terms of granite / tile, etc), but if you are like me, you'll be happy either way. btw, the omega color samples on the internet might be off for me. The Pure White looked like baby blue. The color samples I was looking at on the internet when choosing my cabinet color were pretty far off of the actual samples. Do you have an actual physical sample to choose from? ... I carried mine around along with all my other samples (flooring, tile, butcherblock, granite) while I finalized my decisions.

jena,,any of the off whites or creamy whites,,or even the white/grays. here is one link where they talk about cab color turning yellow and what she did. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/help-i-new-white-kitchen-cabinets-look-yellow-dsvw-vd~3958074?n=93 one of the comments on there was this: Rebecca Hulak I have alabaster and the color is horrible. mine look yellow also! https://www.houzz.com/discussions/white-cabinets-look-yellow-dsvw-vd~5224453?n=83 https://www.houzz.com/discussions/help-cabinets-are-too-yellow-is-there-a-save-dsvw-vd~2662489?n=21

Monkey,,,a few suggestions. Only you can decide if your 20 year old knotty pine cabs are worth keeping as is. It's not like they're made from some exotic wood, so do what you like. You have to look at them everyday. while they may look ok in the photos, perhaps you see more wear and damage than we do. The inspo pics above are gorgeous, but those cabs are a nice oak. has a different tone than your knotty pine. try the other small changes first and see how you like it. you could always install a beadboard backsplash, paint it, and see how you like it. For the record, I don't think a white tile will make your kitchen too bright. for the countertops, there are a few DIY options other than painting them that you can try. One is Ardex concrete. it's a skim coat you can do right over whats there. if you google it, many videos and pics will come up on how to do it. It's not that difficult. you can even tint it black so you get a similar dark charcoal looking counter. The other is to remove what you have and make your own wood countertops out of doug fir beams. Also how-to's online. These are just options for you to consider. I'm not saying any one is better than the other. painting the cabs. you don't have that many to do, so it can be done, if you follow the proper prep instructions. I won't get into here, but if you do decide to go that route, let me know as I have one of the best online tutorials I can give you. Again, I'm only offering you options. People come on here and say, 'do this" or 'my god don't paint those',,, It's your home. Do what makes you happy. here are a few knotty pine kitchens, some natural, some painted. with your black countertop, if you don't want to have white tile, do a natural slate in these black/rust colored tones. they'd be a perfect match. Paint the surrounding walls a light cream to keep things from getting too dark. I think black appliances look great w/pine this is a laminate top and a travertine splash. if you do want to paint the cabs, or even the walls, this color would look fine. natural, glass in a few of the uppers, new lighting and granite. the sage green is beautiful w/your floors. You could always do just the lower cabs in this color, or do the entire lot. white splash, walls and butcher block or lighter countertop, you'd have a beautiful kitchen. below, she did a beadboard backsplash w/some open shelving.