It's really all going to depend on the type of light you have in your kitchen. I like growingadvices advice to use tans and greys, but make sure you get samples and test them on the wall first. The colors will look different at different times of the day. Also, if you have a favorite color, test that too. :-) Justin Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Painting Ideas

The concepts of color "depth" and "complexity" might be the most difficult to pinpoint and explain. Deeper, depth, complex are words that get tossed around a lot. No one wants a Plain Jane paint color when "complex" sounds like it would be so much prettier and better, right? These descriptions of color are about nuance. Nuance is not the same as LRV. Lightness value (LRV) and grayscale value (usually 10 gray squares) is where most people get confused. And, really, it is understandable. They're both scales of gray squares - but the gray squares are not the same grays. LRV and grayscale are inextricably tied but are distinctly different parts of color that can be measured and plotted separately. LRV is measured by device. Grayscale is a visual assessment. I just answered a question on the Paint forum that's similar. I think the images included help illustrate the difference. Here is a link that might be useful: LRV and Nuance

I prefer the look of painted wood. MDF just machines differently. For a simple style, it won't matter, but if there is any kind of detail, it'll show. (Not everybody notices this or sees it as a big deal though!) BUT...you don't want cracks and seams. You'll get that with maple, but depending on your climate, it might not be much. Ideally, you'd be able to see samples of BOTH in styles of similar detailing to what you want to buy. I wouldn't order doors without samples.

I had to go back and read through your other posts to see what you'd been looking at, and how/why your choices had been "bashed." I think colors are a matter of personal preference (have just pulled the trigger myself on a couple paint colors that would appall most people on these boards). But people here will warn you off if you say you are looking for a nice neutral, and you are looking at colors that aren't likely to read as neutral when they are up on your wall. I say "likely" because white paints, definitionally, don't have a lot of pigment, and that makes them particularly fickle to the room conditions--window orientation, having greenery outside, being in a northerly or southerly latitude, being in an area that is often overcast--all of that is can make one persons cream into another person's yellow (or peach, or sickly green). So just understand that we can throw out ideas and suggestions, and we can look at your photos, but only you are seeing the colors in your space. I saw you had tested colors by painting them on your wall. It's usually a better idea to paint a foam board or something similar that you can move around and view on different walls at different times of day. I usually start this process with the little swatches and then do the foam board thing with just the finalists. After reading the other posts, here are the BM whites I would suggest you take a look at: Mayonnaise (similar to Sugar Cookie, but a bit lighter and a bit more neutral) Crisp Linen Snowfall White Simply White Bancoft White And if you want something not quite so light, Seapearl or China White For beige, you might take a look at Tapestry Beige. It's beige without straying too far into gold/yellow.