In order to brighten things up, look at the off whites. They look like colors on the little sample cards, but when painted on the wall, often look more like a pale color than a white. I'd go all the way up to the lightest colors. I really don't see how you can go wrong, your choices so far are so neutral. I think you could go warmer, or cooler, and it would make sense. In order to brighten up the space, I would do these things: -think about shiny, beefy drawer pulls/knobs, like polished nickel -think about maybe glass subway tile (or other pattern), or even a metallic tile. Something that reflects light. -make sure your lighting is excellent in every regard: overhead, undercabinet, pendant work lights. That will really help.

Don't do anything if you're having someone paint them. And having them professionally painted will be in the 3-5K range. are you aware of that? do not have any house painter do them. the prep on these cabinets need to be done by the book or your paint will peel and chip within a few months. so please, hire a PRO cabinet painter and ask him what his prep steps are. I like BM White Dove for your cabinets. it will go beautifully w/the tile. and a pale blue wall is a good idea. this one is BM Solitude or BM Pashmina

forget staining them. as mentioned above, it's actually more work than painting. you have to get them down to raw wood again before applying a new stain. (if you want it to look good) If you were thinking about doing a darker stain, you could do what they've done here to resemble a dark stain. General Finishes Dark Chocolate paint, and 2 coats of their clear coat. (you still have to sand and prime prior to painting) this is from a poster here on Houzz who shared this. right now, your backsplash, tile flooring and countertop are at odds. It's very busy with those 3, and all the other stuff you have going on in there. you have a lot of knick-knacks, plaids, stripes, tile pattern on the floor, granite movement, mosaic tile movement, etc. they really compete with one another. I'd remove the backsplash and that 4" granite piece up the back. Remove everything on top of the cabinets. Pare down half of what you have everywhere else. Paint your cabinets and get new hardware. I'd paint out the trim and baseboards to white, but that's me. on these first few pics, notice how these owners dealt w/the small space above the cabinets by have boxes built to fill in above it. If you're painting, this is easily done. Before/After. paint color is Shoji White with glaze, and Annonymous on the island the one above, and this one, show how removing old tile and the 4" granite piece up the back, make a big difference in look. you could always do a nicer crown molding on the tops of your cabs. look how nice it looks w/the white cabinets, darker wall color, and no stuff collecting dust on top! Maria Kilim before/after. she painted all the oak trim/baseboards, windows, etc. If you want to paint, hire a pro Cabinet Painter, not house painter. ask them how they prep the cabs and how they plan on painting. It's a ton of work to do and cost is going to reflect that. If someone gives you an estimate of 2-3k to do yours, don't fall for it. Read this if you want to know just how much work it takes to get professional looking painted cabinets. https://www.evolutionofstyleblog.com/how-to-paint-your-kitchen-cabinets-like

Your old wall color Wind's Breath was a pale gray gold-yellow. Your choices to replace it are all a pale but more pure yellow. Cloud White has a Hue of 55, and both Cloud Cover and Silver Satin have a Hue of 53. I sampled the colors via my photo program, but because paint is a combination of pigments the photo program doesn't catch all the nuances. Nonetheless, the colors are nearly identical. When spread over a wall there will be variations of tone due to highlight and shadow. Northern light is bluish, and will make yellow seem more green. You might correct this by using warm white lighting, that is bulbs with low color temperature (below 3000K). The light in the photo of your kitchen table seems to wash the color from the wall closest to it. It could be a daylight bulb with a color temperature of 6000K or higher. These are great for detail work, but give off a bluish tint. In contrast, your formal dining room light gives off a decidedly warm yellow light. This LINK shows how a bulb's color temperature affects colors it shines on. Many designers recommend you use a pink tinted paint for a room with northern light.