I think it is regional. On Gardenweb, white is very popular. In the suburbs here, distinct off-white and glazes are popular. In the city, dark stains, very dark brown, maroonish, black. Talk to a realtor, and also look at a lot of real estate online, particularly at new construction, houses that say "recently renovated", and houses that look heavily staged.

Ellie, your new home is lovely. I looked into painting my current kitchen and pretty much what Live_oak_writes is what I found to be true in terms of prep, cost and quality. The guy I found here in Michigan ONLY paints cabinets and that is the kind of painter I would suggest or a cabinet shop. I am not trying to criticize house painters, but I would only want someone who specializes in cabinets (not a painter of rooms, exteriors, etc). He told me he would remove all the doors and spray in his shop (after sanding, filling in holes, etc.). The boxes would have to be sprayed on-site of course and you need to verify their prep for that. He was willing to paint a sample door for me (find an old maple door at Habitat, etc. and have them use that as a test). I liked what I saw. His Facebook page was impressive. My kitchen is not as nice as yours and I determined it just was not worth it. I recall a thread here recently in which someone painted professionally and it was absolutely wonderful. I am not as good as others at finding pictures/threads, but I will look.

Looks beautiful! Did you paint them yourself? Were they sprayed or brushed? I'm thinking about painting ours but it seems daunting since we have a large kitchen like yours.

Go for the ivory color in the granite. Bring home swatches and find one that matches well. For the backsplash, just remove all of the tile over the granite bs, clean up and paint the wall above it.