I would not paint those cabinets, especially if they are solid cherry. I would refinish them. Either stripped them and leave them naked (w/ only a waxed finish), or I would stained them darker chocolate brown. If you want a cottage farmhouse look, then maybe light stain with darker stain glazing to highlight distress and mimic age. I just think white is too stark & would make your floor looks dingy. Just an opinion. :-D

It's impossible to be sure just from a picture, but it looks to me like your cabinets, counter, etc. are well-made and were probably expensive when they were installed. Doing a quick patch job of redecorating by painting and putting peel and stick tiles over the backsplash is going to give you a lighter kitchen, but it will turn it into a cheap-looking kitchen in the process. Of course it's up to you what you can tolerate. If this were my kitchen, my choice would be to stick with a high-quality look that's out of style (especially since it's fairly neutral) until I could get a firm vision of what I wanted to do AND make sure I had the budget to do it right.

do you have a quote. this would be far too expensive relative to the age and general remaining value of the cabinets. I would consider a section to redo either paint or replace. I would not paint this entire cluster of oak cabinets all one shade of white or off white. the counters are doing no favor in reality.....but you could leave a section of this counter material somewhere and replace some........the backsplash should be replaced no matter what and the floor could be much nicer and you could complement the medium toned oak cabinetry with a new floor. so you have a pick of floor/counters/backsplash. I'd study the options and line item some pricing of doing another one or two things before I'd paint the cabs.

I'd paint all of them white, or the island white, or all of the uppers white. doing just the two on the sides wouldn't look the best. you could add seeded glass to those two, light the interior and display something pretty. (maybe paint the inside of them white) Or, is this the look you're after? if so, paint all the uppers white, leave the railing dark, get new chairs/lights. I'd get some under cabinet lighting, some pendants for your island, diff counter stools, and try that first. those chairs are too heavy and too dark against an already dark island. see? chairs, lights and decor for the island top make a huge impact