I vote for a white fridge. Your dishwasher is directly across, and even with a panel change you would still have a fairly large portion of the top white. Have you thought about beadboard? It's sold in big sheets and is fairly inexpensive. I attached a site to show you how a beadboard kitchen would look. This one has SS appliances but note that it is also playing off a gray. Since you have plain face front cabinets, already painted, this might be a fairly inexpensive way to jazz up your kitchen. Note how they ran beadboard in the soffet area above the cabinets. Also, it was used as a backsplash. Buy sheets of inexpensive beadboard and molding and frame out new fronts using your existing cabinet doors. Then run it around the back of the bar. Change out the knobs. It looks like your overhead fan vent is a fairly inexpensive model. Probably wouldn't be too hard to remove, clean, and spray white. Paint the old paneling white until you can afford to replace it with beadboard. I think the white would go well with both your current counters and floor. However, you could also go with a glazed look if you decide to try the beadboard. Here is a link that might be useful: Beadboard kitchen

Here is the photo of the kitchen before we moved in. The fridge in the photos is not the one that is there now. We put a 36" counter depth with wood paneling and the exposed compressor grill on top there now. In front on the right of the swing doors is the bar with full counter and pass through window. In a couple of years, we'll replace the counters, cabinets and floors. I forgot to say the floors are not the reddish/pink tint. It's a slight multi dirt brown and yeah. What can I say. Another chapter for another day with the floors. LOL. We have a lot of other priorities to fix and update that are rather costly and can't be ignored. I know a lot of people don't like the Black Stainless Steel but I love it. So the question remains, can we get away with a black dishwasher (to replace current one) and ice maker that will match the lower cabinets when they are painted black if we can't find the matching wood panels for them? Thanks all!

Most appliances manufacturers seem to use some sort of brushed finish. And in practice, the differences between manufacturers tend to be not overly glaring. Sinks are a bit more of a wildcard. There are a couple of different finishes that you can get. But then, a sink is in a very different place, and accumulates scratches with use anyway. I personally don't feel it has to 100% match the look of the stainless appliances. If you are really anal, you could always have your contractor redo all the grain with a sander and some 3M pads. It's labor intensive though and does take some amount of practice to get a uniform finish. Most people wouldn't really go down this route -- and if you do, make sure you get samples of their workmanship first; it's easy to make things worse instead of better.

Congratulations! It looks like a fantastic property :) When buying a new home, especially a first home, it is best to move in first before making changes. It is amazing how much living in the space for a while (six to 12 months) gives you a different approach to what you want to change. Try it, at least for a few months. BTW, love the live edge table. Be aware that scale is important. It is easy to buy furniture of any type that is too large so make sure to keep your dimensions with you so you don't make a purchase that is too large for the space.