I agree with all the above comments. I'd also like to say that I think you're putting too much emphasis on the need to be creative in order to create a kitchen you love. I don't think so. You just need a vision and you seem to lack one now. Spend some time looking at kitchens like magazines, here, Houzz, and just plain google kitchens and look at images. Save every picture of a kitchen that speaks to you and makes your heart sing to look at it. Once you get a big pile of photos, sort through them and try to determine what features keep popping up over-and-over again in them. Narrow down your choices into a smaller pile. Keep doing this over and over until you have a small pile of photos that really excite you. Those can become your vision. Now you just have to recreate it in a way that makes sense for your space. It doesn't help you to find out what specific blue someone else used. Lighting in your home, what direction it comes in through your windows, your latitude/longitude/altitude, other colors in your home, the colors right outside your windows, etc., all will create a different look to the color in your own kitchen. So, instead, once you have found colors in your inspiration photos that you want to explore, go look at paint colors, pick a few that look like they might be the same as your inspiration photo. Buy several sample sized of a few different colors that might work, then bring them home and paint different boards with them. Then put the boards in your kitchen and see what they look like in different types of light. Only then will you begin to get a feeling for how that color will look in your kitchen. Once you've narrowed down to the color you think you want, paint a large board in just that color and, again, view it in different kinds of light over a period of time in your kitchen. If it sings to you in all lighting situations, go for it. If you post photos of your kitchen here, you will probably get some great input. Good help with colors and such can also be found at the Home Decorating section. Don't stress about this. Have fun with it. I don't think anybody makes the best decisions when they're stressed and being stressed will make a somewhat challenging project even harder to accomplish. So, really, try to enjoy the process. It can be as fun as enjoying the finished project.

I think it may be the foam roller. I had similar problems with foam rollers and satin sheen paint when painting window trim. I had patchy areas that looked satin or glossy and others that were not. The 4inch foam roller I used that gave me these problems the most was a black dense foam roller purchased from a Sherwin Williams store. I tried another brand from Lowes and the packaging said to pre-wet for best results. So you may want to try a new or different brand foam roller or even try those flocked foam ones and pre-wet it to see if that helps (if you aren't already trying that). You also might want to consider getting a paint sprayer if the rollers keep being a pain. Good luck!

I disagree that there are water based products that are superior to lacquer. There are not. Our Brookhaven cabinets had a strong odor for several weeks but we weren't living in the house. We had all of the trim in our home painted with high gloss alkyd and the smell was intolerable for a week or so. We had the painting done when it was possible to keep the windows open but if you're sensitive to chemical odors, it won't be easy to tolerate. Is there somewhere else you can stay as Faron79 suggested? If not, he'll need to use a water based paint.

I prefer all cool colors or all warm colors in a room, but that's me. If you have a combination of the two, that's when it gets tricky. Just to give you an idea: here are some warm colors: off-white, sand, beige, tan, brown, olive green, orange, golden yellow, gold, peach. Here are some cool colors: bright white, taupe, black, gray, purple, royal blue, cool red, pine green, forest green, Kelly green. As others have said here, all colors in the room need to be considered - floor, ceiling, walls, the works. What are the other colors in the home? The entire room needs to have a sense of unity. Items do not exist on their own, but need to get along with everything else in the room. Some paint stores and websites have full room testers so you can see what the room looks like with the various colors. Call paint stores or look on their websites for help - they are there for you. Your floor is currently a warm color. Your plans for your cabs and counters will be cool.