I'm considering doing the exact same "facelift" for our kitchen! I kept going back and forth about trying a gray on the lowers to blend in with our walls, but after lots of reading, houzz picture surfing, etc. I've decided that you really can't go wrong with all white! It always brightens up the kitchen and looks like it could make yours feel bigger, too. Plus, there are endless shades of white (recommend semi-gloss for cabinets) paint, so you can choose one that really coordinates well with your counter. As far as hardware- what style is the rest of your home? Do you care/want it to match your appliances and/or sink hardware? Personally, I've really been digging matte black kitchen hardware lately, but I have a feeling that then I'd want to swap out our stainless sink faucet, RO, etc. and I'm trying to keep it cheap! Good luck!

I'm a Sherwin-Williams color fan. It took me a good 7 months to sample a variety of tans and beiges for my last house which was a North facing house in Fort Worth. Eventually I chose Softer Tan. I also had travertine flooring and went with it perfectly. I had Dover White for my trim.  This new house which is a south facing home in Raleigh we went with Kilim Beige. I'm loving it because it tends to be a little darker but with the abundant sunlight it feels cozy to me.  The only way you're going to make this choice is to get all your sample colors and test in every room on several different walls and to continue eliminating them until you have maybe five. Then you get sample pots, which are not real paint because they lack some materials, but they're great samples. I then painted canvases, purchased from Michaels, and then placed them in the rooms on various walls to get an idea of what a larger paint concept would look like. Tip that I forgot- mark your canvases. Lol. This is an iterative process and not one made from online color samples. Houses great for people to give you a direction based on their experiences or use of colors in our own homes but after that it's all about testing.

I don’t think your house needs to be painted. I think the current siding color is nice, and it works fine with the house style, plus the stone/brick. Beige/mushroom tones and grey tones can and do work together. These color combos are found in the shore/nature color palettes. I think the biggest upgrades for your house could possibly be found in changing the front door style, plus enhanced landscaping/lighting on house/grounds. Overall, I would lean toward modern/minimalistic landscaping styles. A new front door and a landscape designer could do much more for your house than paint.

@decoenthusiaste, woould you remove shutters from the windows on the porch only? On the walls to either side of front walk are windows with shutters, and also two on the front at left (one covered by tree). The window at right is boxed out with no shutters (covered partially by purple tree in bottom pic below). 1. Also we ruled out green--we think it's just TOO MUCH green and aren't into it enough to make a statement. 2. We may eventually change out the stone, which is fake stone and we don't love it, so while I do like taking the lighter buff tone and using that, please know we aren't married to the stone or especially trying to highlight it. We also need to re-do the front walk in the near future (next spring??).