If you're looking for a nice 'whiter-white' without being too stark, check out Benjamin Moore Simply WHite. The 1st pic below is using BM Seashell. (this is not one of my rooms...I wish though) I tried the colour in my place and it didn't work with my lighting, but I think it's lovely here. (I had to try given the name & my love of seashells:)) The 2nd pic is my Living Room using Benjamin Moore Windswept. It's more creamy with a light yellow-ish tone-maybe not as yellow as it appears in this pic. I used it in my last house with white cabinets and really liked it, but again, it didn't work in my current kitchen with white cabinets. White is hard to get right...keep playing until you get the right one for your lighting. Good Luck:)!!

Trash pullout and sink run...If the trash pullout in the Cleanup Zone run (i.e., the main sink & DW run) will only hold one bin, I would consider making it 12" or 15" and adding the "extra" 3" to 6" to the cabinet on the left. Depending on how much cutlery you have, 20" may not be wide enough. Ours is 24" wide and that's the minimum I would go to be able to separate out the dinner forks, salad forks, soup spoons, teaspoons, knives, serving spoons, serving forks, and small ladles (as an example). Besides, the more space you have in your other cabinets, the more and more varied items you can store in them! Here is ours: We actually have more forks & spoons in it; this is what wasn't in the DW at the time! The back holds the things we didn't have room for...butter knives, iced tea spoons, seafood forks, pie server, non-wood handled steak knives, etc. Our drawer height is 3-1/4" and is plenty tall/deep enough. Range cabinets...I'm assuming you already have those? If not, consider making the cabinet to the left of the range 24" instead of 18"...it not only will give you more work and landing space, but it will also give the Cooking Zone a little more protection from casual kitchen traffic and people in the Cleanup Zone. Just as an fyi...here is my 4-drawer stack. It holds, top to bottom, flatware/cutlery, plastic bags & wraps, extensions cords & misc electrical-related items, and bread. (The dimensions of the drawers are listed above.) Note: Not all semi-custom cabinets require you to use 3" increments...my semi-custom line had a 31.5" tall oven cabinet...at least there was no upcharge for the size, so I'm assuming it was an available cabinet size.

Thanks everybody for your input. The shaker cabinets are new -- so that's why I hesitate to paint them. True, the lighting in the kitchen isn't that great -- so perhaps it would be difficult for people to notice the difference. I would love, however, to change the hardware. Currently they are the tubular pulls which seem too contemporary for this pre-war apartment. I know I may have to paint the cabinets depending on the new hardware I select. If I can fill in the holes with wood filler and have it paint so it would be seamless, I'd leave it as it is. But not sure if that will happen. If I end up having to paint the cabinets, I figure might as well paint them the same color as the trim/moldings. Decorators White looks good in all of the rooms (with the exception of the master bedroom where colors are more muted) because the furniture tends to run on the fresh clean side.

Your proportions are wrong now, that's why it's not pleasing to your eye. Even if all you did was have taller cabinets in the same configuration, it would look better. If you are really considering lowering the vault, get an architect to do it in conjunction with the entire space. I have a vault on one side and a lower ceiling on the other over the living room. But pros have to figure it out and without seeing your entire space, I'm not sure you'd gain anything that taller cabinets can't achieve.