To stay neutral, but have more character, I'd stay away from beiges and other blahs, and go deeper in color, especially for counters...Either medium tones (chocolate brown, deep olive, etc.) or into slate grays or classic black. Staying with earthy tones (browns, golds, grays, burgundies, greens) should still allow someone to jazz it up for themselves, or leave it and still have something rich. The other end of the spectrum, which can be very elegant, I think, is light counter on light cabinets, but that doesn't appeal to everyone. Is the kitchen open to the house (which I'm assuming) or more closed? For cabinets, I think a medium toned wood (except for regular oak) is 'safest,' with the broadest appeal, and might have the least chance of becoming dated. Something that is an environmentally conscious choice could also be a better investment for resale consideration. Painted cabinets are also pretty classic, but it depends more on the style of the house. If you went that route, it'd be nice to see something other than white...dove gray, light sage...Light, but with some character of its own. This is difficult, because you are giving us a pretty large, blank slate. But these are my opinions, and I hope it helps.

Here's the current floor plan. Here's the link to a previous discussion with more pictures of our current kitchen and other thoughts before we settled on the current options; [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/help-with-kitchen-layout-dsvw-vd~4531998[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/help-with-kitchen-layout-dsvw-vd~4531998)

From what I can see and what you are saying, I would go with the CF couch (chrome will not stand out with your whitewash as much as the dark legs on the RTG sofa, and I believe the best option is to add a stand-alone desk (open secretarial desk so it's not too visually heavy) behind the sectional, as suggested above, with it facing the window.

I've never seen an attached garage that wasn't accessible from inside, so I suspect the house has been remodeled and a door to the garage closed off. Whether or not that's the case, it might be easier to get interior access to the garage by working within the house. If it turns out you do need to build a small vestibule, keep it simple. It's easy to think about soaring gables and sweeping eave extensions, but they don't make financial sense. The existing roof over the front door begins under the third row of siding down from the soffit above it. If it began under the first row, it would extend twice as far. That's enough to let you easily build a 6 x 6 vestibule, maybe 7 x 7 with a little tweaking. No major changes to the roof. The same simple gutter configuration.