Simply Hoppy: Kitchen: Painted Cabinets

I can NOT get the idea of painting my cabinets out of my head. I really want my kitchen to be bright and airy and the wood cabinets just aren't making the cut based on the look that I'm going for. The only thing that is holding me back is that I have black appliances. I'm afraid if I paint my cabinets white, then it will make the appliances stick out like a...well you get the picture.

What do you think?

My most prized possession in my entire house, is my kitchen island. My uncle and I built it the summer of 2007 when I moved into my house. The legs are scrap wood we found in a garbage bin at Lowe's...SCORE! Since they were going to throw it out, they gave it to us for free. I splurged a little for the top, but since I knew the bottom was going to be painted white I wanted it to have a beautiful contrast. The top of the island is Oak. We didn't stain the wood...all we did is seal it. I don't have a picture of my inspiration for this piece since it was 4 years ago, but it was a kitchen island from a Pottery Barn Magazine.

Below is a nook that is just to the right of my kitchen table. Ideally I would like to put more cabinets in this space. One bad thing about my house is that I don't have a lot of cabinet space. Most days I have appliances all over my counter tops, but I cleaned up a little for these pictures.

Ignore the blue storage bin in the corner...that is my recycling center. :)

You may notice the white lampshade sitting on top of the blue Tupperware. That is for a future project that I hope to get done within the next couple weeks. Fingers crossed!!