I do not think you have much to lose by doing whatever color you desire on the island. In the case that you needed to sell and had to cover up something unique but less marketable it would be a small piece to paint over instead of wall cabinets.

For the record, I just painted over bg oak cabs in a half-formula of Martha' Stewart's whetstone grey, it looks awesome with the rest of my finishes! My plan was for a deep, rich grey on the island but when I painted it with my sample colors i decided I did not like it and painted it to match the perimeters. Not exactly the same as your situation, but just putting it out there in case there is something useful to you in there.

My upper cabinets are ivory, the same as my walls. My lowers are a pale sea glass blue. My island is black with Carrera marble. My house is prairie style 100+ years. I chose painted cabinets because the rest of the house has so much dark wood in built-ins and trim.

We are a week or so away from finishing our small galley kitchen and went with painted maple, only in taupe rather than the usual white. My husband was dead set against white and over a long time of planning I got there too. I expected to use a medium stained wood but kept finding them all either too yellow or too red in tone. I'm really pleased with the taupe; it feels like a nice neutral and it works really well with the rest of the house.

I have white perimeter cabinets (thermofoil, not painted) with blue pearl granite. I have a navy island (painted) with white statuary marble. I love it!

We have ivory lowers and pale green uppers and island. We really like the combination, and are not worried about it looking like the forest green of the 90's because the green we used is not trendy now, reads like a neutral and goes with the style of the house and the rest of the home's decor.

In our previous kitchen, the perimeter was white and I painted the island black. The island also had big onion feet. So it looked like a piece of furniture. I liked it!

Perimeter bases & uppers = SW 7004 Snowbound
Island = SW 6249 Storm Cloud
Granite on all = White Ice

Looks fantastic together.

Deb52899 so pretty! Unbidden would love to see a photo -it sounds stunning.

I love the idea of white cabinets and a painted island - what about a muted grey? What are you considering for your countertops?

deb, that navy is so rich and delicious! Love it!

Mine are not quite cream, not quite gray -- Martha Stewart 'Gull'. Looks lovely with the grey-green walls and dark counter; I like that it is a rich, calm color.

Lisa_wi posted a great kitchen with grey-green lowers and white uppers. I loved this shade of green and strongly considered it for myself. Looking back at her post, I still like it a lot!

Here is a link that might be useful: Green and cream kitchen