So! The time has come for my family to update our kitchen! The old cabinet boxes are all in good shape, but the doors (old melamine doors, plain white) are beginning to peel. Because the boxes are in such good shape, we're looking to keep them and just replace the doors and the old white formica countertops.

Since we are going to keep the cabinet boxes (if only I had all the money to do everything I want!), we're just going to replace the doors, the hardware, the sink, and the backsplash. We've already decided on Soapstone for the counters as it is easily reparable and we're getting a GREAT deal from a countertop company that works with my employer.

But now we have to decide on cabinet doors. My mother wants Shaker doors for the clean lines, and I really don't mind the look so Shaker it is, but there are so many colors out there! Luckily, I work for the company that will be building my doors so I can have all the samples I want.

We've narrowed it down to two choices, a textured, cool, greyish white melamine called White Chocolate and just plain white melamine, pictured below. The white is our original cabinet color and as it is at least twenty years old we have had a bit of trouble finding anything that matches it exactly.

The difference between the two is more exaggerated in the photo, as it seems whiter in person, but if we did choose White Chocolate, the cabinet boxes would clearly no longer match. Our kitchen is a small (9' x 11') U shaped kitchen, so the only point where the cabinet boxes actually show are at the single exposed end and on the bottoms of the overhead cabinets over the sink, as well as the box faces when the doors are open.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is A) Which color? and B) if White chocolate, should I replace or cover all the visible, plain white melamine?