Choice can be dictated by several thing - amount of light coming into the area, whether you prefer a more formal or casual look, do you like a contrasting look between floors and cabinets, etc.

I think that dark cabinets, because of the high ceilings, could help to ground the space.

Thank you so much for the feedback, blfenton! We like to keep things very simple and casual with clean lines. We'll also have gooseneck barn lights protruding from the upper walls to give extra light so the dark cabinets may not look as out of place as I'm fearing...

I'd choose something like a dark oak if you want to keep costs down and still get a fairly contemporary look. Something like this Kemper Northrop or Copley in Oak with a Chocolate or Havana stain.
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BTW, get a lighting designer involved NOW! Two story anything is difficult to light properly, but a two story kitchen is especially problematic, so you want to be sure that you can see what you're doing and don't create a big block of heaviness in the open space.

You've also got to balance dark cabinetry with more uses of dark wood/dark colors in other areas of the open concept space. Not just dark woodwork and darker floors. A dark stone for a fireplace. Maybe a dark dining table. Maybe wooden blinds. Something to spread it around and tie everything together.

We have a open concept vaulted great room with stained maple cabinets and white wood work.

rtwilliams, I am loving the stain on your cabinets. You have maple cabinets and yet that is a pretty dark stain. I love it! Gives me hope. I would love to stain my cabinets darker from our formerly beautiful natural maple to the now sort of orange it has darkened to over the years. Would you mind saying what the color of your stain is and type? It really looks great.

Live_wire_oak, lighting is certainly a concern and we added a dormer above the breakfast area which lets in a great deal of natural lighting. We are planning on undercabinet lighting around the entire perimeter, have 3 gooseneck barn lights to go on the 2 walls and we'll have island pendants *if* I can find any that have long enough cords/downrods. Having a hard time with that one...

rtwilliams, Thank you so much for posting pics of your kitchen! Your cabinets are so, so similiar to what we've chosen and we even considered having just the island painted white to blend with the white trim thru the rest of the house. Your island lights look fantastic, too. I'm having a hard time finding any indoor or outdoor lights that are long enough to reach a 2nd story - where did you find yours, if I may ask?

I guess it is a personal taste, but I love, dark woods. I was inspired by he library feeling of 2 story cabinets and shelving. You can't see from this pic, but my dark birch cabinets open to a 14 feet vaulted ceiling in the adjoining family room. I have dark leather furniture to carry on the theme and dark brazilian cherry floors throughout.They don't seem to float to me, and the previous photos are stunning. Go dark!

parsonse - Thanks, I thought your description of your space sounded similar to ours. I had considered going with white perimeter cabinets and a dark stained Island but I was afraid it would be too much white for the open concept space.

The island lanterns are from lowes, we did have to re-wire them and buy more chain. Pretty easy to do with any chain type light fixture. Our ceilings at the highest point are 17 feet.

gr8day - I picked the cabinet color by bringing home the cabinet door colors and this color went perfect with the existing maple floors. The floors are a few shades lighter than the cabinets. The cabinets are Medallion brandywine stain color on maple.