I designed a kitchen for a woman with a similar predicament. We ended up going with a lighter cabinet (maple with a light finish/glaze, if I remember correctly), but used a contrasting moulding on the top and bottom of the cabinets that matched an antique she had. It really pulled everything together. Another option is to keep your moulding the same light color but use a darker onlay within that moulding (or “sandwich” a darker color moulding between two lighter ones). Naturally this all assumes you have room for moulding. Aside from this, I l think you are on the right track by considering using decorative elements to create balance. Hope this helps. Have fun with your project!

I would go white with your kitchen cabinets. It would feel like a cave if you went dark. Then you could add your “decorative cherry elements” to tie in.
If you don’t love the cherry entertainment unit, paint it too. White. Then your floors will really stand out and look beautiful as the element that ties the two areas together.
Then use a few decorative accessories in one nice bright color to make the rooms pop! Cobalt blue, red, or sage green are some suggestions.
Have fun - if you find a color that makes you feel good, use it.

I remodeled a kitchen very similar to what you described about 6 months ago. What I ended up doing, at the owners request, was to paint the inside edge of the cabinet doors (where the bevel of the door rails meet the raised panel, about 1/2″ wide) a color that was similar to the mahogany stained entertainment center that I had built for them at the other end of the room. Then they picked out some light beige porceline knobs with a small burgandy colored flower on them. A large rug in the center under the table, sort of a darker neutral color from the walls. Then they put a few vases and things of that nature around with some small wall hangings. I had painted the walls a light buscuit color. Kind of went together nicely. Saved them alot of cash. They were considering tearing out the cabinets too. They plan on changing the counter tops soon to a colored granite. I added some under cabinet lighting and the place looked like a million bucks. I’m not saying it will work for you, but they seemed to like it. Unfortunately, there are a million options that can be done reasonably. So…Good Luck with your project!

If it were me, I would paint the kitchen walls a nice light warm tan or beige and paint the kitchen cabinets white. It would be a crisp clean look. I would treat them as two different spaces with regard to the cabinetry but use the same wall color on the whole space to make it look larger. Then I would place a few wallhangings in black frames (black and white photos would work great) in the space. Not too many, just a few.
Good luck to you on your project. Sounds like fun!