A soft mossy or grey green would be my first impulse but Sarah's dark blue looks good. It depends on your kitchen ware. White porcelains will pop with the blue and earthy stoneware will go more with the soft greens. I'd add a shelf to extend from the cabinet across the tile and a pot rack or hooks over the stove.

Well I am a very plain sort of a person and I don't like overdoing patterns. The timber in the cupboards is beautiful and I feel that bench top would detract from it. I would have as plain as possible top in a cream/beige to enhance the timber. This would give you plenty of choice of other colours in the room. I don't feel I can really comment on colours as I can't tell the aspect of your room or the lighting nor do I know what other colours you have through the house. The only downside to the cupboard doors you are considering is that they will attract dust and being in the kitchen a greasy dust.

A15) @Dara Cooke: If you can't afford a quartz or granite worktop from day one then I would recommend using a laminate worktop as a temporary solution. If you don't put tiles up as a backsplash then replacing the worktops can be relatively easy in a couple of years.

Why don't you have an L shape and use the area under the window also for your sink and a couple of extra units? you could add shelves on either side of the window? Not sure why your fridge has to go at that end? might be best at the other end? As Sarah, suggests, get full height cupboards, and put the microwave in one of those, so that you're not losing so much space. Extra storage is probably more useful than having the microwave on display? It can easily be put on a shelf within a cupboard. (Our isn't even in our kitchen, but then we only use it once a week or so... so really depends) I'd also suggest drawers to the bottom of your units instead of cupboards.