I watch a lot of the "flip this house" kinda shows and I see white cabinets a lot. They can be classy. It depends on the style and the knobs. I like the way the ones without knobs look (although I haven't lived with this type)

I am living with white fronts now.
Hate them.
They get very dirty and show everything, especially if they have any texture.
Our new house has white ones too and the first thing I am going to do after we get settled there is paint the damn things until I can afford to get new fronts.

I had a small, lovely kitchen at one time and used a light, natural wood color that was fantastic.

Personally, I like the look of darker cabinets. I see pictures of kitchens with white ones and think, "That looks nice," but the kitchens with darker cabinets just look so much richer (color wise, not money wise).

I re-stained my golden oak cabinets with Java gel stain, added brushed nickel hardware and it looks great (it is a smaller kitchen). It just depends on what goes with the rest of your house and what you like.

If you have a lot of white in your kitchen already, you don't have to go with white to go light. I have seen them in nice grays or almost any color these days.

Go to Houzz.com and you can see thousands of pictures to get ideas.

Last year I went into a kitchen showroom. I like the white cabinets too and when I spoke the designer he told me white cabinets went out of style 10 years ago. How can that be when I see all these shows installing white cabinets and even new homes in the area are installing them too?

If you like white cabinets, get them. You are one that has to live with them.

The 80s look white cabinets with "wood" behind might be what she was thinking of. A good quality white cabinet is gorgeous, IMHO. In fact, I am painting our super crappy fake wood cabinets white before we sell. Just for the airiness and light it will add to the space.

I love dark grey or black cabinets. I would not personally go for white. I do see how it would be helpful in a small space but I agree with MisStep that it will depend of what kind of wood. If its more expensive, thick, solid it might look good in white.

I love my off-white kitchen cabinets. They're paired with black marble counters that offset the aqua glass tile backsplash. The overall effect is stylish and airy and harmonizes with the view of our pool.

I think lighting is crucial if you go with darker cabinets. I hate feeling closed in, especially in one of the main rooms in a home.

I do not care for painted cabinets myself. I love the look of maple wood with light stain. Over time. wood stain cabinets are going stay looking new and fresher longer. I watch HGTV almost 24/7. White seems to be in. A white wash stain would be pretty. I love the look of wash stains...you can go white or with color but you still see the wood grain.

I have dark cabinets that I want desperately to paint! I'll be going with a light griege.... Benny Moore "Revere Pewter."

Painted white cabinets are always in style and elegant. It's the old Thermofoil everyone hates. Think plastic. LOL.

Try this link for kitchen Reno questions. Awesome people.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath/

In the middle of remodeling my kitchen right now! lol

I went to a few places for quotes, White is MORE expensive than wood.
And very much desirable, but more expensive. There was a few places that said to me, "well lets see what you all want, often times we always reduce the cost by going with wood rather than white"
We were going with Cherry anyhow, so it was a savings for us anyhow.
The contractor were going with said the NEW up and coming cabinets is gray instead of white.

Good luck!