What colour are they at the moment? Taupe? Your kitchen looks very nice as it is.

I like it too as it is. Very neutral.

I really like it too. Love the deep terracotta colour in the tiles, I would pick that out with a little something.

Thank you for your lovely comments. The kitchen looks nice when it’s sunny but when it’s dark and has lights on it’s dull
I was thinking of painting it a dark grey or cream or something similar to elephants breath farrow and ball

The kitchen looks lovely. Sure grey cabinets would suit too. Always colour patch test first as it could look different depending on the light in the room. If it is north facing for example. You could have two complimentry shades of grey - darker bottom cabinet and lighter for the top cabinet.

If you paint it dark grey it will look even duller in a certain light than the ones you currently have. You might be better off looking at a pale green.

Elephants Breath is great in a bright room, but in a room that is sometimes dark it can look really grim and dingy. Get a sample pot and paint it onto a piece of A4 card then attach it to different units with some blue tack and see what you think.

If I had to guess based on the pictures, the kitchen was there when you moved in and you actually prefer country to modern. Hence the rug, the tiles and the dresser. So I actually suggest replacing the hardware to something more traditional and maybe even the worktops with wooden ones. They can be surprisingly cheap.

Painting the cupboards will be a huge amount of work for no reason. I would definitely leave it as it is. There is nothing wrong with your kitchen.

I also think it looks lovely but you could change the handles to some which are antiqued brass for a warmer look. If you are going to paint the cabinets how about Little Greene's Slaked Lime Deep which is a lovely neutral, neither grey nor beige?

It sounds to me like your issue is that the lighting is no good. Investigate better quality lightbulbs- the quality measure is CRI and you should be looking for >90 (and 95 is ideal). You likely will only get these online.

Colours reproduce badly in the light from some cheap lightbulbs so before repainting a room that we all like consider buying some posh lightbulbs instead so at night it looks more like the picture you posted