any pictures of before and after currently going through the same. :)

I think your current flat door is easier to clean than a panel door. Separately the way the door is finished does make a difference- a gloss door can be manufactured by wrapping with a laminate finish or is can have multiple layers of lacquer applied. The laminate finish is perhaps harder wearing and the lacquer/ painted finish can get chipped. So if you want a traditional kitchen (and I understand the desire to have a change) you might prefer to have a cheaper more resilient door. If you prefer a traditional painted finish you can have a painted wood grain door or one that is completely smooth- in my opinion the wood grain door is more forgiving of touch up should you chip the paint. Colour also seems to play a part in resilience. I have a painted wood grain kitchen in a pale grey/anthracite combination- the pale doors don’t seem to show any damage but chips are visible on the dark doors. The good news is that a tiny amount of paint applied to a chip with an artists paint brush is all that is needed for repair.

Now I think you have a good point there. Choosing a deeper neutral sounds good. I’m a fan of colour and I have a Dulux minty green in my kitchen, F&B Cromarty in my sitting room, Dulux Egyptian Cotton in the bedroom and aqua in the other bedroom. All these shades are soft though so not garish, apart from a navy feature wall in kitchen. Dulux do some lovely neutral shades like Perfectly Taupe, Chic Shadow and Polished Pebble. Of course colours are affected by the light in the room and those sort of shades can look a bit grim in a dark north facing room. PERFECTLY TAUPE CHIC SHADOW POLISHED PEBBLE

I'm in Northern Ireland and used Dee Light Furniture Facelifts NI. He has a Facebook page with lots of photos of his work showing lots of colours so its worth a look there. His standard of work is excellent and came highly recommended by word of mouth. He also builds this tear drop caravans to order! I think it was worth paying someone as he made our existing doors and drawers look brand new filling the holes from the old handles. We could never have done that to his standard