Plain ceiling white is a good choice for ceilings. I'm a huge Natural White fan but will consider Whisper White next time I'm painting.

You could have one side of galley kitchen cabinets in a richer shade of white (I'll have to start looking at the choices) and the opposite side in a grey. Will you have overheads too? Then the subway tiles in a softer shade of grey than the grey lower cabinets. I'd love to see photo of door handles.

Depends if you are painting the ceiling yourself,or paying somebody else to paint it. The paint sold as "ceiling white" seems to be stickier and less runny than wall paint. If you are painting it yourself then you will have an easier job, and less mess with ceiling white. The "mattness" of ceiling white also hides any imperfections in a ceiling, whereas any type of shine accents imperefections. There are lots of off-whites and neutrals which look quite heavy, and seem to close the room in when applied to the ceiling. Some developers use the same colours for both walls and ceilings as it is easy just to mask everything up and go for it with a barrel of off-white paint and a spray gun. I guess I can't suggest one good reason to do both walls and ceiling in the same paint... Best of luck Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

Really hard to tell. I like the lightest one but I'm not very adventurous. You may need to choose one and paint a larger area and see what you think.