Rhizo has a good recommendation about plants versus something decorative, and the fact the first is more effort to take care of then the second. I have a friend who lived in a house with her big window facing south, and 15 feet away was a dividing wall between this window and her kitchen, it was about 9 or 10 feet tall. Perched on top she had a hoya (which bloomed) and other vining plants which did very well. BUT, her wall was painted white - and all that light from her big window 15 feet in front of the wall would have also reflected back on her plants. It was work, she'd have to pull out a chair and balance on her countertop on the other side of the wall to water the plants, I think some of them were plants that could handle periods of dryness. Not knowing just how much light comes into your home and lands where you want the plants, I would suggest buying one plant (like the pothos or philodendron) and over the course of 3 - 6 months see how you like tending to it in that location - and pay attention to the new growth, whether it is growing as vigorously as the plant would have before you purchased it. Also, if the plants are going to trail down, will they be trailing down over your cupboard doors - you won't want that would you? I do have a philodendron micans on my kitchen cupboard, it trails over the side of the cupboard that butts up to my kitchen sink area, and is within a foot of distance from the kitchen sink window which has a transom window above it (and this is the same level as the top of the cupboard where the plant sits). As the sun comes round in the spring, summer and fall, it gets about one hour of direct sunshine, the rest of the time it is only bright light (overhang of the house shades the window as the sun climbs higher for the day). This plant has been doing well, but is close to a window, and is a low light plant. I would not want any more plants growing up there tho' - I don't mind bringing this one plant down to the sink for watering and then returning it, but that is enough effort for me. The rest of my plants are on the floor or stands around the house, in front of windows.

Wow, thanks mamagoose... you put some time into those options, I'm impressed! FYI, the cabinets to the left and right of the sink will have door fronts on the bottom of the uppers so that stuff won't be exposed. Thanks so much for the visual. It helps a lot.

First, the design is not sufficiently deep to provide good capture area. It’s a pretty bad hood design. Read about good hood design. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2315922/wall-hoods-for-wok-cooking Second, the fact that you don’t know anything about the insert says that it’s the cheapest worst quality that they could buy. Because... Third. The Site painted cabinets coated with house paint are the cheapest possible route for a builder to go. So, that’s hand in hand with all of the above. It’s completely the wrong way to go for any type of durability or quality. But it looks good enough for a while. Enough to get you past the one year warranty. Sometimes. What you needed was a custom maker who finished in his clean room to KCMA standards. Or a manufactured line that was tested to KCMA standards. https://www.kcma.org/certifications/ansi-kcma-standard Fourth. The finish that was there was ruined by the sandpaper abrasiveness of the Magic Eraser and the chemicals in PineSol. Pine oil is a terrible contaminant that blocks adhesion of any future finish. Someone could try to repaint those, but the existing contamination would bleed through and create issues with fisheye, bubbling, and just general adhesion. For a for now fix, I’d remove the hood and buy a stainless one. It at least will be better ventilation, and cleanable. It addresses the immediate issue, and upgrades the style to a more modern direction both. Long term, the rest of your cabinets will experience the issues that your hood cabinet has. The builder gave you below industry standard quality. It will not wear well. Having all of that contaminated porous coating sanded back to bare wood to start over with a higher quality and more durable coating will cost more than buying new cabinets. It’s very labor intensive. If the existing coating was primed with the right stuff, and is adhering well enough now, and hasn’t been too contaminated by oils or silicone, then it might be possible to have them recoated with a professional grade coating at a later time. That would run you roughly 10K + for the cabibets in your house. How much + depends on how many cabinets and the details. I’d reserve judgement on that project for a few years and just live with what is, and a new stainless hood, for now. And never ever scrub anything with a magic eraser, or use pine sol on anything that isn’t non porous. Or bleach. Or any one of a half dozen cleaners that ruin finishes and should only be used on non porous surfaces. Dusting with a soft dampened microfiber is all most cabinets should need. If there has been spills, or you don’t fix your inadequate ventilation and have grease floating around attaching itself, then Dawn, a microfiber, and then rinsing the detergent residue, should be all of the big guns ever needed on cabinets. They are furniture. In your kitchen. But half the junk you use on your furniture isn’t needed and is bad for it too. So no oil anything. No pledge. No freaking oil soap. Or orange glow. Or anything that has oil or silicone in it anywhere. No abrasives. Do you know that paper towels with recycled content are abrasive? Don’t use them on cabinets or furniture. Most “furniture care” products damage things. Planned obsolescence to keep the consumer buying at maximum.

I think the blue panels are way too high of a contrast in the room; would you consider softening the windows with a blue, white, beige geometric print, but with lined panels to add the darkness you requested for the room? ....another timeless look, is a bamboo styled room darkening or regular shades in the windows in a mid shade relates to the floor color?