Another space grey owner here. Had it for 4 years; used every day; and it look brand new — no port wear, no case wear, and so on — with one exception. I didn't baby it, didn't put a skin on it, schlepped it around, etc. and it still look good,
The exception? Two key caps showed wear and their backlight area became bigger and the letters this distorted. Looked terrible. But I had similar wear on a silver MBA and on white iBook — on that one, Apple replaced the detachable key top platform three times under AC!
As to aesthetics, I’ve always found space grey to be the professional look and choice. Classy. Upscale white collar office, if slightly boring after years and years of it. Silver always looks industrial to me. Commonplace. Unfinished. Not a big fan of those metallic kitchen appliances, either.
I now have the starlight MBA and it's marvelous, quite appealing — not garish, perhaps a bit silvery in certain lighting conditions, but a wonderful change from the space grey along with panache.
No wear on it at all, not even the keyboard.
I agree 💯% with Big Blur — try it and see how you like it!