I think you'll find a lot of both -- perhaps more onthe slightly creamy or off-white side. I'd lived in two kitchens with oil based whites that had yellowed to something dingier than cream -- more like a yellowed plastic. I hated that and wanted white that looked clean and fresh. I would have hated anything that went to yellow or pinker tones, so I went with a true white. It isn't perfectly pure white, but it looks white without a glare or sunglasses needed. LOL

Now you are seeing some pastel colors being used too -- started with soft greens and yellows and includes blues and greys. Find the tones that echo what you love in your grantie or best show that off. My guess is that for you it won't be pure white.

I will do white white cabinets. I think the color is SW bright white. If I were you, I would try to match the appliances. I have a white dishwasher currently and my current kitchen also has white white cabs. Now, I think the idea of a different color is fine with the white. I think the taupe sounds pretty neat.

I am sure others have done different but for me if I had white appliances I would go with white cabinets. I don't think I would like the color difference. For me I think it would look like you tried to match but just didn't quite make it. By the way I have white cabinets and chose Santa Cecilia granite. I am quite happy with the combination.

Our KD warned us against using white appliances and white cabinets together since it is so hard to match. The first problem is that whites always have some sort of undertone---yellow, pink, blue, etc. The second problem is that appliances and wood will reflect the light differently even if you could match exactly. Since it would have driven me nuts to have it look like I tried to match but missed I went with stainless appliances because I wanted white cabinets, not glazed but, as you say, WHITE.

I took his opinion on faith for the kitchen and I wish I had remembered his advice when I choose tile for one of my bathrooms. The white tile and the white tub are just off enough to really bother me. I'm hoping that no one else will notice and since it's not going to be my bathroom I won't have to look at it everyday.

Hope this helps you think through the choices.

My cabs are Plain & Fancy Dove White, which is a soft white, maybe with a little gray in it, but it's not a yellowish creamy color. The walls are a neutral green with gray undertones, and the trim (doorframes, window frames) are white, and they doesn't stand out as a different color. It's definitely not an arctic-type white, but it's not buttercream, either. I don't think this cabinet color would look great with white appliances, though - ours are SS.

November, when you say you don't think "this" cabinet color would look great w/ white appliances, are you talking about the taupe? Since the color "taupe" has so many different definitions, I shouldn't have said that color. To me, the color is like a dark tan with a hue of green (meaning that if you put the swatch up against something green, it takes on the green/if it's up against something tan, it looks that color (like Hazel eyes, I guess, it changes!). The reason I picked it was because it blended beautifully w/ the SC and it gave a contrast w/ the white appliances instead of fighting the appliance's white. There's no way this color looks like I'm trying to match the appliances...it's not beige at all. I am stuck w/ the appliances. They are too new to replace.

No, I'm sorry! Taupe sounds really nice with white appliances. I was talking about my white, which wouldn't look good - too similar. I love taupe - it's the only other color I'd consider for my cabinets - I think it would be fine with white appliances.

Cathee, according to what I've read (I read earnestly trying to make up for talent and training deficiencies), a trick to designing a white kitchen is to not try to match whites, which can be extremely difficult (or just extremely expensive) and can lead to that sterile lacking look, and not to just use an appliance white and a cabinet white, but rather to use a range of whites, which relaxes the overall look, makes those slight contrasts disappear, and adds richness to the picture. If you look at pictures of fine white kitchens, you'll start seeing all sorts of "mismatches" that weren't noticed before.

I have "white" cabinets. They're Medallion cabinets in their Divinity painted maple which is more a creamy white. My appliances are bisque. I am very happy with the match. If I had "pure" white appliances I would not have gotten the Divinity colored paint. I don't think the white would look right. So... I think you should get white/white cabinets if you're using white appliances.

Barb

bump.

watching this thread with interest. We were hoping to add a few contrasting cabs in a white and have white appliances. I never gave it a second thought until this thread.

No one has white/white and it works?

It's funny how this even started. I was planning on "white" cabs, with our white appliances, no questions. It's actually what we have now - It wasn't until I started this whole project that I suddenly noticed that our cabs now look SO dirty next to the appliances. I'd never noticed that before. It's not that the cabs are old (which they are) but I can actually see that the white appliances are making the cabs look dirty. Then I went back into Great Indoors to look at their showroom, and the same showroom that I thought was beautiful before now has what I consider "dirty" looking cream cabs next to the white appliances. So I guess what I'm saying is we are all TOO picky when we start our remodel jobs and notice things that we would never, ever notice before. Our minds are so tricky, but once we've noticed these "imperfections" we can never go back - EVEN though we know that no-one would ever notice this. So in my case, I am choosing taupe colored paint for my custom made cabs and if for some reason I'm not thrilled, I will have a white glaze put on them. I don't want that, but I know it would be an alternative to losing my mind! But if ANYONE has pictures of what I have in mind, I would love to see them so I can not obssess any more on THIS subject!!

cathee... not to derail, but do you think white cabs with a coffee glaze would work with white appliances? Or is white next to white just never gonna work? I think I might need to start my own thread... ;-)

Projects, have you been to the Finished Kitchen Blog? There are a lot of white kitchens to examine, and a lot of the folks who did those kitchens are still available for questions/more photos. Might be worth looking at some options there.

Here is a link that might be useful: FKB

Funny, I was reading this thread to say that more than I would have guessed have a truer white. It seemed that I was always reading about the creamy and glazed cabinets. I think you have a lot of white/white. In my kitchen I did not get white appliances. I have a mix of panels and stainless, but I do have white tile backsplash and white counters, even a white paint onthe crown so we could match int he adjoining rooms. They all work together.