I have a 1913 home and painted my cabinets an off white--a beautiful ivory color. I also used off white subway tiles. Regular (bright) white subways looked terrible next to the cabinets. My choice for an older home would be off white.

It also will depend on your sink. If your sink is bright white, it may make any off white nearby look dingy. Unless one is mixing a more almond or gray color with white, where there is contrast on purpose, I am afraid it always looks to me like an error.
What color will the appliances be? If they are going to be white, you may want to coordinate with them as well by staying more true white.

Alternatively, we can just trade husbands---mine wants the greyish off-white (actually, he really wants grey but I'm lukewarm on that) while I'd be happy with a creamier/brighter white! ;)

We are probably going with an off-white for our 1915 bungalow, though. White-white sink, but it's not an apron front so won't be visible in direct contrast to the cabinets (and we'd get the off-white color if it weren't another $80!) We are using colors for the subway tile, though---that's another option. I'd get the cabinet color right and worry about the tile color later, though---you have a lot more flexibility there and can play around with trying things out before committing to a specific color, whereas the cabinets, once chosen, are pretty set.

I think the white kitchens floating around (here and in magazines) really run the gamut---many use off-whites or creams. True whites are probably the most difficult to work with, colorwise, but beyond that there's a lot of wiggle room.

i have been dealing with the same dilemma. i was considering omega line of cabinetry - one white was too white, the other too dingy looking. i eventually realized the white is really important to get right for me and i did not like either of them. at the suggestion of people on this site i investigated cost of local cabinet makers and discovered for 2K more i could get custom cabinets and EXACTLY what i wanted (Benjamin Moore dove white). that is what i am planning to do. hope that helps...

I have off-white and although I love it now, it was a NIGHTMARE to get it to look half decent. Instead of gray undertones, mine have PINK. You would never know it now but I had to go through 3 wall colors, going darker and darker to make the off-white appear whiter. I had to forget the white subway backsplash I'd planned and get something that wasn't so bright white. Then, I had to paint all the trim in the room off-white because having too much bright white in the room, made the cabinets look pink or dingy, depending on the lighting. I'm not trying to discourage you, because it is a nice look....

It's not impossible to pull off, just takes some extra coordination. My carpenter is going with off-white and he witnessed the whole debacle. He said he loves it! Thankfully, my kitchen is closed off to the rest of the rooms, 2 doorways and a pass through window. The rest of the house still has white trim.
Despite everything, again, I love my new kitchen. I even noticed that I prefer my brighter white ceramic utensil caddies and vases in the room now. I thought I was doomed to off-white everything forever.
Here's the result, not finished yet but not dingy!
{{!gwi}}

Thanks for all of your input. I am going to have stainless steel appliances. I am not positive if I am doing the backsplash yet with white subway tiles. I will have to look into off white subway tiles, thanks for the tip. I was contemplating carrera marble subway tiles for the backsplash. Artemis78-What colors are using in your backsplash? I guess the only white thing that will contrast is the white sink. I guess I can reconsider that, although I really like the look.

Rookie 2010-Your kitchen is beautiful. I hope mine turns out half as nicely as yours looks. I know there are some challenges with going with off-white, but whenever I see a bright white kitchen in a showroom, it looks too stark white for my liking. You all gave me some things to think about. Thanks.

I have schrock (same as Diamond) in the Pearl finish. It's almost a bisque in color, has some greyish undertones -- no pink to it at all. It's a good color and goes very well with my giallo ornamental counters (and other greyish/cool based granites like Bianco Romano), but it is not as creamy an off-white as I thought it would be. We've had to adjust colors too --ended up going with a taupy-er wall color instead of a yellowish tan, and they look good against it.

Before making a final decision, I'd think about your other finishes -- are you looking at a granite for counters? And would it be a honey/amber/gold toned granite (e.g St Cecelia)? Or do you prefer cool tones (blues, greens, clear/greenish yellows (dijon))? Try to get a sense of what tones you like before choosing the cabinet color.

@laur620---We are taking a less planned/more stressful approach (for me---it makes my husband gleeful!) to our backsplash, and will be going to the Heath Ceramics factory store (we live nearby) and buying whatever seconds they have that look interesting. Going dark grey for the counters though so we will hopefully have some flexibility! Definitely using their subway tiles; just not sure which colors...they lean to the earth tones, but often have custom colors in the seconds, too.

Artemis - I am famous for telling people not to bust their budgets, but the $80 for the sink color is worth it to me. You will have this sink a long long time and if the color does not look right, you will be stuck with that a long long time.

sorry about the hijack, but the comment really stuck out to me when reading the responses.

Thanks dianalo---I haven't seen the sinks in real life so once we finally bite the bullet and order the cabinets, we'll take samples over to see, and possibly will go that direction...may be worth it. We are so far over our sink budget to start with that it makes me nervous unless it will be awful with the white, though! We have an undermount sink that will be set into the dark counters, so I think it may turn out to be much less of an issue than it would be with an apron front sink. Can't wait to finally order the cabinets so we can get a door sample and start checking things of the list, though!

I used Horus Art subway tiles in the creamy off white color of bisque. The color is very close to that of my cabinets--as close, at least, as one can get.

Hello laur620,

Did you finish your kitchen? I would love to see what it looks like. I found your post by searching diamond counter tops. We are just getting ready to do our kitchen and there is a 10% we don't want to miss. We are considering the white beadboard with glazing? What counter tops did you go with, soapstone? Do you know if there are any lighter colors of the soapstone? What back splash? And what sink and faucet? Thanks, Beth