It's not a rule. Trim and molding are usually painted a different color to make them stand out. I'm planning on painting the molding above my cabinets the same color because I want it to blend in and disappear but it will be a different white where there are no cabinets.

I had my trim painted matched to the cabinets because I wanted them to at least be in the same category of creamy off white. However, it all depends on how the look pleases you or doesn't. I personally don't like a stark white with a creamy, yellow based white. White is a tricky thing--once you enter the world of trying to match whites look out for a lot of ambiguity.

Thanks everybody for your input.

The shaker cabinets are new -- so that's why I hesitate to paint them. True, the lighting in the kitchen isn't that great -- so perhaps it would be difficult for people to notice the difference. I would love, however, to change the hardware. Currently they are the tubular pulls which seem too contemporary for this pre-war apartment. I know I may have to paint the cabinets depending on the new hardware I select. If I can fill in the holes with wood filler and have it paint so it would be seamless, I'd leave it as it is. But not sure if that will happen. If I end up having to paint the cabinets, I figure might as well paint them the same color as the trim/moldings. Decorators White looks good in all of the rooms (with the exception of the master bedroom where colors are more muted) because the furniture tends to run on the fresh clean side.

Generally factory finish will last longer than repainting it will. I'd go pull shopping. There are a lot of great pulls to select from....

I painted our trim to match our cabinets in the kitchen (the rest of our trim is Dove White as well, and the cabs are a touch brighter). We have an old ironing board cabinet though so I really needed that to match the cabs. I think it's okay to be different. I also only repainted the trim in the kitchen - LR and DR have stained wood trim, and the hallway/BRs have Dove White still. I don't think they all need to match, it just depends on how open your space is.

It really depends on how the two different whites blend. If you like how the trim & moldings pop, I would not repaint. Many people paint the trim & cabinets different whites on purpose, to make one or the other stand out. I had to repaint my white trim in the kitchen & adjoining family room because the new white cabinet color made the original white trim & moldings dingy. The whites didn't look good together. I didn't repaint the trim in rest of the house. It has the original white trim color & it looks great.

From what I read, it seems that if you have white kitchen cabinets, you need to take that color and repeat it in the trimwork of the apartment

Why do they have to match it? Who says so?

Has anyone ever painted their cabinet facing white and left the trim and molding around them in natural wood?

@MsKathern . you may want to start a new thread since this is an old one, but yes, our neighbors did that and it looks lovely. (The trim throughout their house is unpainted; not sure why they opted for painted vs. stained cabinetry but it works fine.) Just test your particular combination to see. We have a natural wood back door with painted cabinetry and trim and I worried about that, but it looks fine too. (The door is natural fir and I didn't want to paint it, but we wanted the trim painted since the windows, also original, were all painted and it was cost-prohibitive to strip them.)

Thank you so much! I cant find any pictures at all online lol. I am envisioning it looking great in my head since my window treatments, floor and accessories are maple wood color scheme but the only wood and white cabinets I see are the opposite (wood cabinet facing with white trim).