Is there a white with more grey undertones? Not sure from reading the wheel.

That's because paint colors aren't measured or organized by "undertones". Colors are described and defined by hue family, value (light/dark) and chroma (grayness).

I'm assuming that you have Pure White in a satin or semi-gloss on the trim. If you're going to repaint the walls that look too yellow, you could try Pure White in a matte finish on the walls.

I do have finished pictures! I will search in my phone to see what I have - otherwise will set a reminder as I am currently out of town.

I ended up doing SW Pure White on shiplap walls, cabinets and trim. I love how it turned out on the cabinets and walls! We just need to put a glossy finish on the trim and it will be perfect (painters didn’t ask and used a flat and I hate it). I was worried it would look “too white” and sterile, but it is really beautiful during all times of day and has no unwanted yellow/green/pink undertones. My white Shaws sink is still a few shades “whiter” than the cabinets which I think is great. It would have looked too clinical if they were a bright white match. I mentioned earlier that I used big pieces of poster board and painted all of my potential white colors on them to see how they looked in the space - white dove looked very green in mine. Perhaps you could try that with some other whites?

I will look through pics now to see if I have any to post! Otherwise will post Weds.

to follow up to another previous post, in my space, using SW pure white on cabinets and SW alabaster on walls just didn’t work. The alabaster was way too creamy and yellow in our light and I didn’t want that look. It really depends on the space and look you are going for though. My parents used SW Alabaster on walls and cabinets and it looks very white and crisp in their space - not cream or yellowy at all.

I only have these photos now, but I will post better ones when I return home.

Also, the hood is not yet complete and that’s just white film wrap

alm922 thank you for the pictures :) Your home is so similar to mine and it sure helps to see how beautiful the Pure White looks on your cabinets, shiplap walls and trim. What did you use on your drywall/sheetrock? Most of my home has shiplap but there are a lot of areas with drywall. Once stained, my hardwood floors should look about the same color as yours.

Wish I had used Pure White for everything. It will be costly but I think I will have them repaint over the White Dove. I would love to know if using SW color match for the White Dove made it appear more yellow. I am also worried once my hardwood floors are stained it will cause the paint to turn a darker yellow.

I am so disappointed :(

The walls near the fireplace look more white than the rest.

mtinder@scott...yes it will definitely matter if you use BM White Dove vs. another paint company's color match to BM White Dove. Sherwin Williams base is the problem. It won't get any better so best to repaint now. Once you start seeing the yellow you will not be able to "unsee" it. Hope that helps.

I had SW mix a can of white dove trim paint and BM. SW was so much more yellow it didn’t look like the same paint

And SW told me they color match white dove all the time and never have a problem!

alm922, your kitchen is beautiful! Could you share what island stools those are and where you got them? The fabric ones with the nailheads please? I'm looking for those exact ones. I see them on here in photos but don't know who makes them. What pendant lights are those and what size are they? I am going for the same exact look in our home. Do you have stairs in your house? I am curious what stain you used for them to go with your flooring? We just replaced ours and it has a high variation in color like yours and I'm not sure which color to pull from the floors, so it all blends together! I have to let painters know tomorrow! I love your entire kitchen.

What paint did you purchase from Sherwin in BM White Dove? The computer formula does suggest a highly reflective white, not available in all paint choices. I usually use extra white bases,( not quite as clean)...but never yellow!!?? BM white dove is the color of my trim. They should dry down a sample, and it's usually a pretty close match. If it wasn't a match, maybe they will replace it free?

I used SW Pure White.

RHM, the stools are from Restoration Hardware, covered in a Perennials outdoor linen fabric. Pendant lights are also from RH - I believe they’re 15”. We do have stairs and lots of beamwork - it was a bit of a chemistry experiment to come up with a stain color we liked, so I don’t have much guidance for you there. We mixed and matched a lot of things - my husband became fast friends with the paint/stain guy at our local hardware store and they finally got a formula we liked.

alm922, that you so much for your response. Are you happy w/ the Perennials fabric? Which color are they? Do the pendants give off enough light? I've always loved the ones from RH. I've had my eye on them for a year. We have lanterns w/glass in them now and I can't keep them clean, so we've been thinking of changing to this style, plus we are thinking it'll be easier on our eyes too. Just want to make sure though, it won't seem dark, even though we have cans, etc. I don't like to use the cans very much..prefer under cabinet lights and pendants when I'm cooking.

mtinderscott, i love your floors.

may i ask what brand and color you used? thank you.

what did you end up doing with your walls, mtinderscott? That is a lot of shiplap! Did you keep the color? How does the white dove look with your wood floors now that they are stained? Would love to see updated pics

Hey all! I need some help on this very topic and I hope it is okay with you all that I ask a question on this post. New to this site and do not know all of the rules :)

We are building a new house and made a rookie mistake of choosing SW alabaster paint for the kitchen cabinets, the master bath cabinets and the upstairs jack and Jill bath cabinets. Our trim and ship-lap are SW pure white (which I love) and our walls are SW reserved white. The cabinets look very YELLOW and the builder estimated that it would be 5k to repaint all of the cabinets pure white. Do you all have any suggestions? I will attach picture. also excuse my husband acting silly in one of the photos.. this is the only good picture of the kitchen I have. They are dusty, but VERY YELLOW.... I did not have anyone explain how the hues work during this process and too many decisions to research everything!

Meagan

They will probably always look warmer, yellower than you wanted. The marble counter top(s) will always look more bluish gray than white.

You're just going to have to incorporate a balance of brighter whites and creamy whites to make it look intentional.

White and cream is a beautiful color scheme that's easy to build on with other colors.

Would you pay the money to have them repainted? What could I do to help these blend?

our couch is a warm white pottery barn sectional. I will also add photos of the living room. Our hardware is a gold matte

I wouldn't because Alabaster is a pretty color.

Going forward, I wouldn't sweat "matching" whites. The goal would be a range of whites from white-white to creamy white.

Some people don't like the look of grayed/bluer marbles with creamy whites. They think they don't go together.

The issue is they don't match. But that doesn't mean they don't go together.

If you had your heart set on bright white cabinets, then you may never learn to love Alabaster.

You have to decide if you can pivot and make this color surprise work, of if it's going to make you feel disappointed every time you look at a cabinet.

Thank you for the advice!

I will add more photos after the space is cleaned

I love alabaster and think having another white will add some interest to the room. I am not a fan of bright white everywhere....too harsh. Either way, I would give it some time before spending that much to repaint

Hey HU! Your colors picked are great colors and beautiful but they just do not match your countertops. You will never be happy until you pick a cool white that is complementary to the cool, gray carrera. They will fight each other forever. I would bite the bullet, have them painted with BM Satin Impervo (enamel) Pure White and be done with it. Until then it will bug you…..

If you put a warm white such as alabaster or white dove, against a neutral or cooler white, such as pure white, you are going to notice the subtle differences. Same with gray's and creamy whites together. The white will look more yellow. Stick with one color family.

(thanks for posting that color wheel L. Sawaya).

HU, it would be way easier to change the trim color than the cabinets color!

HU, I Was going to say just paint the walls adjacent to cabinets along the windowed wall the same alabaster color- just make sure it works with tile- and choosing flat vs. a gloss will be Different. This may fool the eye.

An even easier option would be to embrace the blue hue in reserved gray wall color and blue in countertop and use it as an accent color-linens, pottery, and artwork. This may allow the colors to look intentional and cohesive. Either way your kitchen is beautiful no matter what you do.

I used BM White Dove on walls with SW Pure White...... I hated the White Dove!!!!! My entire house looked light yellow.

After many samples of different whites I decided to try SW Alabaster white just for kicks. Omgoodness it is PERFECT!!!!! No more yellow! Just beautiful cream off white .

I've actually recommended White Dove when asked for a color that looks like a stick of butter or a butter cream.

If that's what you want then it's really pretty but if you're expecting 'just white' then you will be unpleasantly surprised.

L Sawaya, I am trying to see what the difference is with Alabaster and White Dove. I have both swatches on my wall right now. Based on your color wheel, wouldn’t they be very close in terms of “yellowness”? The hue, value and chroma seem to be so close to the same. I am about to have the entire downstairs of my home painted and now I’m very afraid of making a mistake. I had felt confident about white dove based on all that I had read on the internet, but I don’t want a surprise with yellow. I’m looking for just a very soft white. Not crisp, stark, just ‘off white’ but warm. Would Alabaster tend to be the better way to go instead of White Dove? I’ve tried several others,- Greek Villa, Pure White, Dove Wing and haven’t liked any as much as the Alabaster or White Dove. I know this is an older post but would greatly appreciate your insight!!!

I just found this post, too, as I painted all of my walls, trim, ceiling White Dove. New cabinets were supposed to be color-matched to White Dove, but lo & behold, they handed me a touch-up paint for SW Alabaster. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!- excuse was they couldn't call it WHite Dove) There is a definite difference. Fortunately, I used a backsplash that incorporated a lot of white variation... Asian Statuary Piano Brick. There's also a lot of natural light, which is good and bad, depending on the day. Some times of the day, it all matches up and looks great; other times, it's very obvious if you have a keen eye.

Neither color is stark white; both are soft, but Alabaster looks more vanilla. I would say SW Alabaster is more similar to BM Swiss Coffee.

Hi jojobush, can you tell me if you feel like White Dove is more yellow than Alabaster? I know that lighting and which direction the room faces will all come into play but I’m trying to make this decision for multiple rooms all facing different directions. I am trying to stay away from getting too yellow. I’ve painted samples on the wall now and it’s still very hard for me to tell due to the color paint underneath. When I look at Lori’s color wheel, it looks like white dove and Alabaster should be basically the same but every thread I read seems to say they are a lot different.
Thank you for your input.

I am also debating between paint colors for my bathroom cabinets and would like help/suggestions. I was initially looking into warm whites but the walls and countertops are gray, and after reading, am now thinking that a cool white would be a better option. Any opinions are definitely welcome!

From left to right: Antique White, Swiss Coffee (same as trim in house), Whitecliff beige (no longer a contender), Sinply White (leaning more towards this), White Dove, Alabaster.

Thank you in advance!!

BM Cottonball

What color gray is your paint and which countertops do you have? I have used BM Chantilly Lace and it is a very cool white. Sherwin Williams Snowbound also seemed to be a cooler white. Both seem to work well with gray tones.

I’m trying to decide between bm white dove, sw alabaster and sw pure white for my kitchen cabinets. I am using a black pearl for my Granite. I just don’t want the stark white and black look But I don’t want yellow either. Any ideas?

Those are all almost the same shade of white. What are your floors? Another important consideration. Go to BM paint store and get white dove, white diamond, Oxford white, decorators White and simply white. (Some cool and some warm) Bring chips home and hold up to your counters and floors and see which feel right and then Paint samples of top 3. Pick your favorite from there. Or, just go with white dove. It works great with black counters and wood floors!😊

SW Alabaster looks amazing with black granite. I would pick this combination over BM white Dove. Alabaster has more chroma and more depth than BM white dove. Check out tuxedofarmhouse on Instagram and see for yourselves how it looks with black honed granite. It is gorgeous!

I just painted my bedroom and master bath SW Alabaster with SW High Reflective White trim and doors. I LOVE the look, both colors work beautifully together. Depending on the time of day (morning sun) it looks white without being too stark white, as the day progresses it warms up turning into a vanilla cream in the evenings. My bedroom is west facing with more windows and a small south window. My master bath is west facing. The High Reflective White stays pretty true to color at all times. Unfortunately they were not able to do the cabinets in HRW as the paint I used on the cabinets could not be mixed in that color. HRW is a color that is funny at Sherwin Williams and kinda' tricky and definitely takes more coats to cover. I used Emerald paint in Alabaster on ceilings, walls, and cabinets in different finishes and Super Paint in Semi Gloss in HRW for trim and doors. I was nervous about using Alabaster on the cabinets in the bathroom but it worked perfectly. I will say, for those that are using a white on walls that is not as warm as Alabaster/White Dove, or more cooler grays (think grays that aren't greige) the Alabaster or White Dove warm soft whites are going to go yellow/cream. I would recommend going with Pure White for cabinets and trim. It is still a soft white without the creaminess of Alabaster. High Reflective White is also a good white it's not as soft as Pure White but still not so white that it looks cheap, but again HRW is hard to cover and cannot be mixed in many sheens and paints. I decided not to go with Pure White with my Alabaster walls because my husband wanted more of a contrast with the doors and trim, I wanted to use Alabaster on everything, but made a compromise with my husband, and went with HRW. I am not at all disappointed with the look. I know I spent countless hours agonizing over the choices and hopefully this will help others that are in the same position.

@amellycp thanks for this information. I have painted a mudroom with shiplap in SW Alabaster also. I did the walls, ceiling, and trim all Alabaster but different sheens. I really like it-I painted cabinets in BM Iron Mountain and the contrast of the two together looks great. I still always wonder about BM White Dove. From your post, it sounds like maybe youve had experience with BM White Dove also-if so, can you tell me how you feel Alabasater and White Dove compare to each other? i know that lighting, room direction facing etc will all factor in, but just curious your thoughts. I always read about how great White Dove is.

You can compare them via their objectively measured colour attributes.

(see more too at The Land of Color)

where do they sit in their Hue Family? (Hue)

which is lighter? (higher Value)

which is more neutral? (lower Chroma)

which is more colourful? (higher Chroma)

which reflects more light? (higher LRV)

Visually, both alabaster and white dove look white. Alabaster has a little more depth to it maybe a drop more black than white dove. White dove is crispier white minus the 1 drop of black in the can. However, I see a little more yellow ness in white dove than alabaster. I have compared them both all through my house. I love alabaster the best in my house. I have alabaster cabinets in a north east kitchens with windows running both directions with high ceilings. It looks beautiful wouldn’t change it. My neighbor has 9’ ceilings in her house and she painted all her trim sw pure white. It looks very stunning, too.

First, you have to decide on your wall color and that tells you your trim color. When working with whites, always have the chroma .20 difference from the walls. I chose alabaster for my trim .66 chroma and my walls sw anew gray .89 chroma. .89- .66= .23. They will work perfectly together. If you go less than this your whites will look dingy.

MDEfree

Could you recommend a light tan or greige neutral that works with Alabaster cabinets..

I have a north facing kitchen with one small East facing window and a larger bay window so a fairly dark space… thanks