Alabaster Trim with MS Simply white walls and built ins will be just fine and look nice.

Can someone tell me the difference in BM Simply White and SW Alabaster?

I would not do these two together. Like you stated, Alabaster sometimes gray/green in certain areas. It does have some subtle gray green tones. Take a large sample of both colors outside on a clear day around 2:00 in the afternoon and look at them next to each other. You will see that Alabaster does have more gray/green tones than Simply White, which is a cleaner white.

The two colors are so close in color that it will not look like an intentional color change, it will either look like you tried to match whites and missed or like the Alabaster white surfaces are dirty.

It is kind of like putting on a white shirt. It looks really white next to a navy jacket, but when a tie is added and the tie has really white stripes suddenly the shirt looks dingy. Alabaster will look dingy (and just a bit green) next to simply white.

Please listen to the professional designer. This will look fab.

I have used similar designs in many homes. Here is Alabaster vs Simply White

Jennifer Hogan, thanks for your comment. Which one of these would look better if kitchen cabinets are close to Dover White? Our trim is already Alabaster. I'm just wanting to lighten and brighten up the walls.

RHM,

I will admit that I am fussier than most about my whites.

You say you want to brighten up the walls, so my first question would be "what color are your walls now?"

Your trim is Alabaster - a light white that is slightly dirty with a little gray green cast,

Your cabinets are somewhere between Alabaster and Dover White. If you measure the light, chroma and hue of Dover White vs Alabaster the biggest difference is the Chroma - how gray is it vs how colorful is it. Dover White is less gray so the so the color looks like it is a bit darker and does not have that slight green cast.

The first number is light - So Simply white is the lightest color

The second number is the chroma - the lower the chroma the more gray , the higher the chroma the more color.

The third number is the hue 90 is yellow, 182 is green - this comparison gets tricky because yellow gets kind of olivish green as it goes to gray and when the chroma is really low, like in alabaster I can see that hint of green.

Dover White

CIE-L*Ch(ab) = 93.765 8.230 99.280°

Alabaster

CIE-L*Ch(ab) = 93.002 5.636 99.953°

Simply White

CIE-L*Ch(ab) = 95.648 4.657 106.615°

Personally, the first two colors I would test are Dover White and Neutral Ground. I think Neutral Ground is a bit too dark, but I like a little contrast between the wall color and trim color, so I may do 3/4 Dover white and 1/4 Neutral Ground.

How I test and blend colors to get exactly what I want is really simple.

I own a box of oral medicine syringes - you can buy them from Amazon. When I find two colors that I like, but really want the color to be something in between I mix several variations of the two colors and paint them on 8 1/2 x 11 240lb water color paper.

1 cc of color A + 3 cc of color B

1 cc of color A + 2 cc of color B

2 cc of color A + 2 cc of color B

2 cc of color A + 1 cc of color B

3 cc of color A + 1 cc of color B

I mark each sheet with the "recipe" and then test the colors against the colors I already have in my space.

Tessa Rose Design, thank you for your input! I just want to clarify. Are you saying Simply White AND Alabaster with the Dover White cabinets will look good? Do you have a preference given our trim is Alabaster? We have Accessible Beige right now on walls and it's way too dark and drab in our low natural light area. It is Eastern exposure and only gets a bit of morning sun and it's just shadowy the rest of the day. This area is my main concern since it's the main living area. We have ivory linen slip covered furniture and natural wood lr tables, creamy white dining table sisal rug and woven rugs..colors are sea glass blues, ivory, creams, whites, light warm gray accents. Prefer light bright simple w/ textures.

RHM - you just provided a key piece of information. Low light.

Here is what happens to white in low light

Granted, most homes have more light than this, but without bright, beautiful light white falls flat and muddy colors like accessible beige feel dead and dreary and lifeless.

When you don't have good light, white is generally not the best answer. Clean saturated colors come to life and make the room feel crisp and bright rather than gray and dreary.

Google can I paint my low light room white or best colors for low light rooms and you will be told over and over again that white needs light to come to life.

Haha, yes our home is not that dark! :). I have read all about it and recently saw Maria Killiam write about it in her blog. She uses the same tip I use and that's LOTS of lamps and lighting everywhere! :). Nothing wrong w/ Acc. Beige, but in our home it's flat and dead and sucks the life out of me!

I wish Lori A. Sawaya could chime in!

@rhm what did you end up using for colors? id like to see alabaster and simply white together!

@rhm me too!!
Shiloh- if you find some great photos of these together please share!!

Yes I’m in the same dilemma. I have all alabaster trim & cabinets. I’m interested in painting whole house walls Simply White.

@Carey Foster @T Bishop did either of you try these combos out!?