I may be replying to an old post...having a white dilemma! Moving to a new home soon, and I need to choose a white for the painter soon! I used BM Cotton Balls in my current home in 2 bedrooms, one is north facing and the other is south facing. worked well...nice and bright but not stark, however the hallway to the rooms look beige, which I am not fond of. New home has both north and south exposures + a hallway without a lot of light. Considering Simply White. Second question...the baseboards are lovely and very high, I would like them to remain a feature, which white to choose for trim? Your comments are appreciated!!!

As you know, whites all have different undertones. With good, warm light, I would choose Chantilly Lace with its blue undertone. Decorator’s white has a green undertone, which I would use in an east facing room.

@Dawne, you don't bother me. Ask as many questions as You need. Most are 6" ( upper cabinets and some smaller drawers ) and 8" on longer drawers.

First of all, the painters who paint kitchen cabinets seem to fall into two camps. The ones with expensive sprayers and use special cabinet paint, vs. the folks who attempt to paint with standard paint. We just had our bathroom vanity refinished and it looks immaculate like a factory finish. There is a specialty paint store in our city where he gets this special paint and it is Gemini Gem Coat lacquer paint and he used an expensive sprayer. I can't remember if it was $1500 or $2500, just to be used for cabinets. At the paint store, they color match to any color that you want for your cabinets. Definitely spend the money and paint large swatchs on your walls on different walls of your room to get a sense if you really like the color. The lighting is often different in different parts of the room and it will certainly look different in the daytime vs nighttime, and the type of warm vs. "daylight" lightbulbs makes a HUGE difference. I cannot get over how much lighting makes a difference with rooms of the same exact wall color and finish. I have dark walnut floors, and depending on the tone of your dark floors, be careful that perhaps a cool white won't really match with them? You might need a neutral or a touch warm like the Simply White? It's a major expense of labor in painting. it's worth it to sample a bunch and then you can rest assured you get the tone correct from the get-go. And paint a large section and not something small because the scale makes a difference. Just be careful that the white does not feel too sterile. I really liked the Simply White the most out of four that the sampled, but it didn't work next to my stone fireplace. I needed something a tad warmer than that even, and wound up going with Mascarpone. The Chantilly Lace is pretty and more bright white than the Simply White, but just see how it works with the lighting in your room and the tone of your floors. Once you find your shade, use a paint with high coverage that will definitely go on with only two coats. The quality paint store in your area will be able to color match it at least to 98% of the color. I've been told that they get it the most accurate from the paint itself (not the sample paint which is watered down and not as much colorant) but from a quart or gallon of the actual paint. The quarts are almost the price of a gallon so you are better off buying a gallon and can use that in a closet or as a base primer if you want. I will never buy Benjamin Moore paint again after my recent experience this past month. I bought the expensive Aura for the zero VOCs, and the paint does not cover at ALL in the white shades. I used a primer first. Takes 3 coats minimum, in some cases more. The Advance Trim is the very worst for coverage and too runny, even when carefully applying lightly. Be careful that some of the painters will add a touch of black to pain (they call "special paint") as a trick to get greater coverage. This throws of the color and makes it look dull in my opinion. It does not turn out right. I'm back to the drawing board for the rest of my house bedrooms figuring out which brand of paint I will try next. Such a disappointment with the BM. My painter said that darker colors are fine, it's the whites that's the problem with coverage.