I’m not a painting expert— I sprayed (primed, painted, poly’d) my own kitchen last year with grey. For your white, it’s possible 1) varying wood leads to different results 2) Wood was not properly primed in his shop, leading to a yellow bleed 3) Poly is discoloring wood (if used?). 4) Bright white was used in your house. I’m sorry you are dealing with this— it’s expensive and time consuming. Possibly under cabinet lights and brighter LED room lights will help with the difference?

Simply white has a creamish look. The doors look to be that color. The frames, appear to have been done with a different color. Maybe repaint the frames.

Simply White looked bright white in my previous house and not pink-ish like the doors in the photo.

What are you doing with the ceiling ... is that casting on the cabinets and making them pink-ish? I say that, because I was just at our construction site and my cabinets have no doors, so the light maple inside color of the cabinets made the BM Chantilly Lace frames on the other side look pink-ish too. The cabinet light rail higher up on the wall looked correct. I know all the CL color is the same.

Maybe put up some white poster board to cover up your ceiling, leaving the lights exposed, and see what happens.

Your last picture shows a huge difference between the crown and the cabinet door. Is it possible that they used a conversion varnish in Simply White at the shop, but straight from the BM can in your house? I have SW conversion varnish cabinets and they were not a 100% match to the paint sample.

I actually spoke with the BM store he purchased the paint from and confirmed that the paint used is not BM since BM does not have a lacquer line. They sell Chemcraft. He used pre cat version. Not sure if this makes a difference. Anyway, while there I purchased a sample and painted part of a cabinet door. It's definitely the brighter white that I see along the molding/frame and not the creamy white that is on my doors. My contractor came over and saw the difference. He says his guys used same paint for doors and frame/molding. Anyway, he took a door to paint it again. I'm really hoping they just didn't prep it enough or used the wrong paint bc I like the brighter white. What a mess.

Even if they were both the exact same BM colors, a precat sprayed finish and a brush applied home version will look different as they are different paints.

Incorrect expectations were set. Two different chemistries of coatings will always have different results. Even if you’re trying to match lipstick to nail polish to your car finish, it will never a actually be a perfect match, because the chemistry and tints are completely different.

It all has to be done in the same coating material. You cannot have expectations of wall paint perfectly matching an industrial wood coating. It won’t happen. So stop comparing apples to oranges. Wall paint color isn’t your standard here.

@User I'm really no expert at this so I'm asking simply for clarification. Are you saying its "normal" (not sure if that's the right term) that I'm seeing 2 different shades of white from my cabinet doors vs the frame/molding? Also when I asked the BM associate if the sample I purchased will match the lacquer he said "yes, the color will be the same but the finish will be different". You're saying that's incorrect bc eggshell is wall paint vs lacquer finish? Does lacquer tend to "yellow" white paints? And even it does I still dont understand the variation in the paint I'm seeing if its all the same material and finish used. The crown molding may be different material (and even then I'm not sure that it is) but the frame/side panels is the same as the doors.

There are a lot of people assuming that the contractor used different products and/or application methods. I don't see where you said that, but it is immaterial anyway.

It doesn't matter what products he used, it may be great to figure out why this happened so you can help him figure it out, but again... it doesn't matter. You hired someone to paint your cabinets a certain color, and instead they painted at least part of your cabinets a different color. The chemistry and the application methods are immaterial to your problem. I am assuming you didn't hand the painter a few cans of paint and say, "here whatever comes out of these will be fine on my cabinets." Therefore, whether or not he used the same product is immaterial to you, the only thing that matters is you hired him to paint your cabinets BM Simply White and have fairly convincing evidence that he has failed to do so on at least some of your cabinets.

I do consider myself somewhat knowledgeable in paint and might be able to help if I knew the coating process and exact materials for all pieces and parts, but again... don't get too hung up on that, it is not your job to figure out what went wrong.

ETA: There is a common misconception that if the painter sprays the right color, then he is off the hook regardless of the results. That is not the case. He is responsible for the cabinets actually being that color.

@chispa I actually do believe the brighter version, like what you experienced, is the accurate version. The sample of BM-SW I purchased and applied is a brighter (not cool) white. A "happy" white.

@bry911 thank you. You are correct, I didn't hand him the paint. He did take a couple doors to repaint and see if it yeilds similar results. When I asked if he would be using a new batch or if he would be using leftover of what was used he was very unclear. He's a bit hard to communicate with unfortunately. For example, my contractor insists he used BM lacquer line. I personally went to the BM store he purchased from and spoke with their "lacquer expert" and confirmed BM does not have a lacquer line but they do sell Chemcraft that they customize to whatever paint. When I told my contractor this his response, "Those guys know nothing. They don't know what they are doing. I've been doing this for years." *sigh*

A consumer store won’t know much about BM’s industral lines, like Lenmar They are completely different divisions, and not sourced from the same locations.

What I’m saying is to not get it into your head that your wall paint sample is ”correct” when it won’t be anything close to the chemical makeup of the industrial coating product that he used. The colors between different chemical makes can be close, but never ”the same”. Throw your wall paint sample out. It is irrelevant in the whole.

Spraying vs brushing can produce different surface appearances that have norhing to do with the actual color being ”different”. That is the same optical illusion that any difference in sheen produces. A glossy color will reflect light differently than a matte color, even in ”the same” color. Its a matter of light refraction that changes, not the actual color.

So yes, even ”the same” chemistry can appear different, with different application techniques that affect its surface appearance. Even if corrected, by using the same application techniques, the different lighting on different planes can still give an appearance of being different. You know this, if you’ve ever had a painted color look different in different rooms, or on different walls.

All surfaces the same color. Different planes look different.

Walls all the same color. Different planes look different.

Both doors, and walls, are the same colors. Different planes look different.

@User says, "What I’m saying is to not get it into your head that your wall paint sample is ”correct” when it won’t be anything close to the chemical makeup of the industrial coating product that he used. The colors between different chemical makes can be close, but never ”the same”. Throw your wall paint sample out. It is irrelevant in the whole."

If a color looks different because of the chemical makeup of the industrial coating, that is because it is a different color. A color describes a specific range of absorption, reflection, emission of light waves and when those are different it is a different color. This a common misunderstanding but it is a misunderstanding.

Think of color as a physical address. 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC. is the physical address of the White House. If I say meet me at the White House tomorrow at noon and give you directions from my house, and you follow those directions perfectly but from your house... well you are not at the White House. You are at some other house, and that house doesn't suddenly become the White House because you followed the appropriate directions to get there.

@Deena Ruiz - When you gave your painter a color, you gave him an address to arrive at, not directions on how to get there. He didn't end up there...

At this point, there are so many industrial coatings that walk the line, it is hard to distinguish between products. Technically speaking, conversion varnish, which is what a lot of cabinet coatings are still using, is just lacquer with so much solid content that you have to add a hardener to get it to cure. So it is impossible to make any comment on the products he is using without knowing exactly what product he is using.

There are zero finishers who will warrant creating a ”perfect” color match. It does not happen as a 100% match. It is not possible with current spectrometer and dispensing machines. Much less the different tints involved in the different products. This is real life, not academia.

The cabinets are obviously not the same color, I wouldn't care about the reason for it. It is ridiculous to try to excuse cabinets being two different colors using sheen, product, application, viewing angle, etc. If you are going to take a job painting cabinets, making sure the cabinets are not unintentionally two-toned is part of that job.

Personally, if he told me that his guys used same paint for doors and frame/molding, I would simply say, "well how are we going to fix it." Incidentally, that is the same response I would use if he told me that his guys used different paint for doors and frame/molding.

There are zero finishers who will warrant creating a ”perfect” color match. It does not happen as a 100% match. It is not possible with current spectrometer and dispensing machines. Much less the different tints involved in the different products. This is real life, not academia.

A home's physical address may occupy a range of physical space (again using the White House example, the White House is pretty big. Thus you might be on one end of the White House and I on the other). Similarly, a color's physical address may occupy a range of absorption, emission and reflection. No one here said it has to be perfect and certainly not beyond current spectrophotometer and dispensing machines, but that doesn't give you license to present an entirely different color and pretend it is the same because... coatings.