Kennebunkport Green

Benjamin Moore calls Kennebunkport Green 'a versatile medium green with a cool cast', and that cool cast is the thing the sources argue about. Paint Color Consultants reads it the same way: 'a muted, medium green with a cool cast and noticeable gray content'. The people who use it tend to see the warmth — one exterior roundup at The Spruce describes it as 'an earthy shade of green that straddles the line between sage and olive'.

The light decides which you see. In a sunny room the sage warmth is what registers; in a dim one the gray content comes forward and it reads cooler and deeper. Its LRV of 31.32 makes it a true mid-tone, dark enough to go flat without decent light.

HGTV designer Taniya Nayak calls it a staple and says green 'has always been the one color that serves as a neutral to me' — which is how Kennebunkport Green behaves in a well-lit room: a grayed garden green that reads as a neutral rather than a statement.

Kennebunkport Green has a strong exterior life. Benjamin Moore offers it as a Woodluxe exterior stain color as well as a paint, and Crisp Architects used it on the body of a three-story lakefront house with a rhubarb-red door. It reads as a settled, traditional siding green.

Indoors it is a wall color — dining rooms, studies, bedrooms — and reviewers suggest it for cabinetry and trim, though we found no documented designer cabinet installation, so treat that as a suggestion rather than a proven use.

It is not a ceiling or trim white's partner by default: it wants a warm white beside it rather than an icy one.

Benjamin Moore's coordinating colors for Kennebunkport Green are Monterey White HC-27, Monroe Bisque HC-26, Icicle OC-60 and Hampton Green 2150-50. Reviewers reach for White Dove OC-17 or Simply White OC-117 on the trim, and for warm woods, brass and black accents; a red front door against it is a classic New England pairing.

Icy whites and cool grays push it toward gray and make it look cold.

Benjamin Moore lists Adirondack Green 453, High Park 467, Mistletoe 474 and Greenwich Village 445 as similar. Its Historical Colors neighbor Great Barrington Green HC-122 is deeper and more olive.

It fails without light. At LRV 31 it needs a reasonably bright room; in a dim one it goes flat and heavy.

It fails beside icy whites and cool grays, which drain its warmth and leave a gray-green that looks institutional.

And it sits on a fence. Benjamin Moore calls it cool; the people who use it see sage-olive warmth. If you need a decisively warm or decisively cool green, sample this one carefully — it will show you whichever side your room's light favors.