Pure White

Pure White is the least warm of the warm whites: a trace of yellow softens it and a trace of black keeps it from glaring, and the result is a white that reads clean without reading cold. In a south- or west-facing room that warmth shows gently, and the color looks brighter and softer than its chip.

In north light it loses the softness. Consultants describe it as taking on a 'cleaner edge' in cool light, and in a genuinely dim north room it can look flat, gray or — at the extreme — faintly blue. One consultancy recommends it only for rooms flooded with light.

Under warm artificial light at night it can drift toward off-white. It is a stable color by white-paint standards, but not an inert one.

Trim, cabinets and ceilings are where Pure White is most specified. Lauren of Love Remodeled calls it 'the best Sherwin Williams white paint color for trim,' and Corey Willis of Hey There Home says it 'is one of Sherwin William's most popular trim colors.' It is bright enough to read as white on millwork and doors, and soft enough not to look plastic. On cabinets, designer Melissa Welsh notes that 'some warm whites can appear more yellow looking on cabinets, but Pure White rarely does with its subtle hint of warmth.'

On walls it depends on the room. In a bright room it is a quiet, gallery-like white; in a dim one it can feel gray and flat once the sun goes, and more than one designer prefers a warmer white such as White Dove OC-17 or Alabaster SW 7008 for walls while keeping Pure White on the trim. Willis describes the common pairing: 'warm Sherwin Williams Alabaster walls with Pure White trim adding a beautiful layer of crispness.'

Outdoors it is a common whole-house white. Michelle Marceny of The Color Concierge: 'Pure White looks great as a whole-house exterior paint color.' John Petersik of Young House Love adds the caution: 'Many find Pure White too bright for large exterior applications.' It is less successful on houses with earthy brick or stone, which make it look stark.

Sherwin-Williams' own coordinating colors for Pure White are March Wind SW 7668 and Perle Noir SW 9154. Welsh: 'With its gray tones, SW Pure White is a fantastic white to pair with blue-gray paint colors.'

It is comfortable with warm wood and with jewel tones, but only with muted creams. Put it beside a strong cream and the cream looks dirty and Pure White looks stark; warm beige finishes do the same.

Its neighbors are Extra White SW 7006, which is cooler and bluer, Alabaster SW 7008, which is darker and noticeably creamier, and High Reflective White SW 7757, which is brighter with almost no undertone. Across brands, Benjamin Moore White Dove is the usual comparison and is the creamier of the two.

It fails as a wall color in low light. Once the sun goes, a room painted in Pure White can look flat and gray, which is why designers so often keep it on trim and put a warmer white on the walls.

It fails with cream and warm beige. If the kitchen has a creamy quartz, warm beige tile or an ivory sofa, Pure White will make them look dirty and itself look stark.

And it fails with earthy stone. Warm granite, brick and rustic stone want a warmer white; Pure White beside them looks like a new window in an old wall.

Sue Wadden, Sherwin-Williams' director of color marketing, told Better Homes & Gardens: 'It's a timeless white that doesn't lean too cool or creamy.' That is the consensus, with a small argument about which way the lean goes. Marceny: 'The soft yellow undertones keep it from looking harsh, even though it's crisp.' Welsh: 'a tiny amount of yellow, which adds a hint of warmth.' Petersik: 'very slight yellow undertones.' Lauren of Love Remodeled sees the other ingredient: 'a hint of a gray undertone.' Rachel Paxton of Maison de Pax explains both: 'Pure White actually has a hint of black added (to soften the brightness).'

Tasha Agruso sums up why it is so widely specified: it 'really doesn't have any obvious undertones.' Willis: 'One reason Pure White is so popular is the lack of tricky or glaring undertones.' Sherwin-Williams lists its LRV at 83.957; Marceny notes it sits on the brand's 'Top 50 Colors' list.

Sixteen credited rooms. Thirteen are by Samantha Fisher Studio: a dining room photographed four times, a living room four times, a bedroom three times, a hallway and a kitchen. It is the clearest demonstration we have of a single white carried through every room, and of what the consultants mean when they say it has no agenda: the color never competes with the furniture, and the rooms differ by light and contents, not by wall.

Silverwing Interiors used it in a living room, photographed three times. Put the two studios' living rooms side by side: same paint, different furniture, different light, and the white reads differently in each. The surroundings decide.

Marceny is blunt: 'For interiors, avoid SW Pure White in rooms with low light, or cool North Facing light.' Welsh is gentler: 'in a north-facing room, SW Pure White may appear cooler than you'd like.' In the other direction, Lauren of Love Remodeled: 'South facing rooms get warmer light, which will really bring out the warmth (yellow) in Pure White.' Wadden's own recommendation is for the rooms that get used: 'I love this color to brighten up a kitchen or living room.'

For a one-white scheme, sheen does the work. Marceny: 'The key is to make sure that the trim sheen is Satin, shinier than the walls.' Paxton: 'You can use Sherwin Williams Pure White on almost any surface: walls, trim, cabinets, and ceilings.' Flat or matte on walls, flat on the ceiling, satin or semi-gloss on trim and cabinets, and the room reads as layered rather than painted in one go.

Extra White SW 7006 is the cooler sibling: 'slightly cooler and brighter than SW Pure White, with an LRV of 86' (Welsh), and 'will look brighter than Pure White due to the cooler undertone' (Love Remodeled). Marceny recommends against it for most homes 'because Extra White is too cool.' High Reflective White SW 7757 is 'Sherwin Williams' brightest white, with virtually no visible undertones' (Jenna Kate at Home). We have photographed Extra White in six rooms; the comparison page puts them side by side.

Alabaster SW 7008 is the warm sibling. Marceny: 'SW Alabaster has strong yellow undertones and is much warmer than Pure White.' Willis: 'Alabaster has stronger yellow-beige undertones which give it a cozier, softer feel.' Paxton reads it as 'a greige undertone, making it more of a true neutral than Pure White.' Snowbound SW 7004 'has a taupe undertone that can sometimes look pink or slightly creamy depending on the lighting' (Jenna Kate at Home); Willis says 'Pure White is more predictably neutral which is why it's the more popular choice.'

Against Benjamin Moore: Agruso says 'White Dove is very similar to Pure White, but it is ever so slightly warmer,' and Petersik agrees that 'White Dove does skew a bit yellower than Pure White.' Chantilly Lace OC-65 is brighter (LRV 90.04) and cooler; our page comparing the two shows both on real walls.