The Color Digest · Compare
Settled, side by side
Tundra
Benjamin Moore · 2133-70
A white that keeps its cool
Pure White
Sherwin-Williams · SW 7005
The white that stays out of the way
In real rooms
Every room, each colorThe difference
Read from the numbersPure White is the lighter of the two at LRV 84, 6.9 points above Tundra at LRV 77.07. Tundra leans cool where Pure White reads neutral. Both belong to the whites family. For a whole room, Pure White is the safer, more forgiving choice thanks to its higher LRV, while Tundra is the bolder pick.
How they read
In their own wordsTundra is the off-white for people who find most whites too creamy. Its LRV of 77 puts it in soft-white territory, but the base is a cool, faintly green-blue grey, so it reads clean and quiet rather than warm. On plaster mouldings and in rooms with a lot of daylight it looks like fresh air.
Pure White is one of Sherwin-Williams' most-specified whites for a simple reason: it has almost no agenda. A trace of grey keeps it from glaring, a trace of warmth keeps it from turning blue, and at LRV 84 it is bright without being stark. It is the white you choose when the art, the furniture or the view is the point.