I like both of them, in the context of the photographed rooms. It will probably make a difference what color your walls are, as well as other furnishings.

Mine are like your first photo....a warmer tone.

They add a nice touch to a room, especially if it has high ceilings, but I find I only use them if we have guests over....which is rare these days!

I love indirect soffit lighting and those are all beautiful spaces. I much prefer the warmer toned light, especially for ambience in the evening. Even that, I'd have on a dimmer.

We don't have soffit lighting in our house (although I'd love to!) but we had a custom ceiling built in the conference room of our office which included warm toned soffit lighting. It does so much to improve the ambience and make our clients feel very comfortable in the space.

Thanks everyone for your input!

I asked the electrician to put in samples of the regular rope light and the LED rope light. So glad I did. The LED rope light is not white at all, it is an ugly yellow :(

He also put in a sample of Xenon linear lighting which is a nice white color...but it is very expensive (must buy the track system, separate bulbs, transformers, etc) and it gives a more "scalloped" look versus a continuous look.

So obviously the Xenon linear is out due to budget. Someone on another thread suggested a white balance system where you can control the warmth/coolness of the light color...but that is even more expensive than the Xenon linear. So for the rope, if I had to choose between amber and bright yellow, I'd have to choose the warmer amber color...