There are zillions of "whites". What Beth is telling you is the "base whites" are basically neutral whites. SW Highly Reflective white is a good choice for a pretty clean white. You just go in to the paint store and talk to the folks there. Tell them you want just their "base flat best paint". Try that before you do anything else.

Lighting, you can put replacement inserts into existing recessed lights if they are the size that fits what is made for retrofitting. Unfortunately, where you really need light is in front of the "wine/bar" cabinets and I don't see any existing lighting there. Do you have under cabinet lighting in that spot?

Please post photos at nightime to show no sunlight & current lighting. That could help with paint & lighting plan.

There are a lot of suggestions here, and I something very similar. The wisest advice shared with me was that lighting effects everything. Therefore, step one would be to change out your light bulbs with daylight ones (5000K) instead of standard warm white (2700K).

Don't paint until you decide on the lighting because the lighting will change the colors.

I hope this helps!

Amy...please let me know how this goes. I have the exact issue. My cabinets are cream, but looking white on the bottom, where natural light comes in. Here are some pic’s

Jenni your kitchen is lovely. What are the can lights you are using? Are LED or older can lights? I am trying to decide to keep my old ones or update to new heat free LED. My FEAR is that the wont make my cabs look white.

BLESS you Artistharonva !!!!!!

I woke in the middle of the night thinking I need to do more research! Stressing thinking about reaching out to the electrician to explain what I want in lighting. How to explain it and how to help him understand what I want. And lo and behold you have these visuals. BLESS YOU. You are so kind to share this.

Last night before bed, I tried to show my DH what I needed to learn. I flicked lights on and off in our bathroom that have blue LED 5700K on one fixture and another softer light of 2700K ... DH thought I was crazy. " It's a light as long as you can see to brush your teeth, its good enough. " This coming from a man who would walk around the house in the dimmest light possible with unmatched socks.

Thank you again Artristharonva, I am not as crazy as he implied.

Another option to consider if you’re replacing lights - tunable white LEDs. Mine are Sylvania Lightify can lights which can be tuned anywhere between 2700-6500k; they are available in other sizes like a standard A19, but I’m sure there are other brands and sizes too.

I’m surprised this subject of tunable white light rarely comes up on the forum. I really like the option of having bright task lighting as well as softer warm light in the “work done let’s relax” phase of the evening. I’m away from home and don’t have finished kitchen pictures on my phone,probably because it’s not finished lol...... but these pictures were taken at the same time of day, just “changing the tune”2700k

6500k

AMAZING Oneridgeoff. I love your lighting. This is perfect. I am researching options. Thank you

Return them - complain it is a paint error

I have the same issue in my bathroom with vanity and mirror. They are the same colour. I just chalked it up to “it is what it is.” My ceiling is pure, untinted flat white ceiling paint ((BM). Oh well!

@ Heidi Interesting as the trim paint in the lower portion of your photo inbetween door and cabinet is white. Or looks more white than your cabs... I guess that is the easy and probably most practical route. "It is what it is."

On another note. love your floors!

Thanks Boxerpal - we love the marble hex floors too. They were a splurge, but our bathrooms are tiny.

Weird about the trim, right? It’s also pure untinted BM (semi-gloss). We contacted the company and they said they don’t even make our vanity option in cream, so there’s no way that’s what we got. But the white of the vanity must be at least slightly tinted - like a cloud white - compared to the pure white trim.

The door has since been replaced and painted pure white (its cloud white in this picture).

I just don’t care enough to look for different lighting options! It is what it is!

Just thinking - I suppose it could also be our paint reflecting onto the vanity. No paint colour reflecting on mirror-medicine cabinet (difficult to switch since it’s recessed) since the mirror faces the shower which is white subway/glass/marble hex.

No two whites are exactly the same, so when you pair them, unless you use LED white lights and plenty of it, and precise on exact paint, you will have variations. If the mirror white bothers you, might want to paint it a silver or gray from your flooring (which looks great btw).

I never noticed the variation until I saw this picture! Great idea about painting the cabinet. I’ll consider that! (Also a side comment - we’ve since changed the vanity knobs to brushed nickel as well).

Oops I meant great idea about painting the mirror/medicine cabinet.

That's what I would do. Just keep it simple though because you have a nice palette going now. Not too dark if you chose a gray.

Perhaps BM Gray Owl.

DYRTOP?

lol Tony M. your comments crack me up. You'd have a heart attack at all the homes in the upper end SoCal cities. Everything you despise, all around you. lmao

Bless you, too. Boxerpal :)

Thank you for the nice reply post.

Glad to help.

Are they the same at night without sunlight hitting only the lower cabinets?

@beth, socal is garbage also.

So I installed the new lights (5000K and Reveal LED) They did the trick...somewhat. See photo I took at night time below. All the cabinets look uniformly colored now, but there is still a tinge of cream/yellow. How do I get rid of that?

Option 1: it is what it is, try not to let it bother me

Option 2: paint wall color another color, so cream cabinets look white in comparison? if so, what color would you suggest works best?

Would also paint trims the same color as the cabinets.

i have attempted to post a solution like 6 times. Finally had to leave app and go to website :-((. Anyway, Amy, I have the exact issue, only my cabinets are suppose to be cream and the bottom ones appear to be stark white instead of cream. At night there is no issue at all....only during the day. I am going to have light filtering film put on my wndows & am very hopeful this helps. Go to to 3M.com and watch this filtering videos....amazing!! I will try to post my pics on a separte post.

2nd pic taken at night. CRAZY!!!

Amy, check this out...

Are yours different Jenni?

WOW I actually agree with JAN on something.

The lighting makes big difference. People often panic at various points in new or reno construction. Let it unfold. Relax. This isn’t brain surgery. Go for a day of pampering.

Amy - your kitchen is BEAUTIFUL!!!! Cabinets included. Enjoy it!!!!

TONY MONTANA agrees on something. I must be hallucinating, or I posted in error on the wrong post..............................next, he'll turn water to wood , and paint to wine, complete with demonstration : ) On You Tube. lol

Amy: Having 3M film on windows that faced cabinets seems to have resolved my issue. ..thank goodness. It was very reasonable $. Mine color difference was very drastic!! Hope you get yours resolved. Good Luck!!

Amy Chen I am using this same counter. Could you share the color of your cabinetry? Your kitchen looks beautiful!

Jenni, we are having the same issue with our kitchen remodel and cabinets. Do you know which 3M you used? I’m not finding the videos on the 3M website. Do you have a link possibly? I’ve lost several nights of sleep over this. It’s been driving us bonkers trying to determine the issue. I was so thankful to stumble upon this post. Thank you!!

Hi Amy,

Wondering how you feel about your cabinets a couple of months later? I have the same kind of issue... I had a sample door a few months ago and put it all around the room, taped it up high, put it down low, looked at it for days. It looked white. Picked this color over a starker almost blueish option. But now that the cabinets are installed, in certain areas they do look yellowish (you can kind of see in the pic... they show up whiter in photos for some reason but in person some areas are definitely yellow toned, it would be nice if they appeared more as in the photo :)). I think part of it may be that I had my sample in winter, when the outside light was different, and when there were no green leaves on the trees, and possibly snow on the ground. All of these factors probably cooled the sample color quite a bit. Our kitchen has sort of odd lighting in that it has west, north, and east windows nearby, and is open to a bright great room. The cabinets open to the great room look quite a bit whiter than the uppers in the darker back. And they look different throughout the day. Lighting is crazy! The advice to change up the overhead lighting seems good, at least you will have consistency at nighttime. Wondering if you did anything else? One thing I did think of for your space if it really bothers you and if you're willing to change things up a bit, is to replace those cabinets with either a glass front or an open shelf, to cut the large off-white surface a bit. But I think it just is what it is... although I completely understand the frustrations involved with things not turning out how you envisioned with remodels/builds.

@seashell456, I just changed the light bulbs, and haven’t done anything else! Doesn’t bother me anymore after a month. Looking at your photos, I cannot tell the cabinets have a yellow undertone at all. I think it also helps that your walls are not white (unlike mine). I wouldn’t worry about it and it won’t bother you in a month ;)

That is good to hear Amy. So glad things are working out!

Kristie - Sorry this took so long...haven’t been checking. I just went to 3m.com, then Resources to find someone in your area. The film did work, but not completely. There are still times during the day that the top cabinets appear to be more creamy than the bottom ones. Like Amy, it really doesn’t bother me anymore. With everything on counters and the upgraded lighting it’s just not that noticeable. When I turn the lights up, it disappears. Hope this helps....I also lost sleep over it.

Thank you for the advice! Once we added things to the counters and moved our furniture and wall decor in, it became a lot less noticeable for us too. Now it doesn’t bother me any more. My husband calls it my “freak out moment” with anything new. Thankfully this moment didn’t last too long.

Kristie, I think I’ve had a freak out moment with every part of our remodel :). Glad to hear everything worked out for all of you!

We are having the same issue with one section of the cabinets we are installing. It looks fine at night with all lights on (4000s and we have a white, flat ceiling), but you can see the difference during the day when natural light comes in. I almost wonder if it’s the green lots across the street reflecting off of it? I’m hoping it will look better when our blinds are installed. :(

Lauren, we have green all around our house and I’m positive that this affects our cabinet color. I’m curious what will happen in a couple of months when the leaves fall. Since I last posted, we had countertops installed... I ended up choosing a sort of creamier white than I’d originally intended... caesarstone Frosty Carrina. Admittedly though even those sometimes look very white compared to the cabinets :-/. And sometimes they look fine. I’m having trouble choosing a backsplash now. Not sure if I should wait til winter to see how it looks or not. Our kitchen lighting is very tricky and we took down walls in our reno so it was tough to tell beforehand how things would appear. What color are your cabinets painted?

I almost wonder if it’s the green lots across the street reflecting off of it? I’m hoping it will look better when our blinds are installed. :(

It will look better and will be fine once the kitchen is finished and you have all your things in it.

@Kriste I have those moments too. Hubby says the same thing! Glad I'm not the only one ;)

I totally agree with the green from trees/grass etc! It affects my cabinet color during the day! But hey, natural light and landscaping are a good thing so I try and breathe when I think they are looking yellow/green/whatever. They are back to bright white when the sun goes down lol

Now that my kitchen is completed & I have rugs, butcher blocks, fruit bowls etc. I don’t even notice anymore the variance in color at certain times of the day. I am just Loving my new kitchen!!!!

Glad it worked out for you Jenni!

Light is the most important factor in how we perceive color, and off-whites are very difficult to get right. Most of them are tints of a hue (green, blue, red, orange, yellow, purple), which means they are created by adding white to the hue until the underlying color is almost imperceptible. (Most off-whites, by the way are created from the yellow or yellow/green colorway.) That color, or its complement (the opposite on the color wheel) can become very apparent when the light changes. It can be frustrating at first, but usually becomes less noticeable as you finish decorating the room. You can alter the interior lighting to achieve the effect you'd like, but outside lighting is what it is. If you have lots of green trees, a blue pool, or a very sunny day, the color can change. But that's just life!

Jenni, great job. So nice to here all ended up beautiful. Also, thank you for posting the final update. It's nice to know how things turn out, what worked,etc. I imagine it also helps others in the future when they are going through a remodel dillema. Again, good job with everything & congratulations on your gorgeous kitchen:)