By Absolut Painting · Published October 27, 2026 · No prices in the guides
Undertones, and why no white is just white
A white paint is a white base with a small amount of colourant, and that colourant gives it a lean. Warm whites carry a little yellow or red and read as soft and creamy. Cool whites carry a little blue or grey and read as crisp. Pure or clean whites have very little colourant and look bright, almost like primer, in the wrong room.
The undertone only shows up next to something. Hold a chip against a sheet of printer paper and the lean appears. Hold it against your trim, your floor and your countertop and you see how it will behave in the room. A white that fights a warm oak floor or a grey quartz counter looks dirty no matter how good it is on the chip.
North light, south light and everything between
North-facing rooms in the GTA get cool, even, slightly blue daylight all day. A cool white in that room goes grey and flat. A warm white holds its own and still reads as white. South-facing rooms get strong warm light for most of the day, which pushes a warm white towards yellow and lets a cleaner, cooler white look bright without going cold.
East-facing rooms are warm in the morning and cool by afternoon. West-facing rooms do the opposite and glow orange at the end of the day. Whites with a balanced or slightly grey undertone tend to cope best in rooms that swing.
The whites painters reach for
These are the whites that come up on most walkthroughs, with the lean to expect. Each is a real manufacturer colour, and Absolut holds trade accounts with both brands.
- Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace OC-65. A clean, bright white with very little undertone. Good for trim and for modern rooms with plenty of light.
- Benjamin Moore White Dove OC-17. A soft white with a faint warm grey lean. Forgiving in most light, and a common pick for whole-house walls and trim together.
- Benjamin Moore Simply White OC-117. A warm white with a touch of yellow. Reads creamy and friendly, and stays white in north light.
- Sherwin-Williams Alabaster SW 7008. A warm, slightly muted white that sits close to an off-white. Comfortable in bedrooms and living rooms.
- Sherwin-Williams Pure White SW 7005. A soft neutral white with a hint of warmth, and a safe default for walls, ceilings and trim in one scheme.
- Sherwin-Williams Extra White SW 7006. A cool, crisp white with a blue-grey lean. Works for trim and for bright, contemporary rooms. Can go stark in a dim room.
How to sample so the answer is clear
Chips lie. A chip is small, has a sheen of its own and is looked at under a store's light. Paint a sample instead. Buy sample pots of your two or three shortlisted whites and roll each one in a square at least sixty centimetres across, two coats, on two different walls: one that gets direct light and one that does not.
Live with them for a few days. Look in the morning, at midday and at night with the lamps on. Hold the trim colour and a piece of the flooring next to each square. The white that looks right at every hour, and does not argue with the floor, is your answer. If you are still torn, the walkthrough is a good time to ask. John has seen most of these whites on most kinds of wall.