Simply White
Behr's yellow-family near-white, reviewed honestly: the Benjamin Moore namesake it is not, the west sun that turns it cream, and what to pick instead.
Jessica has spec'd whites and neutrals for more than 300 rooms and keeps a sample wall of painted drawdowns in her studio. Every color review is checked against real reader rooms in the comments and re-tested when a formula changes. About the testing process →
- 1Classic Gray74
- 2Alabaster82
- 3Simply White92
- 4Ultra Pure White97
The Fast Verdict
Simply White is the can Home Depot hands you when you ask for Simply White and do not specify a brand. At LRV 92 it is almost a true white; Behr files BWC-01 in the yellow family, which is the honest tell — a cream, yellow-orange undertone, louder than Benjamin Moore's Simply White and not a match for it. On trim, cabinets, and ceilings in a north or east room it reads finished and warm. On four west walls, or next to Ultra Pure White, it looks like cream you did not order. Painters have tinted this SKU thinking it was OC-117. It is not.
Trim, cabinets and ceilings in oak-and-brass houses · north and east rooms · one-color millwork with only a sheen change · anyone at Home Depot who actually wants a yellow-cream white
Your main room takes hard western sun · trim stays Ultra Pure White or Polar Bear · counters are cool grey quartz · you meant Benjamin Moore Simply White
- LRV 92 — bright enough for trim, cabinets, and ceilings without blue-white glare
- Honest yellow-cream that flatters oak, walnut, brass, and honey oak
- Home Depot already sells it as cabinet, door, and trim enamel
- One-color millwork works; the sheen change is enough
- Genuinely good in north light, where cooler whites go grey and flat
- Turns visibly creamy-yellow in hard western and late-afternoon sun
- Looks dingy the moment Ultra Pure White, Polar Bear, or Chantilly Lace sits next to it
- Easy to confuse with Benjamin Moore Simply White, which is quieter and less orange
- Clashes with cool grey quartz, Carrara-look stone, and grey LVP
What Color Is Simply White, Really?
A very bright warm white with a cream, yellow-orange undertone — not grey, not peach-first, and not the Benjamin Moore color that shares the name. Behr files BWC-01 in the yellow family, which is the useful fact hiding on the chip: this is a cream built on a yellow-orange base, spread thin enough that it still passes as white on millwork and overhead. Independent reviewers put it next to Benjamin Moore Simply White and then warn you off the substitution — the Behr version comes in hotter, with a stronger yellow-orange than the 2016 Color of the Year. Design blogs barely review this number as its own color. Polar Bear and Sleek White get the posts; Simply White gets mixed at the tint machine because someone said the words out loud.
At LRV 92 there is almost no headroom above it. Polar Bear sits at 94 and Ultra Pure White at 97; those are the only common Behr whites that are clearly brighter. Benjamin Moore Simply White sits at 90, two points softer. That is why this color works as trim, cabinets, and ceilings — it reflects like the top of the deck — and also why you cannot rescue it with a whiter neighbor. A cooler or brighter trim does not add contrast. It just makes Simply White look like unwashed cream. Home Depot already sells the same SKU as a cabinet, door, and trim enamel, which is how the color actually earns its keep.
Undertone in one line: yellow-orange, cream-range, never pink and never green. In north light the yellow is mostly cancelled and the millwork reads as a quiet white. In west sun and under 2700K lamps the yellow-orange is the whole story. If the sample already looks a little creamy on the chip, believe it — Behr put it in yellow for a reason. If it looks dingy, look at the trim next to it before you blame the gallon.
Where It Shines
Give it oak floors, brass, and no brighter white nearby, and it does the job a yellow-cream is supposed to do: look like painted woodwork, not plastic-bright builder white, without going butter. Trim, doors, and cabinets are the surfaces Home Depot already mixed this SKU for. Semi-gloss Simply White on casings is kind to honey oak and walnut; satin on cabinets brightens a wood-and-brass kitchen; flat overhead stays high without the blue-white glare Ultra Pure White throws against warm walls. North and east rooms are where the yellow gets cancelled and people describe a creamy warmer white that still reads as white. That is the room this color wants.
Where It Fails
Almost every unhappy Simply White story is a namesake story, or a yellow-white story. The cream is real, it is small on the chip, and three situations make it loud. None of them are a bad mix — but if your room matches one, this is not your white, and another coat will not hide it.
Yellow-orange at LRV 92 has nowhere to hide once the late-day flood hits a whole wall. From about four o'clock the paint goes creamy, too warm, almost yellow — the same complaint that follows Benjamin Moore Simply White around, just louder, because this can's yellow-orange is the stronger one. If the room you live in faces west, keep this color on the trim and ceiling, sample the walls at 5pm, or pick a cleaner white. Chantilly Lace (OC-65, LRV 90) holds that sun without going cream.
The most common Home Depot pairing mistake: Simply White walls or millwork, Ultra Pure White (W-B-500, LRV 97) on the other plane. The brighter white wins, and Simply White looks dingy. Polar Bear (W-F-200, LRV 94) and Chantilly Lace do the same trick — the temperature gap, not just the brightness, is enough. Run Simply White on trim, ceiling, and any walls you paint, and let eggshell / semi-gloss / flat separate the planes.
Benjamin Moore Simply White is a brilliant white with a small, predictable yellow weakness. This Behr can is the same idea turned up: yellow family, creamier, more orange. Buy the wrong one and the room is either louder or quieter than you planned. Separately, grey quartz, Carrara-look stone, and grey LVP sit at the opposite temperature and shove the yellow-orange into the open until cabinets look nicotine-cream. With cool floors and counters, use a cleaner white and keep Simply White for a warmer room.
Room by Room
Semi-gloss on casings, doors, and base; satin on cabinets. At LRV 92 it still reads as white woodwork, and the yellow-orange keeps millwork from looking plastic the way Ultra Pure White can. Kind to oak, walnut, and brass. Do not park Polar Bear or Ultra Pure White next to it. One color, two sheens.
Satin on shaker doors brightens a brass-and-butcher-block kitchen without the clinical edge of Ultra Pure White. Oak floors, walnut, terracotta, warm quartz: all fine. Grey quartz and a wall of stainless: the yellow-orange shows, and you will wish you had sampled a door against the slab. Urethane-fortified cabinet enamel either way.
East and north living rooms are its home turf: bright, quiet, slightly warm, especially when the job is trim and ceiling over a greige wall. A west living room with this on four walls is the skip. Eggshell only if you commit to the one-color rule so the casings do not grow a dingy halo.
North and east bedrooms stay clean and restful. Under 2700K lamps it turns creamier at night, which some people want and some people call dingy. 3000K–3500K keeps it closer to white after dark. If the bedroom faces west, keep Simply White on the ceiling and pick a quieter white for the walls.
Warm marble, cream tile, wood vanities, brass: it looks settled. Grey porcelain, blue-grey subway, chrome-and-Carrara: it argues, and the wall goes yellow. Satin or a bath-rated eggshell for wipe-down. This is a better vanity-and-trim color than a four-wall bath color unless the stone is warm.
LRV 92 is ceiling-bright, and the whisper of cream stops the plane from reading blue against warm walls — the exact complaint with builder-grade Ultra Pure White overhead. Flat sheen; same color as the trim if you can. Hallways of six-panel doors in the same gallon are where the one-color rule earns its keep.
Your Light Is the Risk
Cool grey daylight cancels most of the yellow-orange and leaves a clean, quietly warm white on millwork and ceilings. This is the exposure where Simply White still reads as white.
From about four o'clock the yellow-orange lands hard and whole walls go cream. Sample this hour, or keep the color on trim and ceiling only.
South rooms stay softly creamy all day and warm a step through the afternoon. West rooms make the shift all at once at golden hour. Most people like it on woodwork; few like it as a west wall.
2700K lamps pull the yellow-orange forward — cozy on a porch ceiling, dingy on four walls if you wanted white. 3000K–3500K keeps it closer to true white. Cool LEDs flatten it. Swap bulbs before you swap paint.
Most complaints about Simply White are a light mismatch. Upload a photo of your actual room and see it on your walls — then ask for the same wall in north light or evening lamps before you buy a single sample.
Need It From Another Brand?
Any paint counter can custom-tint Behr BWC-01 directly. If you would rather stay in one brand's own deck, these are the closest stock matches, measured as ΔE2000. Under 2 is a difference you will not see on the wall.
| Brand | Closest color | ΔE | LRV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherwin-Williams | White SnowSW 9541 · Sherwin-Williams | 1.7 | 90 | Color page → |
| Benjamin Moore | Mountain Peak White2148-70 · Benjamin Moore | 1.2 | 91 | Color page → |
| Valspar | Gauzy WhiteV152 · Valspar | 1.2 | 91 | Color page → |
| PPG / Glidden | Delicate WhitePPG1001-1 · PPG / Glidden | 3.1 | 88 | Color page → |
| Glidden | Crisp Linen White61YY 89/040 · Glidden | 1.1 | 89 | Color page → |
| Dutch Boy | Ultra White002W · Dutch Boy | 2.1 | 91 | Color page → |
Similar Behr Colors
The nearest shades to Simply White within Behr's own range, ranked by perceptual color distance — useful when you want the same look a touch lighter, darker, or warmer.
WCAG 2.1: AA is 4.5 : 1 for normal text, 3 : 1 for large text, AAA is 7 : 1.
Simply White vs the Colors You're Also Considering
Every Simply White sample board has the same rivals on it. The numbers show the real lightness gap — then it comes down to which risk you would rather live with.
Pick this when you are at Home Depot and want ceiling-bright cream millwork without switching brands — knowing this can is the louder version.
Benjamin Moore OC-117 · LRV 90Simply WhitePick this if you want the famous bright warm white designers already know — same yellow tell, two LRV points softer, a quieter yellow and less orange.
Pick this when you specifically want the creamier yellow-orange, not the sunny Sleek White.
Behr OR-W15 · LRV 92Sleek WhitePick this if you wanted the Home Depot analog designers actually point at for Benjamin Moore Simply White — similar warmth, a sunnier yellow, less orange.
Pick this when you want the cream to show on millwork. Polar Bear next to this color will make it look dingy.
Behr W-F-200 · LRV 94Polar BearPick this for a cleaner everyday white with less yellow — Behr's dependable mix, not quite the White Dove stand-in people search it for.
Inside Behr the neighbors are extremely close. China Cup W-D-100 at LRV 92 sits at #FAF5EC against Simply White's #F9F5EC, a difference you will not see on a wall. Cotton Blossom BWC-07 and Palais White GR-W15 both read 92, while Icy Tundra ECC-38-2 and Snow Day HDC-WR16-01 land at 91.
Across brands, Kompozit Sugar Dust 0011 and Hirshfield's Sugar Dust 0011 both come in at a deltaE of 1, and Glidden Crisp Linen White 61YY 89/040 at LRV 89 is 1.1. Benjamin Moore Mountain Peak White 2148-70 at LRV 91 and Valspar Gauzy White V152 at LRV 91 both sit at 1.21, and Clare Timeless PNT100-LT-04 at LRV 91 is 1.42. All of these are visually identical in normal room light.
Farther out, Sherwin-Williams White Snow SW 9541 at LRV 90 is 1.74 and Farrow and Ball All White No. 2005 at LRV 92 is 2.63, both very close but worth sampling first. Dunn-Edwards Swiss Coffee DEW341 has a deltaE of 1.55 but a listed LRV of 83, so it gives back noticeably less light.
Simply White Coordinating Colors
Stay on the warm side of the fence and never introduce a brighter, cooler white. Simply White flatters warm greiges, easy sages, deep navies, and near-blacks — and it argues with icy greys, blue-grey stone, and any trim white that out-brights it. These are the partners that keep showing up in rooms that work:
Not Benjamin Moore Simply White
This is the mix-up that will waste a weekend. Type Simply White into a search bar and Benjamin Moore OC-117 comes up first: the 2016 Color of the Year, a brilliant white at LRV 90 with a small yellow dose and one loud, predictable weakness in west sun. Behr BWC-01 is a different can. It is two LRV points brighter on our deck, filed in Behr's yellow family, and reviewers describe a considerably stronger yellow-orange than the famous one. Painters have bought the Behr gallon because the name matched the spec. It did not.
If a contractor, a Pinterest pin, or a leftover chip says Simply White, confirm the brand and the SKU before anyone tints. OC-117 on walls next to BWC-01 trim will look quieter and cleaner; BWC-01 on walls next to OC-117 millwork will look like you ran out of the good white. They do not substitute. If the Benjamin Moore one is the target and Home Depot is the store, Sleek White is the closer analog — same bright-white job, a sunnier yellow, less orange. Sample that one first.
Simply White With Wood Tones And Floors
Oak is why this color exists as a millwork white. Honey oak, red oak, builder oak with an orange lean, walnut, cedar, and butcher block all sit comfortably against the yellow-orange — the cream meets the wood halfway, which is the thing a stark white refuses to do. If your floors are orange-leaning builder oak, Simply White on the trim is one of the few bright whites that softens the orange instead of amplifying it.
The one flooring that needs a sample first is cool grey LVP or grey-washed wood. Grey plank pulls the yellow-orange into relief, and the millwork can read slightly nicotine against it. Warm rugs and brass fix it in some rooms; they will not rescue a whole kitchen of grey quartz and grey plank. Metals are easy: unlacquered brass, antique bronze, and matte black all work. Polished chrome is the one that leans cold against it.
Three Ready Palettes Built on Simply White
A color is never alone on the wall. These are complete combinations in the 60-30-10 pattern, with the reason each one holds together. Every one opens in the visualizer.
One cream at three sheens is how you use LRV 92 without inventing a dingy halo around the trim. Cracked Pepper on the door is the single dark note — Behr's chameleon black, not a second white.
Try this palette in your roomAccessible Beige is the safest warm neutral until the light goes cool, and Simply White millwork is the temperature match it wants — not Polar Bear, which would cut a cold line. Hale Navy on the island is the safest navy as long as the kitchen has light, and it loves brass.
Try this palette in your roomAgreeable Gray is the safest greige in decent light, and a warm ceiling white is what keeps it from going cold overhead. Even Better Beige next door is a real beige that skipped the yellow, so the handoff between rooms does not pile cream on cream.
Try this palette in your roomSimply White FAQ
Is Behr Simply White the same as Benjamin Moore Simply White?
No. Same words, different paint. Behr BWC-01 is a yellow-family near-white at LRV 92 with a cream, yellow-orange undertone. Benjamin Moore Simply White (OC-117) is a brilliant white at LRV 90 with a quieter yellow and one loud, predictable weakness in west sun. Designers who get asked for a Home Depot analog usually point at Sleek White, not this can. If a painter says Simply White, ask which brand before anyone tints a gallon.
Is it warm or cool?
Warm — the yellow-orange kind. Behr files it in the yellow family. At LRV 92 the yellow is spread thin enough that north and east rooms still read as a finished white on millwork. North light cancels most of it; west sun and 2700K bulbs put it back. It is never icy and never grey.
What trim white goes with Simply White walls?
Simply White itself, in semi-gloss. Ultra Pure White, Polar Bear, or Chantilly Lace next to it makes the walls look dingy — the most common mistake with a yellow-cream this bright. There is almost no brighter white that still matches its temperature. If you want contrast, go darker on the door, never brighter on the casing.
Is it good for kitchen cabinets?
Yes, when the stone and wood are warm. Home Depot already sells this SKU as a cabinet, door, and trim enamel. Satin Simply White on shaker doors brightens a brass-and-butcher-block kitchen without going hospital-white. Sample a door against grey quartz or stainless before you commit the boxes — that is where the yellow-orange shows. Use a urethane-fortified cabinet enamel.
Will it look yellow?
In west afternoon sun, yes. Under 2700K lamps, a little. Next to a cooler white, it will look cream even if the light is fine. In north or east daylight on trim and ceiling, most people never call it yellow. The chip can already look a hair creamy — believe that, and sample a big board at 5pm in the actual room.
Should I buy Sleek White instead?
If Benjamin Moore Simply White is the target and Home Depot is the store, Sleek White is the closer analog — similar warmth, a sunnier yellow, less orange, same LRV 92. Buy this can when you specifically want the creamier yellow-orange. Sample both on the same board at 5pm; the orange in BWC-01 is the difference you will live with.
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