Benjamin Moore Chantilly LacevsBenjamin Moore Simply White
Two of the brightest whites Benjamin Moore makes, and they are almost equally bright — the real difference is direction. Chantilly Lace OC-65 has essentially nothing in it; Simply White OC-117 has a clean yellow that the afternoon sun turns up.
Built from our full reviews of both colors — same measured data, same real-room photos. About the testing process →
The Numbers
LRV is essentially equal (91 vs 90) — both reflect light the same.
The Real Difference on a Wall
Forget the brightness question. These two sit within a point of each other at the top of the deck, and in a finished room you would need the chips touching to say which is lighter. What separates them is that Chantilly Lace has almost no pigment to see, and Simply White has a real, unmuted yellow. Chantilly Lace does not correct your room; it reports on it. Whatever light you have, that is what comes back off the wall. Simply White brings its own warmth to the argument and keeps a room feeling like a home rather than a gallery.
That plays out opposite ways depending on which windows you have. In a north-facing room, Simply White is the better color by a clear margin — cool gray daylight cancels its yellow and leaves a clean mellow white, and owners in north rooms often say they never see the warmth at all. Chantilly Lace in the same room has nothing to push back with and reads gray-blue and cold, worst in January. Flip to a west-facing room and it reverses. From about four o'clock, late sun lands on Simply White and the yellow has nowhere to hide, which is where the creamy, almost yellow complaints come from. Chantilly Lace takes that same sun and stays white.
The practical gap is on the ladder. Chantilly Lace is the notorious one for coverage — there is so little tint in the can that painters routinely report three coats on new drywall and four over an old beige wall. Prime white first or budget the extra coat. Simply White covers better but is not free either; painters report it can need an extra coat to look even. And both of them make the room around them honest: Chantilly Lace at the top of the scale makes every older white in the room look dingy, and Simply White reads dirty the moment any brighter white sits next to it.
Simply White is the one that flashes, and it flashes yellow — hard western afternoon sun, and next to cool gray quartz, Carrara-look stone or a wall of stainless. Chantilly Lace has almost no undertone to flash, but with nothing of its own it takes on cold north light and reads gray-blue.
What Each Color Really Is
This is as close as Benjamin Moore gets to a white with nothing in it. Most whites are built on a drop of something — yellow oxide for the creams, black or blue for the cool ones — and that drop is what you eventually see on the wall. Chantilly Lace has almost nothing to see. There is a whisper of gray in the mix, just enough to keep it from glaring, and that is the entire recipe. Put it next to Decorator's White OC-149 and you notice Decorator's White is faintly gray-violet; next to Super White OC-152 you notice Super White is faintly blue. Chantilly Lace is the one that just reads white.
At LRV 90 it sits at the top of the Benjamin Moore deck. Simply White OC-117 is a point behind at 91, and in most rooms you would need the two chips touching to tell them apart — the real difference there is direction, not brightness. White Dove OC-17 is the useful comparison: at 85 it is seven points softer, and seven points is the gap between "a painted wall" and "a white wall." That is why White Dove flatters a room and Chantilly Lace reports on it. High LRV also means high honesty — every seam, every roller lap, every patch of bad drywall shows up, so sand and skim more than you think you need to.
Simply White is a bright white with a real, uncomplicated yellow in it. That is the whole difference between it and the other famous warm whites: colors like White Dove take a creamy base and mute it with a drop of gray, while Simply White leaves the warmth clean and unmuted. The result reads fresh and sunny instead of soft and dusty, and that is exactly why Benjamin Moore made it Color of the Year in 2016 and why it ended up on so many open-plan kitchens for the decade after. If you see it written as 2143-70 rather than OC-117, that is the same paint listed in a second fan deck.
At LRV 90 it is near the top of the Benjamin Moore book for sheer brightness — a hair under Chantilly Lace at 92, and a clear step above White Dove at 85. Those numbers do something you can see. Set Simply White beside White Dove and White Dove suddenly looks like it has body and weight; set it beside Chantilly Lace and Simply White is the one that looks warm. Bright and warm at the same time is a rare combination in a white, and it is the whole reason people keep choosing this one over the safer options.
Specs Side by Side
| Spec | Chantilly Lace | Simply White |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Benjamin Moore | Benjamin Moore |
| SKU | 2121-70 | 2143-70 |
| Hex | #F4F6F1 | #F6F6ED |
| RGB | 244, 246, 241 | 246, 246, 237 |
| LRV | 91 | 90 |
| Undertone | near-white | near-white |
| Family | White | White |
How Light Changes Them
Cool gray daylight has nothing to fight, so it wins. Reads gray-blue and flat, worst in winter.
Bright and clean all day. The faint warmth in the mix keeps it from glaring back at you.
2700K bulbs soften it toward ivory at night. 3500–4000K keeps the crisp white you bought.
Its best job. Bounces almost all the light a hallway, powder room, or basement can give it.
Cool grey daylight cancels the yellow and leaves a clean, mellow white. Owners in north rooms rarely see the warmth at all.
Bright all day, but the warm flood pushes it creamier by the hour. Lovely if you wanted cream, annoying if you wanted white.
West-facing rooms after 4pm are where the bad reviews come from. The yellow lands hard. Sample this hour or skip the color.
2700K bulbs deepen the cream; 3500–4000K keeps it crisp and close to true white. Change bulbs before you change paint.
Both Colors in Real Rooms
Photos from our full reviews — the same rooms and captions, so you can judge each color where it actually lives, not on a chip.
When to Pick Which
Choose Chantilly Lace if you want a true, clean white and the room can support it: south or west light, or a small windowless space that needs every bit of bounce. It is the safest trim, door and ceiling white in the deck, and the one that stays white next to white quartz, marble-look counters and white tile. Budget three coats.
Choose Simply White if the room faces north or stays dim, or if a pure white feels cold to you. It is bright and warm at once, which is a rare combination, and it flatters oak, walnut, brass and warm stone. Do not use it in a west-facing room that gets hard afternoon sun, and do not put it near cool gray quartz or a lot of stainless.
No comparison page can see your light. Upload one photo of your room and try both colors on the same walls, seconds apart.
Chantilly Lace vs Simply White FAQ
My room faces north. Which one?
Simply White, and it is not close. Its yellow gets cancelled by cool north daylight and what is left is a clean white with no chill. Chantilly Lace in a north room has no pigment of its own to fight the light, so it reports the gray back at you and reads gray-blue and flat, worst in winter. If you want warmth on top of that, White Dove OC-17 is the next step.
Which one for kitchen cabinets?
The counter decides it. With white quartz, marble-look stone, white tile or a lot of stainless, use Chantilly Lace — it stays white where warmer whites go yellow by comparison. With butcher block, warm quartz, oak floors and unlacquered brass, Simply White is the friendlier cabinet white. Satin enamel either way, and plan three coats for Chantilly Lace on doors.
If I paint the walls one of these, what do I do with the ceiling?
Carry the same color up, in flat. Both of these sit above a standard builder ceiling white, so leaving the old ceiling makes it read dingy, yellow, or faintly pink the day you finish the walls. That is one of the most common regrets with Chantilly Lace specifically. The one-color room — walls, trim, ceiling, sheen doing the separating — is the easiest way to use either.
Can I use Chantilly Lace trim with Simply White walls?
You can, but it is the exact pairing owners regret. Chantilly Lace wins the comparison and the Simply White walls start looking creamy or dirty next to every casing and baseboard. If you want Simply White walls, run Simply White on the trim too and let the semi-gloss do the work. If you want crisp Chantilly Lace trim, paint the walls Chantilly Lace or a clear color, not a warm white.
How different do they look under lamps at night?
More different than in daylight. Under 2700K bulbs Simply White deepens into a real cream and Chantilly Lace softens toward ivory but stays clean. At 3500K to 4000K both hold close to true white. If a warm white bothers you after dark, changing bulbs fixes it far more often than changing paint does — test the room at night before you decide.
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