Mayonnaise
The bright, warm cream white named after a condiment — honestly reviewed: where the golden warmth flatters a room, the real complaint about using it everywhere, 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
- 3Mayonnaise88
- 4Ultra Pure White97
The Fast Verdict
Mayonnaise is a genuinely well-behaved warm white that almost nobody asks for by name — probably because the name itself is a hard sell. At LRV 88 it is one of the brighter whites in the Benjamin Moore deck, brighter than White Dove and Swiss Coffee, but it keeps a visible yellow-cream body that a stark white doesn't. Used with restraint — trim, ceilings, cabinets — it is quietly excellent. Painted across every surface of a house, real owners report the same thing: it reads distinctly yellow, not just warm.
Trim + ceilings under a calmer white wall · warm kitchens with honey wood and brass · anyone who wants brighter than Swiss Coffee without going stark white · small rooms that need light without cold
You're painting walls, trim, and ceiling the same shade in a house you're about to sell · your room already runs warm (honey oak + brass + 2700K bulbs everywhere) · you want a true neutral, not a cream · you need a famous, easy-to-picture reference color
- Genuinely well-behaved warm white — soft and creamy without reading yellow in small doses
- LRV 88 makes it one of the brighter whites in the BM deck, brighter than White Dove and Swiss Coffee
- Excellent trim and cabinet color, especially with brass and warm wood
- Rarely used, so it won't feel like the same white as every other renovation
- Hides fingerprints and scuffs better than a stark white at this brightness
- Painted across walls, trim, and ceiling together, real owners report it reading distinctly yellow
- Warm 2700K bulbs pull out a noticeably more golden cast at night
- No famous reference photo or Color-of-the-Year moment to picture it by — you're sampling blind
- Stacked with honey oak, brass, and warm bulbs, it can read dated rather than cozy
What Color Is Mayonnaise, Really?
Mayonnaise is a warm, creamy off-white with a yellow undertone and almost no grey or pink to complicate it — the straightforward Benjamin Moore warm-white recipe. Its unusual claim to fame is having no fame at all: it has never been a Color of the Year, never gone viral on a renovation account, and the name alone (Benjamin Moore filed it literally after the condiment) is enough to make most homeowners scroll past it for White Dove or Simply White instead. That makes it an honest case of a genuinely useful color staying obscure for reasons that have nothing to do with how it performs on a wall.
At LRV 88 it sits near the top of Benjamin Moore's white range — brighter than White Dove (LRV 85), Swiss Coffee (LRV 84), and Cloud White (LRV 85), just a step below the coolest whites like Chantilly Lace (LRV 92). That high reflectance is why it reads clean and bright in daylight rather than beige; the yellow undertone is there, but it's thin enough that in doses — trim, ceilings, cabinets — most people describe it as "soft and warm, not yellow." Painted across walls, trim, and ceiling at once, homeowners on paint forums report the opposite reaction: the same yellow that reads gently warm in small amounts reads distinctly golden once it owns the whole room.
Undertone in one line: warm yellow, straightforward, no twist. It doesn't go pink, it doesn't go green — the one real shift is that warm 2700K bulbs pull out more of the golden cast at night than daylight shows, so a room that looks crisp and pale at 2pm can look noticeably more mayonnaise-jar yellow after dark.
Where It Shines
Used the way most owners who like it actually use it — trim, ceilings, cabinets, a bathroom vanity — Mayonnaise is quietly excellent: bright enough to read clean, warm enough to never feel sterile, and reflective enough (LRV 88) to lift a room with modest natural light. It's the trim white to reach for when White Dove feels too grayed-down and Chantilly Lace feels too cold.
Where It Fails
The complaints about Mayonnaise all trace back to using more of it than the color can carry gracefully. None of them are really the paint's fault — but if your plan matches one of these, sample it exactly the way you intend to use it before committing.
One real seller's account on Houzz: trim and ceilings were already Mayonnaise, and the worry was that painting the walls the same shade would leave "the house still too yellow" for buyers. A professional stager agreed and recommended White Dove for the walls instead, keeping Mayonnaise to trim and ceiling only. Small doses read warm and finished; full coverage reads golden.
The color carries a genuine orange-yellow bias that only shows up under warm artificial light. A room that looks crisp and pale by daylight can look noticeably more mayonnaise-jar yellow after dark under 2700K bulbs with no white or grey note to anchor it.
It's a warm color built to flatter warm wood and metal — but stack every warm element in a room (golden oak floor, unlacquered brass, incandescent light, and Mayonnaise walls) with nothing cool to break it up, and the effect reads dated rather than cozy. One cooler note — a grey-washed floor, a white marble top, a black fixture — keeps it current.
Room by Room
As a wall color under real daylight it stays a clean warm white; the safer move most owners land on is Mayonnaise for trim and ceiling with a slightly cooler or more grayed-down white (White Dove) on the walls.
On cabinets it pairs naturally with brass hardware and butcher block, and at LRV 88 it hides fingerprints better than a stark white. Pair with a warm-neutral wall like Navajo White rather than matching the cabinets exactly.
Good for a soft, sleepy feel; swap to a crisper trim white like Chantilly Lace so the walls don't drift toward beige after dark under lamp light.
With warm-toned tile, wood vanities, and brass it disappears beautifully into the room. Against bright white subway tile or cool grey stone it will read visibly yellow by comparison — sample next to your actual tile first.
This is where real owners land on it happily: semi-gloss Mayonnaise trim against a calmer white wall reads warm and finished without the golden-house problem full coverage creates.
There isn't a documented track record of Mayonnaise as an exterior color the way there is for Benjamin Moore's more popular whites, so treat any exterior use as a real test: sample a large board and view it at different times of day before committing a whole facade to it.
Your Light Is the Risk
Bright natural light keeps the LRV 88 reflectance working for the room — clean, warm, never sterile. This is the light most of the positive Houzz accounts describe.
Cool daylight flattens the yellow into a paler, less interesting off-white — not ugly, just less of the warm character you bought it for.
Warmest and most golden at the sun hours, calmer through the rest of the day — a normal, predictable shift for a warm cream.
2700K lamps pull out real orange-yellow warmth — closer to the name than you'd expect. Cool LEDs mute it toward a plainer pale off-white.
Most complaints about Mayonnaise 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 Benjamin Moore 2152-70 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 | CheviotSW 9503 · Sherwin-Williams | 2.6 | 89 | Color page → |
| Behr | Moonlight White350E-1 · Behr | 0.9 | 91 | Color page → |
| Valspar | Betsy's Linen7005-16 · Valspar | 0.4 | 90.1 | Color page → |
| PPG / Glidden | White ChipPPG15-06 · PPG / Glidden | 1.1 | 87 | Color page → |
| Glidden | Linwood Beach White71YY 87/078 · Glidden | 0.6 | 87 | Color page → |
| Dutch Boy | Brightened Cream005W · Dutch Boy | 2.1 | 89 | Color page → |
Similar Benjamin Moore Colors
The nearest shades to Mayonnaise within Benjamin Moore'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.
Mayonnaise vs the Colors You're Also Considering
Every Mayonnaise 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 for a brighter, more reflective cream with more visible yellow warmth — useful in doses, riskier across a whole house.
Benjamin Moore OC-17 · LRV 85White DovePick this if you want the famous, more grayed-down warm white that BM built its whole-house reputation on.
Pick this if you've already tried Cloud White and it still felt too grayed-down — Mayonnaise is the brighter, more golden alternative.
Benjamin Moore OC-130 · LRV 85Cloud WhitePick this for a very similar warm trim white that already has the track record and name recognition Mayonnaise lacks.
Inside Benjamin Moore, Crisp Linen CSP-305 at LRV 92 is the brighter, slightly fresher option and Cream Froth 2158-70 at LRV 86 is the warmer, softer one. Mayonnaise sits between them, which is a large part of its appeal.
Across brands the matches run very tight. Valspar Betsy's Linen 7005-16, hex #F8F4E5, and C2 Paint Lily C2-644, hex #F8F4E5, both measure a delta E of 0.44, and Behr Moonlight White 350E-1, hex #FBF5E4 at LRV 91, comes in at 0.92. All three are effectively the same color on a wall.
Farrow and Ball Wimborne White No. 239, hex #F4F2E7 at LRV 89, sits at 2.12 and is very close, though worth sampling first. Sherwin-Williams Cheviot SW 9503, hex #F6F2E8 at LRV 89, is 2.58 and reads a touch less yellow. Magnolia Home True White JG-21, hex #F5F6F1, is 4.79 away, close but visibly different side by side.
Mayonnaise Coordinating Colors
The pairing logic is simple: let Mayonnaise carry the warmth in small doses, and use a cooler or more grayed-down white to keep the room from tipping golden. It layers naturally with other whites in the BM deck at slightly different temperatures and brightness levels, plus one dark note to ground the room:
An Honestly Obscure Color
Mayonnaise has no origin story worth repeating — no Color of the Year plaque, no design-show cameo, no viral before-and-after. What little written record exists is a handful of paint-color database write-ups and two or three real Houzz threads from homeowners deciding whether to commit. That thin record is itself the useful data point: this is not a hyped color riding a trend, and it is not a color anyone will recognize by name at a dinner party. It's a genuinely well-formulated warm white that Benjamin Moore's own naming department buried under a condiment joke.
Judge it on the paint, not the reputation. At LRV 88 with a clean, uncomplicated yellow undertone, it does the job several more famous BM whites do — just without the marketing budget behind it.
Mayonnaise With Wood Tones and Floors
Warm wood is the easy pairing: honey oak, golden pine, and reclaimed barnwood all sit comfortably next to it because the undertones agree. The color reads best when the room has at least one cooler surface to answer it — a grey-washed floor, a white marble counter, black hardware — so the warmth reads intentional instead of overwhelming.
The one combination worth testing carefully is wall-to-wall honey oak with brass fixtures and warm 2700K bulbs and nothing cool in the room: three warm elements plus a warm wall color can tip a room toward a dated, early-2000s cast rather than the fresh, bright feel the LRV 88 promises. A single cooler accent breaks that up without fighting the color's warmth.
Three Ready Palettes Built on Mayonnaise
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.
This is the pairing a professional stager recommended on Houzz for exactly this reason: Mayonnaise on trim and ceiling stays warm and finished, White Dove on the walls keeps the room from reading golden, and one navy door supplies the single dark note the scheme needs.
Try this palette in your roomTwo warm whites at different depths read as layered rather than mismatched, and Chelsea Gray on the island grounds the room without fighting the cabinets' brass hardware.
Try this palette in your roomChantilly Lace's cool crispness on the trim keeps the golden wall color from tipping toward dated, and Manchester Tan adds one deeper warm note without adding a second undertone to negotiate.
Try this palette in your roomMayonnaise FAQ
Is Benjamin Moore Mayonnaise too yellow?
In small doses — trim, ceilings, cabinets — most owners describe it as soft and warm, not yellow. Painted across walls, trim, and ceiling together, the same color reads distinctly golden; that's the one documented complaint pattern, straight from a homeowner preparing to sell a house trimmed in it.
Should I use it on walls or just trim?
Trim, ceilings, and cabinets are where it earns its reputation. If you want it on walls too, pair it with a cooler or more grayed-down white on the trim — Chantilly Lace or White Dove — rather than painting every surface the identical warm cream.
How is Mayonnaise different from White Dove or Cloud White?
It's brighter than both — LRV 88 against White Dove's 85 and Cloud White's 85 — with a more straightforward yellow undertone and less grey mixed in. White Dove and Cloud White are the safer, more famous choices; Mayonnaise is the lesser-known, slightly warmer, slightly brighter cousin.
Does it work with honey oak floors?
It flatters warm wood generally, but stacking honey oak, brass hardware, and warm bulbs with Mayonnaise on every wall and nothing cool nearby can tip the room toward dated rather than cozy. One cooler element — a grey-washed floor, black fixtures, a white stone top — keeps it current.
What trim color goes with Mayonnaise walls?
A cooler, crisper white — Chantilly Lace is the classic contrast — or a more grayed-down warm white like White Dove if you want the transition softer. Trim in the identical shade works too, but only if you're comfortable with the whole room reading warm.
Why haven't I heard of this color before?
Mostly the name. Mayonnaise has never been a Color of the Year and has no viral renovation moment behind it, so it never built the reputation White Dove or Simply White have. The paint itself performs well; the marketing never caught up.
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