Antique White
Dunn-Edwards' weathered beige-white, reviewed honestly: the rooms where the greige reads finished, the trim that makes it dingy, and why it is nobody else's Antique White.
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 →
- 1Heirloom Shade63
- 2Titanium68
- 3Antique White73
- 4Alabaster82
- 5Chantilly Lace91
The Fast Verdict
Antique White DEW351 is a beige-white with the yellow grayed into greige — not the gold cream most people mean when they search the name. At LRV 73 it has real body: enough color to soften plaster and oak, too much to pass as a true white next to Warm White trim. In filtered daylight it looks like an older house that was always this color. Put it in a dim north room, or buy it because the sticker said Antique White, and the beige is the whole story.
Traditional living and dining rooms · rustic or vintage kitchen cabinets · older Western interiors that want a weathered beige-white · anyone who means greige, not gold, when they say antique white
You want a white that stays white · you wanted a gold cream · trim is staying Warm White or builder-bright · cool gray floors or Carrara · a dim north room with no lamps
- The greige Antique White — weathered beige, not the gold cream the name usually means
- One-color rooms (walls + trim + ceiling) look original in older houses
- Flatters oak, brass, plaster, and every warm wood tone
- Hides scuffs on cabinets better than Whisper or Warm White
- Deep enough (LRV 73) to contrast a lighter wall white without going tan
- Looks beige on four walls the moment you wanted a white
- Reads dirty and dated next to Warm White, Chantilly Lace, or builder-bright trim
- Dim north light turns it drab, dirty-laundry greige
- The name is a trap — half a dozen brands sell a different color with this label
What Color Is Antique White, Really?
A beige-white with the yellow turned down until it reads greige — not the gold cream Pratt & Lambert and Sherwin-Williams sell under the same name. Most Antique Whites in the aisle are yellow-family creams with the chroma left on. Dunn-Edwards files DEW351 in the Perfect Palette Whites collection with a 6.43Y Munsell hue and chroma of only 1.0, which is the technical version of that greige: yellow in the mix, almost no yellow on the wall. The brand's own page calls the undertone greige, and that is the whole distinction. It is a workhorse at Western DE counters, not a Color of the Year, not a viral cabinet color. Confirm the can says Dunn-Edwards DEW351 — the name is reused across the aisle, and none of those chips match.
At LRV 73 it reflects less light than almost every white people compare it to. Cottage White sits seven points higher at LRV 80 and still reads as yellow-cream; Milk Glass is at 86; Whisper is at 87; White Dove is at 85; Warm White, the trim DE's own page suggests, is a true white at LRV 93. Sherwin-Williams Antique White is one point deeper at LRV 72 and much more orange. That gap is the useful part. On a wall DEW351 holds enough beige-greige body to soften shadows and flatter aged wood; on millwork it reads as painted woodwork rather than plastic-bright. On four walls next to a real white, the same number is the risk, because the field looks unwashed. On a chip it looks like a soft white. On a wall it looks like beige.
Undertone in one line: beige-greige first, a muted yellow second — never gold, never pink, never a clean white. If your sample looks gold or butter, you may have a different brand's Antique White, or west sun is pushing the yellow that the greige usually hides. If it looks dingy or dirty-laundry, that is dim north light or a brighter white sitting next to it. Both versions are the same paint being honest about the room.
Where It Shines
Its home turf is the traditional Western interior. Eggshell Antique White on living- and dining-room walls, with the same color in semi-gloss on the millwork, is the one-color beige-white room older plaster, oak, and brass were built around: the greige makes painted woodwork look original instead of factory-white. Give it south or filtered east daylight and it stays a weathered white rather than a dingy beige. Satin on rustic or vintage kitchen cabinets is the second-best use — the extra body hides knuckle marks a gallery white would broadcast, and it sits comfortably against butcher block and unlacquered brass.
Where It Fails
Almost every regret about this color follows one of three scripts, and all three are predictable before the first coat. None of them are a bad batch — but if your room matches one, this is not your white, and sampling bigger will only confirm it.
On the chip it passes as a soft white. On four walls the beige-greige sits there in the open — weathered, a little dirty next to anything crisp, not the fresh white a Pinterest board promised. Shoppers who wanted Whisper, Milk Glass, or a gallery white end up with a color guests will call beige. If white is what you actually want, this is the wrong can. Whisper is Dunn-Edwards' White Dove; Milk Glass is the cream that still reads as white.
Dunn-Edwards lists Warm White (DEW380, LRV 93) as the coordinating trim — and that pairing is the trap. Warm White is a true white wearing a warm name. Twenty LRV points of gap, and the brighter plane wins: Antique White walls look yellowed, dingy, slightly unwashed. Chantilly Lace (OC-65, LRV 90) and leftover ceiling-white do the same trick. Run Antique White on walls and millwork and let eggshell / semi-gloss / flat separate the planes. If you need a cleaner trim, Milk Glass is the cream that still reads as white — sample a board first.
The name is the most reused label in the paint aisle. Pratt & Lambert Antique White (1-1, LRV 78) is a gold cream — the one already reviewed on this site, and not this paint. Sherwin-Williams Antique White (SW 6119, LRV 72) is a deeper yellow-orange cream. Behr's (23, LRV 73) is the deepest, warmest white in that deck. PPG / Glidden's (PPG1024-2, LRV 70) is a tan-cream. Valspar's (7002-20, LRV 80.4) is paler and actually creamy. DEW351 is the greige one. Match by SKU, never by the words on the sticker.
Room by Room
With south or filtered daylight, stained oak, plaster, and brass, this is the weathered beige-white those rooms can carry. Eggshell on the walls; same color in semi-gloss on the millwork if the woodwork is already painted. In a new build with gray floors and a wall of glass, sample the north wall on an overcast day before you buy gallons.
Satin Antique White on shaker or inset doors is the rustic-kitchen job: enough body to contrast a lighter wall, enough greige to hide scuffs. Butcher block, honey oak, and unlacquered brass love it. Cool white quartz or gray tile argues. If the counters are staying cool, use Milk Glass or Whisper on the boxes instead. Urethane-fortified cabinet enamel either way.
Dining rooms run on lamplight, and 2700K bulbs make the greige look intentional rather than dingy. Pair it with Light Sage on the walls and Antique White on the millwork, or drench the room in one color. Eggshell, or matte if the plaster is old.
Under 2700K bulbs it turns quietly creamy at night, which most people want in a bedroom. Keep the bedding on the warm side; crisp white linens will make the walls look more beige than they are. If the bedroom faces north and stays dim, step up to Cottage White or Whisper instead of hoping lamps will rescue a dingy field.
Semi-gloss on doors, casing, and crown against mid-tone sage, greige, or Stonish Beige reads as classic painted woodwork, not a bright cut line. Do not use it as trim under a cool gray or a crisp white wall — that is where the beige looks like discoloration. One-color houses work: Antique White walls in eggshell, the same formula in semi-gloss on the woodwork. Warm White on the casings is the pairing to sample and usually decline.
On stucco it is a house beige-white, not a refrigerator — useful on Spanish, Craftsman, and desert-ranch bodies where a true white would glare. Full sun reads it brighter and a touch cleaner than indoors; the shaded north elevation will read a step creamier. Dark trim (Iron Ore, Hale Navy) keeps LRV 73 from looking unfinished. Sample the west wall at 4pm.
Your Light Is the Risk
Real daylight keeps the greige a weathered white instead of a dirty beige. This is the light where DEW351 still reads finished — warm enough to flatter oak, quiet enough not to go gold.
Cool gray daylight strips the last of the warmth and leaves the beige-greige looking drab, slightly dirty. Fine if you wanted a muted wall; disappointing if you wanted white. Lamps are part of this paint job.
East light is the cleanest, slightly creamier read. Midday is honest beige-white. Late west sun flushes a little more yellow for an hour — the same paint, louder, not a new color. Live with a sample through a full day.
2700K lamps: creamier, cozier, more ivory — the reason it works in dining rooms and bedrooms. Cool 4000K–5000K LEDs: gray-beige, slightly sour. Swap bulbs, not paint.
Most complaints about Antique 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 Dunn-Edwards DEW351 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 | Ivory LaceSW 7013 · Sherwin-Williams | 1.9 | 79 | Color page → |
| Behr | Quarried LimestonePPL-67 · Behr | 0.5 | 79 | Color page → |
| Benjamin Moore | White Down970 · Benjamin Moore | 0.8 | 77 | Color page → |
| Valspar | Shania's Lace3006-10C · Valspar | 1.1 | 78.9 | Color page → |
| PPG / Glidden | EdelweissPPG14-23 · PPG / Glidden | 0.8 | 80 | Color page → |
| Glidden | Little LambPPG1112-1 · Glidden | 1.1 | 79 | Color page → |
Similar Dunn-Edwards Colors
The nearest shades to Antique White within Dunn-Edwards'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.
Antique White vs the Colors You're Also Considering
Every Antique 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 want the greige version: weathered beige-white, not gold, and you are already at a Dunn-Edwards counter.
Pratt & Lambert 1-1 · LRV 78Antique WhitePick this if you actually want the gold cream the name usually means — warmer, more yellow, and already reviewed as nobody else's Antique White.
Pick this when the cream should stay greige and quieter, not orange-gold on four walls.
Sherwin-Williams SW 6119 · LRV 72Antique WhitePick this if you want the deeper, more committed yellow-orange cream — the traditional-kitchen version of this name.
Pick this when you want the deeper, greiger sibling: less yellow, more weathered, better as a cabinet color against a lighter wall.
Dunn-Edwards DEW318 · LRV 80Cottage WhitePick this if you want Dunn-Edwards' yellow-cream — seven LRV points brighter, more ivory, the color DE actually specs for older Western houses.
Pick this when you are already at a DE counter and you mean a weathered beige-white, not a quiet whole-house white.
Benjamin Moore PM-19 · LRV 85White DovePick this if you want the national default — grayed warmth, the safest warm white in that deck, and you can leave Dunn-Edwards.
Antique White Coordinating Colors
The rule for coordinating with DEW351 is simple: stay on the warm side and never put a true white next to it. It flatters dusty sages, sandy beiges, deep navies, and the same color on millwork — and it argues with icy blues, cool greys, and blue-gray stone. These are the partners that keep showing up in rooms that work:
Every Brand Sells An Antique White — DEW351 Is The Greige One
Antique White is one of the most reused names in the paint aisle, and it is the first problem with this color. Shoppers search the words, grab the chip their store actually stocks, and end up with a different cream. Pratt & Lambert 1-1 (LRV 78) is a gold cream — traditional, yellow, already reviewed here. Sherwin-Williams SW 6119 (LRV 72) is the one designers write about: a deeper yellow-orange, popular on traditional cabinets. PPG / Glidden PPG1024-2 (LRV 70) is a tan-cream. Behr 23 (LRV 73) is the deepest, warmest white in Behr's own lineup. Valspar 7002-20 (LRV 80.4) is paler and closer to a true cream.
Dunn-Edwards DEW351 sits in a different slot: same LRV neighborhood as Behr's, greige instead of gold. That is why it can run a whole traditional floor without going butter, and why it looks dingy the moment you expected either a true white or a gold cream. Dunn-Edwards listed it among its 2026 Notable Neutrals — a trend-palette mention, not a Color of the Year, and not a reason to buy it. Order by the number on the can.
Antique White With Wood Tones And Floors
Warm wood loves it, which is the point of a beige-white at LRV 73. Red oak, honey oak, walnut, cherry, butcher block, and cedar all sit comfortably against DEW351 because the greige meets their warmth halfway without adding more gold. On original stained trim it does something a crisp white cannot: it makes the wood look chosen instead of leftover. If your floors are orange-leaning builder oak, this is one of the few off-whites that softens the orange rather than amplifying it — quieter about it than Cottage White, which still shows yellow.
The flooring that needs a sample first is anything cool: gray LVP, gray-washed oak, blue-gray tile, Carrara-type marble. Cool floors pull the beige into relief and the wall can read dingy or slightly yellow. It is not always a dealbreaker on a thin band of trim — a cream casing line next to gray floors is a different problem than four beige walls — but on a whole room, test a big sample above the actual floor in afternoon light before you paint. Metals are easy: unlacquered brass, antique bronze, and aged iron all work; polished chrome is the one that leans cold against it.
Three Ready Palettes Built on Antique 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 beige-white at two sheens gives depth without a contrast line, so the greige never has a brighter white sitting next to it to look dirty. Hale Navy is the single dark note an LRV-73 house needs so it does not float.
Try this palette in your roomMilk Glass is the quietly creamy workhorse white — still reads as white, so Antique White cabinets can be the weathered ivory instead of fighting a true-white wall. Hale Navy on the island grounds a 73-LRV kitchen and loves brass.
Try this palette in your roomLight Sage needs real sun to read green, and Antique White millwork is the warm company that keeps it from going gray. Iron Ore supplies one near-black so the scheme does not go pastel. Give the dining room a south or east window.
Try this palette in your roomAntique White FAQ
Is Dunn-Edwards Antique White warm or cool?
Warm — but greige-warm, not gold-warm. Pratt & Lambert 1-1 and Sherwin-Williams Antique White let the yellow sit on the surface; DEW351 grays it into beige. In south or filtered east light it can pass as a weathered white. In dim north light and under cool LEDs it is plainly beige.
Is this the same as Pratt & Lambert or Sherwin-Williams Antique White?
No. Same name, different paint. Dunn-Edwards DEW351 is LRV 73, a beige-white with greige undertones. Pratt & Lambert 1-1 is LRV 78, a gold cream. Sherwin-Williams SW 6119 is LRV 72, a deeper yellow-orange cream. Behr, PPG, and Valspar each sell another Antique White that does not match any of those. Order by SKU.
What trim color goes with Antique White walls?
Antique White itself, in semi-gloss. A brighter trim white — Warm White, Chantilly Lace, leftover builder white — makes the walls look dingy, which is the most common pairing mistake with this color. Dunn-Edwards lists Warm White as the coordinating trim; that can is a true white at LRV 93, and the twenty-point gap is usually too much. If you want a cleaner edge, sample Milk Glass. If you want contrast, go darker (a sage or greige), never brighter.
Is it good for kitchen cabinets?
On rustic or vintage cabinets with wood counters, brass, and warm floors, yes — satin hides scuffs and the beige-white looks like painted furniture rather than plastic. Next to cool white quartz, gray tile, or stainless as the main event, it reads dingy. Sample it against the actual counters. Use a urethane-fortified cabinet enamel.
Will Antique White look yellow or dingy?
Dingy is the more likely complaint, and it shows up in two places: a dim north room, and anywhere a brighter white sits next to it. Yellow shows more in late west sun, when the muted yellow in the mix has nowhere to hide — still greige, just louder. If either read is a dealbreaker, pick Whisper or White Dove.
Should I paint the ceiling Antique White too?
If the walls are Antique White, yes — flat sheen, same color, so the plane stays warm instead of snapping to a clinical bright white that would make the walls look dirty. Over a different wall color, use it only when that wall is warm (sage, greige, tan). Over a cool gray it makes the ceiling look faintly beige.
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