Incorporating Simply White Into Your Home Remodel

The Kitchen Master

If you think of white as the absence of color, it may surprise you to realize that paint companies — all of them — have hundreds, if not thousands, of shades for you to choose from. It is not possible to simply ask for a can of white paint and be guaranteed to be happy with the result.

One paint company, Benjamin Moore, recently announced that Simply White has been chosen as the 2016 standard-bearer for emerging color trends. As a color choice, it may be somewhat surprising, because it is described by the company as “transcendent, powerful and polarizing.”

As the company’s creative director attests, white is not only a design option, but an essential. Benjamin Moore also notes that, of its top 10 best-selling paint colors, whites occupy five separate slots.

White Goes with Everything

What does this all mean for your pending kitchen design project or home remodel? You have more choices than ever before. Because white is so adaptable, you can combine it with other pale tones for a subdued, sophisticated palette, add layers of bright color for a playful design, play with shades of gray and a mixture of shiny and matte finishes for high-tech efficiency, or be dramatic with contrast between pale and dark in whatever combinations you choose.

Black and white are classic; forest green and white could be dramatic, red and white or blue and white are commonly viewed as cozy or country, and yellow and white are sunny and cheerful. Also consider the effect of chocolate with white, or a barely-there sea glass or gentle violet with that vanilla white. All of these options are a part of the Benjamin Moore 2016 color palette.