Natural Cream

OC-14 · Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore

Natural Cream

OC-14

Hex code

#DAD5C6

Light reflectance value (LRV)

64.8Light, brightens without washing out

0 black100 white

Undertone

Noticeable yellow-beige, a warm color

Color family: White
Sold for: Interior and exterior

Try it on your walls Get a sample

Benjamin Moore Natural Cream OC-14 is a warm cream that behaves like a light neutral rather than a white. Its LRV of 65 sits at the top of the wall-color band, bright enough to keep a room open while still reading as a color against white trim. People choose it for kitchen cabinets and for main floors where a plain white would feel bare, and it holds its warmth without turning gold.

Is Natural Cream warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

leans yellow

Undertone

Noticeable yellow-beige

graysaturated

A visible lean you see in daylight.

Measured, Natural Cream carries a clear dose of yellow, a whisper of green and no red at all. That is what makes it land as cream instead of tan: the yellow does the warming and nothing pulls the color toward pink. Against white trim the yellow is easy to see and the wall reads as a color, not as a dirty white. Beside orange-toned oak it calms down and looks closer to a soft greige. Next to Pale Oak OC-20, which holds far less yellow, it looks frankly creamy, and next to Accessible Beige SW 7036, which carries a trace of red, it looks cleaner and less tan.

Natural Cream in north, south, east and west light

North-facing rooms take the cream out of it first. The light is cool, the yellow flattens, and the wall settles toward a soft greige that is still not cold, which is why it survives a north room better than a true white does. South light does the opposite and can push it close to pale butter through the afternoon. East rooms give it a clean warm hour at breakfast and let it drift gray by evening. Late west sun tips it toward gold. Bulbs at 2700K to 3000K hold it near the chip, and anything at 4000K or above drains the cream out.

Watch for

Goes greige on the wall farthest from a single north window
Reads gold when late west sun and warm bulbs land on it at once
The yellow jumps under a cool white ceiling, so keep the ceiling warm

Best rooms and surfaces for Natural Cream

Natural Cream is a kitchen color first. On cabinets it gives the painted cream look people ask for without the yellow of an older builder white, and it sits with butcher block, brass pulls and cream stone. On walls it can run a living room, a bedroom and the hall between them, and it has enough pigment that white trim still reads as trim. It is a poor match for a bathroom finished in cool gray tile, where the yellow looks like a mistake rather than warmth. On a ceiling it presses down on the room, so keep the ceiling a step lighter. As a single accent wall it is too quiet to earn the change.

Natural Cream on an exterior

Benjamin Moore sells Natural Cream for exterior use, and outdoors it changes character. Full sun bleaches the cream toward a pale body color, so the house reads warm and light rather than yellow, and the walls in shade under a porch roof go back to looking like the chip. That gap between the sunlit and shaded elevations is bigger than most people expect from a color this light. Black or bronze windows sharpen it; against bright white trim the contrast stays soft.

Try Natural Cream on your own walls

Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Natural Cream onto the walls so you can judge it in your light, with your floors and furniture. Your first five renders are free.

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Natural Cream vs Pale Oak, Swiss Coffee, Accessible Beige, Creamy White and Edgecomb Gray

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Pale Oak OC-20, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Natural Cream vs Pale Oak OC-20

Natural Cream is noticeably darker; undertone noticeable yellow-beige vs subtle yellow-beige.

Pale Oak OC-20 is about four points lighter and holds much less yellow, so it reads as a pale greige where Natural Cream reads as a cream. Put them side by side and Pale Oak looks cool and undecided while Natural Cream clearly has color in it. Pale Oak is the pick when the walls should stay quiet behind the furniture. Natural Cream is the pick when the walls themselves are supposed to supply the warmth.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee OC-45, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Natural Cream vs Swiss Coffee OC-45

Natural Cream is much darker; undertone noticeable yellow-beige vs subtle yellow-beige.

Swiss Coffee OC-45 is seventeen points further up the scale, a white where Natural Cream is a color. It also holds less yellow, so its warmth is softer and it can go on a ceiling without weighing anything down. A room painted in Swiss Coffee looks bright and open; the same room in Natural Cream looks enclosed and warmer, with the walls doing the work instead of the light.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Accessible Beige SW 7036, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Natural Cream vs Accessible Beige SW 7036

Natural Cream is noticeably lighter; both have a noticeable yellow-beige undertone.

Accessible Beige SW 7036 measures about seven points darker and carries a trace of red that Natural Cream does not have. That red is what makes it read as a light beige, while Natural Cream stays on the cream side of the line. Rooms with gray tile, black metal or cool stone take Accessible Beige more easily. Rooms with wood floors, brass and cream marble are where Natural Cream looks right.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Creamy White OC-7, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Natural Cream vs Creamy White OC-7

Natural Cream is noticeably darker; both have a noticeable yellow-beige undertone.

Creamy White OC-7 is roughly six points lighter and still reads warmer, because it holds more yellow. Think of Creamy White as cream straight from the jug and Natural Cream as the same cream with a little gray stirred through it. On cabinet doors Creamy White is the softer, more buttery of the two. On large walls Natural Cream is easier to live with, since its yellow stays under control in every exposure.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray HC-173, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Natural Cream vs Edgecomb Gray HC-173

Natural Cream is a touch lighter; both have a noticeable yellow-beige undertone.

Edgecomb Gray HC-173 is the best known color close to Natural Cream, and by measurement the two are hard to tell apart: under two points of light reflectance separate them and they carry nearly the same amount of yellow. The real difference is which fan deck you are holding, not what lands on the wall. If Edgecomb Gray samples are already taped up, there is little reason to switch. Starting fresh, either one gives the same warm, light greige.

Questions about Natural Cream

Is Natural Cream a good color for kitchen cabinets?

Yes, and cabinets are the most asked-about use for it. Doors and drawer fronts catch more light than a flat wall, so the color usually looks a shade lighter on a kitchen than the chip suggests. It works with warm wood floors, brass hardware and cream-toned stone. Against a bright white subway backsplash the yellow shows plainly, so paint a spare door and hold it up before committing.

Does Natural Cream look yellow?

It looks yellow beside anything cleaner and beige beside anything warmer. The measurement is a clear yellow with a faint green shadow and no red, so whatever you see runs along the yellow to gray line and never toward pink. A bright south room shows the yellow at its strongest, and a north room mostly reads it as a warm gray.

Is there a Sherwin-Williams version of Natural Cream?

Not by name, though the measurement gives close matches. Oat Milk SW 9501 is the nearest Sherwin-Williams color and sits very close, with Dumpling SW 9616 and Accolade SW 9516 just behind it. Neutral Ground SW 7568 is the closest one that has a full page here, a few points lighter and a shade more yellow. Across every brand the nearest match is Shadow White No. 282 from Farrow & Ball.

What colors go with Natural Cream?

Benjamin Moore's own picks for it are Cloud Cover OC-25 as the light partner, then Thunder AF-685, Granite AF-660 and Boothbay Gray HC-165 for depth. Boothbay Gray is the useful one, a soft blue-gray that stops the scheme from going all warm. For trim, White Dove OC-17 keeps the step gentle and Simply White OC-117 sharpens it.

What is one shade lighter than Natural Cream?

It is not printed on a fan-deck strip, so the step comes from its nearest neighbors. Tapestry Beige OC-32 is barely more than a point lighter and slightly more yellow, with Ashwood OC-47 and Wind's Breath OC-24 further up again. Going down, Baby Fawn OC-15 is the closest step darker and keeps the same warmth.

Get a sample before you paint

Use the visualizer to narrow your shortlist, then confirm the finalist on your actual wall. A peel-and-stick sample of Natural Cream, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.