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Issues with RAL 9010

Fran
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago

We’ve had ready-painted timber windows installed , the colour is RAL 9010, described as. Pure White, but has turned out to be off white, bordering on cream - and I hate cream. We’d planned on white walls and woodwork but that‘s now going to look weird with the windows. Really don’t want everything in this cream shade, so I’m wondering if it’s possible to find a paint with the same undertone as RAL 9010 but closer in shade to a white, so they would harmonise better. Or is there a better solution? We don’t want to repaint the windows. Difficult to show in a pic but this shows the RAL 9010 frame colour against the existing sill which was painted white


Featured Answer
  • Carolina
    2 years ago

    My house is painted RAL 9001, which is cream. RAL 9010 is described as white, but if you hold it against a cooler white, it'll also read as cream. So, either they've made a mistake and used RAL 9001 on your windows, or it is 9010, but you are comparing it to a much cooler white.

    If you use 9010 on everything else, it'll look white, not cream.

    Comments (22)

    • PRO
      colourhappy
      2 years ago

      Can you post a photo. On google images RAL 9010 looks white on exterior house photos.

    • Sarah L
      2 years ago

      RAL 9010 is an off white. If you want a whiter white, look at traffic white RAL 9016

    • Fran
      Original Author
      2 years ago

      I know, that’s the problem - we wanted and ordered white windows but they’re off white. Do you think Traffic White would just make them look even less white?

    • Fran
      Original Author
      2 years ago

      Thanks, maybe that’s the answer. It does look more cream next to pure white. Tricky place is going to be the bathroom where sanitary ware is unavoidably bright white. Such a first world problem but massively annoying!

    • Carolina
      2 years ago

      I actually quite like white and cream together. Not always, depends on the different shades.

    • Fran
      Original Author
      2 years ago

      Yes it can work. It’s just not the look I was going for, really just wanted clean, contemporary white.

    • Marylee H
      2 years ago





      It’s a pain that paint colours don’t share more useful information about their colours.

      And the colour names they do share are poor indicators of what to expect.


      They possess those details in house in order to make the colours in the first place, but the useful data rarely (never) makes it into their marketing Information.


      RAL 9010 Pure White is actually quite a chromatic (colourful) white belonging to the Yellow Hue Family. The colour you detect is not an undertone, but an inherent part of its colour DNA.


      These colours are from the same Hue Family neighbourhood but with decreasing quantities of Chroma (colourfulness).


      In order for RAL 9010 to appear more ‘white’, choosing an exterior colour from the same Hue Family but with MORE Chroma, will make the windows/trim appear whiter by comparison., because it will actually be MORE neutral.


      🌈

    • Fran
      Original Author
      2 years ago
      last modified: 2 years ago

      Wow, that’s really useful, thank you very much. My thinking was, as we clearly can’t use a really white white on the walls now, and I really don’t want large expanses of 9010, a paler version of 9010 might look OK on the walls beside it, even if, as you say, it doesn’t make the 9010 look whiter. Does that make any sense or am I going to make it worse? It’s inside, by the way - colour is the same outside but I’m ignoring that!

    • Marylee H
      2 years ago








    • Marylee H
      2 years ago

      Technically we can find lighter walls that will sit well with the trim should you choose and make both walls and trim look crisp, but the trim will still be the more colourful of the two.


      In a room which does this, adding accessories of both white & off-white through the space makes the decision look cohesive and intentional.

    • Fran
      Original Author
      2 years ago
      last modified: 2 years ago

      Hmm..,so might it in fact be better to bite the bullet and match the walls to the trim, so there’s no contrast? It’s basically every room but one so it really matters. Also it’s taken nearly 30 years of marriage to discover that all-white is the only decorating style we both like!

    • Marylee H
      2 years ago

      Choosing the same colour for both walls and trim is a classic colour choice.

      In fact the the differing sheens will make them appear a little different anyway. Still they will miraculously work together.


      You may find a website called Homebunch quite inspirational for lots of white-on-white rooms.


      Note that if you run the same white on to the ceiling also, in many spaces the same colour on the ceiling may look slightly little darker and greyer than the wall.


      🌈

    • Fran
      Original Author
      2 years ago

      Ooh, thanks I’ll have a look at Homebunch. Your advice has been so usefu, thank you

    • Marylee H
      2 years ago

      Coincidentally, just now, a lady who was having similar trouble to yourself just reposted.


      Her trim was even more colourful than yours, (Nacre) and it ran through the whole house.


      Where it caused her problems was in a double height Great Room, which she had hoped to paint a very light white. Only it made Nacre look positively yellow!





      Manchester Tan was one of the colours we suggested to make her trim appear more neutral by comparison. She still finds it just that bit too dark, but her husband was adamant he wanted contrast.




      It’s definitely done the trick! But if you find a similar resolve too dark & colourful for you, then I think painting the walls & trim the same is certainly your better option.


      🌈

    • Fran
      Original Author
      2 years ago

      That looks very elegant! Can definitely see what you mean about how it’s made the trim look whiter. Not the look we’re after though - I’ve ordered tester pots of the two whites you mentioned, just to see how they look, if they don’t work plan B is same colour throughout

    • Marylee H
      2 years ago

      Good Luck! 🌈

    • Fran
      Original Author
      2 years ago

      Thanks - will report back!

    • Rowland
      2 years ago

      yes 9016 is a brighter white. 9010 is more classic white. if you use it in isolation you would not really see it as cream. I think you like a cooler white which is more like 9016.

    • Fran
      Original Author
      2 years ago

      Yes that's exactly right. Unfortunately we didn't know that when we ordered the windows, they were just described as white. But I think you're right, it'll look less creamy if it's alone and not next to a whiter white.

    • HU-782322687
      3 months ago

      I appreciate this is an old comment but curious how this worked out. we have just had windows fitted that were described as ”pure white” but are infact this awful RAL 9010. Now known as nicotine white in our house. Was not immediately obvious until the rest of the wood work was painted white and now they look awful. we are debating whether to paint the windows white or the rest of the woodwork the same awful colour and hope it looks white.

    • Fran
      Original Author
      3 months ago

      Well, it took as a long time to work out a solution, weighing up the same two options you are, and not liking either of them! In the end, we compromised, painted the woodwork and the walls in Dulux Trade White - it's not a perfect match but the difference is only noticeable in certain lights and not glaringly so. You just have to make sure to get White and not Brilliant White (which some decorators and paint shops will insist doesn't exist - it does, it's on the Dulux website). It's still definitely white but doesn't jar against that $%@&! RAL 9010 like Brilliant White does and in fact even casts a bit of a whiter light on it so the 9010 looks less creamy. Ironically though we decided against painting the windows because half the point of choosing them was the ready painted, low maintenance finish but we have since acquired kittens who have demonstrated that low maintenance doesn't mean claw-proof, so we'll probably have to paint them at some point anyway!

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