Cream Cabinets with White Trim?

A friend of mine sent me the following question.  She has white crown molding throughout her house, but she decided to buy antique white (cream-colored) kitchen cabinets.  Then, when her painter got in there, she realized those off-white cabinets would be hanging right below that bright white crown molding.  What should she do, she asked?  Should she change the color of molding in the kitchen, although then it would be different from the molding in the rest of her house?  Or should she put up the two different shades of white so close to one another?

Well, I’m not sure who exactly came up with the rule that cream and white should not be matched together, but in my opinion, it doesn’t really exist (or shouldn’t exist), either in fashion or in interior design.  Here’s just a sampling of looks from runways that combine white with cream (from MaxMara, Celine, Dolce & Gabbana, and Polo).

Similarly, white trim is a great complement to cream cabinetry.  Check out these examples:

Now.  Suppose you don’t buy this.  You didn’t like these variations in white, and you don’t want to be constantly looking up thinking, these don’t match one another.  There is an alternative.  You could finish out your cabinetry with matching cornices, thus avoiding the question of crown molding altogether.  Then the entire wall would be one unified cream color.  Check out these examples:

Absolutely lovely!  And check out in the first example, how they add pieces over the windows to keep the trim going around the room at the same depth as the cabinetry.