SW Peppercorn 7674: LRV, Undertones, Rooms and Exterior

Sherwin-Williams Peppercorn (SW 7674) is a dark, perfectly neutral charcoal gray: LRV 9.681 and RGB 88, 88, 88 on the maker's own color page, rated for interior and exterior use. Those three equal channels are the whole story of the color. Peppercorn has no built-in warm or cool tint, so it takes on the temperature of the light and the materials around it, which is why people describe it as "cool" in one room and "soft" in another. This guide works from the published numbers, compares Peppercorn with the charcoals and near-blacks it is cross-shopped against, and covers where it works inside and outside the house.

Peppercorn at a glance: the numbers that matter

These are the values Sherwin-Williams publishes for the color (Sherwin-Williams, SW 7674 Peppercorn). Hex and RGB are a screen approximation of the paint, not a mixing formula, but they are the maker's own approximation, which makes them the right reference for comparing colors.

An LRV of 9.681 means the surface reflects a little under a tenth of the light that reaches it. That puts Peppercorn in the dark charcoal band, below mid grays such as Gauntlet Gray (17.428) and above the near-blacks such as Iron Ore (5.55) and Tricorn Black (2.849). In practice it reads as "almost black" in a dim room and as a clear, deep gray anywhere daylight reaches it. Our gray paint colors guide puts it on the full ladder from pale to deep.

Is Peppercorn warm or cool? The undertone, decoded

Neither, by the numbers. Red, green and blue are all 88 on the Sherwin-Williams page, which is the definition of a neutral gray: no channel pulls ahead, so there is no built-in undertone to fight. Compare the colors it is most often confused with. Cyberspace (SW 7076) is 68, 72, 77, with blue clearly ahead, so it carries a navy lean. Urbane Bronze (SW 7048) is 84, 80, 74, with red ahead, so it reads brown-gray. Iron Ore (SW 7069) is 67, 67, 65, almost neutral with a whisper of warmth. Peppercorn is the only one of the four with nothing to declare.

That is exactly why reports of its undertone disagree. A neutral gray borrows its temperature from what surrounds it. In north light, which is cool and indirect, Peppercorn reads cool and flinty. In south and west light it reads softer and closer to graphite. Under 2700K bulbs it warms; under 4000K bulbs it sharpens. Next to warm oak floors it looks cooler by contrast; next to white marble and chrome it looks warmer. None of that is the paint changing; it is the absence of a tint letting the room show through.

One quirk every dark color shares: it photographs darker and flatter than it lives. A phone picture of a Peppercorn accent wall often looks solid black, while the real wall shows brush texture and depth. Judge it on a large sample in your own room, at the times of day you use the room most.

Peppercorn vs the colors people confuse it with

All of the figures below come from the makers' own color pages. The Sherwin-Williams colors are published with LRV to three decimals and RGB values; Benjamin Moore publishes LRV to two decimals and a short description.

The Iron Ore question comes up more than any other, and the numbers settle it: Iron Ore is about four LRV points deeper and very slightly warm, Peppercorn is lighter and dead neutral. If you want "black but not black", Iron Ore is closer to that brief; if you want a charcoal that still reads as gray, Peppercorn is. Our side-by-side Iron Ore vs Peppercorn comparison and the Iron Ore profile go further. If Peppercorn is too heavy for a whole room, Gauntlet Gray is the step up in lightness, and Requisite Gray lighter still.

Best rooms for Peppercorn

Accent and feature walls. At under 10 LRV, Peppercorn is a contrast color first. One wall behind a bed, a sofa or a fireplace anchors the room and makes lighter furniture stand out, without the flatness of a true black. Our accent wall strategy guide explains which wall to pick.

Dining rooms, studies and media rooms. Rooms used mostly after dark suit a deep charcoal on all four walls: under warm bulbs and candlelight Peppercorn reads enveloping rather than cave-like, and screens look better against a wall that does not reflect much light. See the dining room paint colors guide for companion schemes.

Bedrooms. A Peppercorn wall behind the headboard works in a bedroom with good daylight; in a small north-facing bedroom it can close the room in, and a lighter gray is the safer call. The master bedroom colors guide covers the calmer end of the range.

Doors, built-ins and cabinets. Interior doors, window sashes, built-in shelving, a kitchen island or a vanity are where Peppercorn earns its keep: neutral enough to sit with brass, chrome, matte black or stainless hardware, and softer than black on a long run of cabinetry. For a full room in a deeper tone, compare our black interior wall shades.

Peppercorn outside: doors, shutters, trim and siding

Sherwin-Williams lists Peppercorn for interior and exterior use, and outside it behaves like a softer black. On a front door, shutters or window trim against white, cream or pale gray siding, it gives the contrast of black with less starkness, and because it is neutral it does not fight red brick or warm stone the way a blue-black can. Our exterior trim colors guide and the black exterior paint guide put it in context with the other dark accents.

One limit matters on vinyl. Sherwin-Williams sells a separate VinylSafe palette for vinyl siding and explains why: "Using a dark color on top of a lighter would cause the substrate to buckle", and its darker VinylSafe colors are "formulated to resist warping or buckling when applied to a sound, stable vinyl substrate" (Sherwin-Williams, VinylSafe colors for vinyl siding). Peppercorn does not appear in that palette, so on vinyl siding use it only on wood or composite trim and doors, or pick a dark gray from the VinylSafe list instead. The page names the products those colors are to be applied with: Emerald Rain Refresh, Emerald, Duration, Resilience, Latitude, SuperPaint, and SnapDry Door & Trim.

If the trim or door is on a house built before 1978, scraping and sanding old paint is the step that needs care. The EPA's renovation rule covers "anyone paid to perform work that disturbs painted surfaces in homes, childcare facilities and preschools built before 1978"; it does not generally apply to homeowners working on their own home, for whom the agency advises "do-it-yourself (DIY) lead-safe work practices" (EPA, Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program). To preview Peppercorn on the outside of the house, use the exterior paint visualizer with a photo of the front.

Peppercorn on cabinets and vanities

A kitchen island or a bathroom vanity is the most common place Peppercorn ends up after an accent wall, and on cabinets the product matters as much as the color. Cabinet painters use an enamel that levels out brush marks and cures hard, such as Benjamin Moore's ADVANCE, a waterborne alkyd listed for cabinets with a 16-hour recoat and seven days to return to service. Sherwin-Williams can tint Peppercorn into its own trim and cabinet enamels at the store. A charcoal at under 10 LRV shows dust and fingerprints less than black and less than white, which is part of why it works on a busy island.

Pairings that work on cabinets: brass or unlacquered brass pulls for warmth, matte black for a graphic look, a white or light quartz counter for contrast, and a warm white such as Benjamin Moore White Dove on the walls so the island reads as the anchor. On a vanity, Peppercorn sits well with white tile and chrome because, being neutral, it neither warms nor cools the tile. Our kitchen cabinet colors guide puts it alongside the other dark cabinet picks of the year.

Trim, ceiling, and decor pairings

Sherwin-Williams lists three coordinating colors on the Peppercorn page: Nebulous White (SW 7063), a cool off-white; Windfresh White (SW 7628), a clean white; and Willow Tree (SW 7741), a soft green. That trio tells you how the maker sees the color: a neutral that pairs with clean whites and muted greens. In practice:

• Trim and ceilings with a Peppercorn wall: a clean white keeps the edges crisp; a creamy white softens the contrast and suits warmer rooms.
• Peppercorn on trim and doors: works with light grays and greiges on the walls, from Gauntlet Gray up to Agreeable Gray, and with whites of any temperature because the charcoal itself has no tint to clash.
• Metals and wood: brass and unlacquered brass glow against it, chrome and matte black read graphic, and both light oak and walnut look richer next to a neutral dark.
• Textiles: camel, rust and olive warm it up; cool blues and grays keep it modern.

On sheen, the usual rule for dark colors applies: a matte or eggshell finish on walls hides surface flaws that a dark color otherwise shows, and satin or semi-gloss on doors, trim and cabinets is easier to clean. Dark colors also show touch-ups, so keep the batch and buy enough for the whole job at once. For the wider Sherwin-Williams range, see the Sherwin-Williams interior paint colors guide; for budgeting, the interior painting cost guide.

How to test Peppercorn before you commit

1. Preview it on a photo of the room first. It shows you in seconds whether a charcoal at this depth suits the room at all, before you buy a sample.
2. Paint a large sample. A swatch the size of a sheet of paper is too small for a dark color; paint at least two square feet, two coats, on poster board or on the wall itself.
3. Look at it four times. Morning, midday, late afternoon and under your evening bulbs. A neutral charcoal changes with the light more than a tinted one.
4. Hold it against the fixed elements. Floor, countertop, brick or stone: those decide whether Peppercorn reads warm or cool in your room.
5. Compare it with its neighbors. A sample of Iron Ore beside it, or Gauntlet Gray, answers "too dark or not dark enough" faster than any description.

Sources and references

• Sherwin-Williams color pages: Peppercorn SW 7674 (LRV, RGB, hex, usage, coordinating colors), Iron Ore, Tricorn Black, Gauntlet Gray, Cyberspace, Urbane Bronze.
• Sherwin-Williams, VinylSafe colors for vinyl siding: why dark colors on vinyl need a dedicated palette, compatible products.
• Benjamin Moore color pages: Kendall Charcoal HC-166, Silhouette AF-655, Wrought Iron 2124-10: LRV and descriptions.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program: who the rule covers for pre-1978 homes.