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What's the closest Dulux match to Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal?

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Quick answer

Dulux Stormy Retreat is the closest match to Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal at ΔE 1.7 — close enough that most people won't tell them apart. Wild Mushroom is a solid runner-up at ΔE 2.2.

If you want Kendall Charcoal but you're buying Dulux, go for Stormy Retreat. It lands at ΔE 1.7 from the original (LRV 13.3) — anything under 2.5 is a very close match, and at 1.7 you're well inside that. In real-world conditions, on a wall, with the inevitable variation in light and sheen, the two are practically indistinguishable.

Your backup is Wild Mushroom at ΔE 2.2 (LRV 13). Still a genuinely good match and within the "very close" band, but it shades a touch warmer and earthier than Stormy Retreat. If your room is north-facing and you want to keep that cool, slightly green-grey charcoal character that makes Kendall Charcoal so well-liked, Stormy Retreat holds it better.

Both sit at almost identical LRVs to each other — low teens — so you're getting the same depth of colour either way. That's the bit that matters most for a charcoal: get the lightness wrong and the whole feel changes. These two nail it.

The "but what about" here is finish. Benjamin Moore's sheens don't map one-to-one onto Dulux, and a charcoal will look noticeably different in matt versus eggshell — sheen pulls the depth around more than the pigment match does. So decide your finish first, then judge the colour in that finish, not off a flat sample card.

Practical advice: don't trust a printed swatch or a screen for a near-black like this. Get a Dulux sample of Stormy Retreat, paint two coats on a bit of lining paper, and move it around the room over a day. North light, lamplight, and full sun will each tell you something different. If it reads slightly cold and you'd prefer a hair more warmth, switch to Wild Mushroom — that's exactly the trade-off between the two.

Colours from the answer

LRV 14.61
Benjamin Moore
Kendall Charcoal
LRV 13.3
Dulux
Stormy Retreat
LRV 13
Dulux
Wild Mushroom

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