Farrow and Ball Grate Black 9920

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What are Farrow and Ball Grate Black undertones?
Is Grate Black 9920 cool or warm?
How light temperature affects on Grate Black
Complementary color scheme
Color comparison and matching
Color codes
Color equivalents

Official page:	Grate Black 9920
Code:	9920
Name:	Grate Black
Brand:	Farrow and Ball

What color is Farrow and Ball Grate Black?

Farrow and Ball Grate Black 9920 is a deep charcoal grey with a faintly warm, softened cast rather than a hard blue-black edge. Its near-neutral character gives it a grounded appearance, while the dark value adds clear definition to walls, doors, and built-in cabinetry. In bright daylight, this shade can read as a softened black; under warmer evening lighting, its subtle brown-grey notes become more noticeable. Use Grate Black on a study, dining room, or exterior trim alongside off-white plaster, pale oak, aged brass, and natural stone. It also makes a strong backdrop for lighter textiles and artwork with cream, rust, or muted green tones.

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What are Farrow and Ball Grate Black undertones?

Grate Black is a deep, low-saturation near-black that reads mainly as a softened charcoal rather than a sharply colored black. In the supplied digital sample, any warm or orange-leaning bias is very slight, so it is not strong enough to support a confident undertone label; Farrow & Ball describes it as sitting among the softer tones in its collection, which fits its muted overall appearance. Warm artificial light may make its subtle warmth more noticeable, while cool daylight can make it appear more neutral or slightly cooler, depending on surrounding colors and finish.

Manufacturer information used in this description: official color page.

HEX value:

#454341

RGB code:

69, 67, 65

Is Farrow and Ball Grate Black cool or warm?

warm

cool

With a hue of 30°, this black leans warm, but it is close to neutral and can read cooler in some light.

9920 Grate Black HSL code: 30, 3%, 26%

Hue - degree on a color wheel from 0 to 360. 0 is red, 120 is green, and 240 is blue.
Saturation is expressed as a percentage. At 0%, it appears as a shade of grey, and at 100%, it is in full color.
Lightness is also a percentage value. 0% is black, and 100% is white.

How light temperature affects Grate Black

Natural Lighting. During the day, natural light shifts from about 2000 K at sunrise/sunset to 5500–6500 K at noon.

Sunrise

Morning

Noon

Afternoon

Sunset

In addition, natural-light temperature depends on its direction:

Direction of sunlight	Visible temp.	Hue	Duration
North	Cool	Bluish	All day
East	Warm	Yellow	Before noon
West	Warm	Orange-red	After noon
South	Warm	Orange-yellow	All day

Artificial Lighting. When choosing bulbs, pay attention to their color temperature in Kelvins.
Use the slider to see how this black shade looks under different lighting:

4000K

2000K

3000K

4000K

5000K

6000K

7000K

Coordinating colors.
Colors that go with Farrow and Ball Grate Black:

Complementary color scheme

This color scheme is a combination of two shades that are opposite each other on the color wheel. The high contrast between these colors creates a vibrant and dynamic visual effect. For the color Grate Black with a orange hue, complementary colors are those with a blue hue close to 210, such as Farrow and Ball Black Blue and Hazy.

9920
Grate Black

Compare
Farrow and Ball
Grate Black 9920
to any other colors

Farrow and Ball
Grate Black 9920
color equivalents

Color codes

We have collected almost every possible color code you could ever need.
Not sure what the difference between HEX and RGB is? We break down color models in plain language. Understanding color models

Format	Code
HEX	#454341
RGB Decimal	69, 67, 65
RGB Percent	27.06%, 26.27%, 25.49%
HSV	Hue: 30° Saturation: 5.8% Value: 27.06%
HSL	hsl(30, 2.99, 26.27)
CMYK	Cyan: 0.0 Magenta: 2.9 Yellow: 5.8 Key: 72.94
YIQ	Y: 67.37 I: 1.834 Q: -0.199
XYZ	X: 5.415 Y: 5.661 Z: 5.807
CIE Lab	L:28.541 a:0.41 b:1.512
CIE Luv	L:28.541 u:1.182 v:1.672
Decimal	4539201
Hunter Lab	23.793, -1.012, 2.185