https://www.batteriesplus.com/blog/lighting/seeing-things-in-a-different-light https://www.lumens.com/how-tos-and-advice/kelvin-color-temperature.html Personally I prefer the soft white which is similar to a filament bulb.

OK, it's very rare that I get to answer a question where I have genuine facts based entirely on extensive hands-on “expert experience” rather than personal opinions or assumptions. I do LED retrofitting every day for clients who can afford to have whatever they want. They're eccentric, demanding and usually very difficult to please. A fairly new technique in custom led lighting design & installation is known as “tunable white”. Basically, it allows the user to very easily custom “equalize” the exact shade of white light that they prefer. Most off-the-shelf “tunable white” bulbs only have two chips of slightly different color temperatures, and rarely provide much of a noticeable difference to the untrained eye. And therefore our clients never felt they were worth the extra money. After extensive field testing using a variety of products and techniques, we finally discovered how to satisfy the most demanding customers. Our solution was to design and custom build a range of complex lighting fixtures that employ sets of four completely different chips: 2200k (candle light); 2700k (most common Edison incandescent lamp bulb) ; 7,000k (ice cold bluish white); and finally a set of RGB combo chips (mainly to add subtle pastel tints). Basically, a system that not only provides literally millions of white color temperature options, but the client can save their favorite combinations on their phone as presets. We designed a wireless controller that allows the user to easily play with the mix in order to create thee most “perfect” shade of white for them. Now to answer your question “What do most people prefer…? ”. Answer: After analyzing all the data from our clients favorite white color temperature recipes, it turns out that the vast majority of people finally settle right around 3,500k. They describe the color as being “crisp, clear and well defined”. (It's worth noting that we use 93+cri chips.) Also worthy of note: Many people add a subtle pink overtone as well. Conclusion: Although when given the choice of only one temperature, 90% of people will choose 2700k (warm incandescent), when they are given the opportunity to create their own shade of white, they are much more likely to go with a neutral white (3500k +). And when given the option to tint the light, they choose pink - not yellow. This proves to me that most people ‘think’ they want a warm incandescent temperature, but in reality they actually prefer a neutral white with a hint of pink (You'd be shocked by the amount of time and money we invested into this research). Bonus information: Most people prefer much cooler (bluish) light for their kitchen counter lighting, which my team and I find very odd. They don't seem to notice that it gives their food preparation areas a cold sterile look, almost like a medical lab. One notable example is a client who recently spent over $1m on a Primitive Tuscan remodel of her kitchen. We were hired to design and install a complex multi-zoned tunable-white lighting system. Her final choice of color temperature? Ice cold blue. Bright, harsh and saturated. Looks like a third-world morgue, or an alien spacecraft anal-probe lab . Her interior design team accused us of “poisoning her with options”. I have to admit her favorite shade of white does remove every bit of old world charm that kitchen was painstakingly designed to have. To quote George Carlin: “People are fucking goofy! ”