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Home Decorating Design Dilemma Kitchens

Cabinet Hardware Choices Methodology

9 months ago

I'm at the point in my kitchen refresh where I am selecting lighting fixtures and cabinet hardware. The kitchen is traditional style.

The cabinets will be painted SW Creamy 7012 (warm white) with Istanbul granite countertops as pictured below. The sink, faucet and appliances are all stainless. The cooktop is black induction with stainless trim. The floor is golden oak. The backsplash will be a warm white subway style tile. The walls and trim are SW Creamy.

These are the lighting fixtures that I am considering. The first is over the island, the second is over the breakfast area. Both are aged brass.

Bellevue ZP12591 Frieda 3 Light 10"W Linear Pendant - Olde Brass · More Info

Mykonos Medium Chandelier in Antique-Burnished Brass · More Info

The chicken or the egg question is what finish should I use for the cabinet hardware? Stainless, nickel or an aged brass? Your opinions please and if you could provide your reasoning, I would appreciate it.

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Comments (5)

HU-918119203
9 months ago
Not stainless (it's dated and too cold). Probably not brass (too much/too matchy). Not nickel (I don't mind mixing metals but I don't see nickel relating to your existing selections). Maybe a dark rubbed bronze (warm and goes with the brass light fixtures, without being matchy).
homechef59
Original Author
9 months ago
Funny, the wood cabinets that are to be painted white already have a dark rubbed bronze hardware. I actually like them. I feel bad about trashing them. I suppose I could just reuse them and save myself the time, trouble and money.

That would mean three finishes rather than two. Stainless, aged brass and oil rubbed bronze. Is three too much?
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I lean towards the brushed stainless/satin nickel myself but take a look around your kitchen and any other adjoining rooms and see what other metals dominate in your fixtures and furniture. Choose something that would mix well...not necessarily match but would play well with the others. I personally don't think your doorknobs have to match your lights and faucets and door hinges.
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I paid a ridiculously high amount of money for mine (in my opinion--I think they were $17 each, which is probably not high at all for some kitchens, but really for me it was unnecessary). It was one of my last decisions and I just allowed my sense and budget-mindedness to get overwhelmed. Now I know better how to deal with those things, because of experience. But any way, I got these supposedly high-end pulls, guaranteed for life finishes---which tarnished within 6 months! The kitchen design place I worked with replaced them all in a similar color but with a different finish, so there is a happy ending. But I've since looked around and realized that there are a lot of options that would have satisfied me. I did get a size I'm comfortable with that looks proportionate to me, so if I ever want to I can replace them in another color or finish. So, I guess if I had to do it again I'd look on pulls as I look at paint--a relatively easy thing to change, even if you don't necessarily want to do it very often. Though at the time of course it felt like the most important decision in the world!
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We have cherry Shaker cabinets. Our style is neither traditional nor contemporary, but in-between. We have Top Knobs Princetonian pulls in their Brushed Satin Nickel finish, which has a pretty gleam, but doesn't show fingerprints. Also, my pet peeve is drawer pulls that have ends on them that catch on clothes, so I made sure to pick pulls that won't do that. DH's pet peeve is handles that aren't deep enough to get his fingers around - I was surprised when we went looked at hardware displays how many pulls are so close to the cabinet front that you can't get your fingers inside them (you may not have that pet peeve though, so your choices will be greater). Another thing we liked about the Princetonian pulls is that they come in a big selection of sizes from 3" up to 18-9/16" and everything in between. We ended up needing three different sizes in our kitchen for the different sized cabinets and drawers. I was also able to find a good number of websites that sold them at competitive prices (some of the other hardware I looked at was not sold as widely, and therefore was more expensive). We ended up buying them at qualitybath which I will link. Here is a link that might be useful: Top Knobs Princetonian Pulls at Quality Bath
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Debbie2008, my faucet is a brushed stainless or brushed nickel. I'm not sure which. It was given to us by a friend who is an interior decorator. I don't think that the faucet necessarily has to match the faucet. Someone told me a while back (on this board) to look around the rest of my house at the other types of metal. My kitchen is in the middle of the house between my family room and formal dining room and I have a high-top bistro set right beside the breakfast bar that is a dark bronze finish and a big metal arch sclupture on the wall by it that is a dark bronze-like finish. HTH
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PRO
Adella Design
9 months ago
In my opinion, hardware is a great way to bring character into your space - the details make a space! I love the idea of adding the aged brass hardware. You should check out Plank Hardware. They have unique designs and stunning brass options! Congratulations on your new kitchen. I can already tell it will look amazing!
homechef59 thanked Adella Design
chispa
9 months ago
This is the type of thing that we agonize over and then no one else notices!

In my kitchen I have stainless faucet, sinks and induction range. My other appliances are paneled white, like the cabinets. My pendants are an aged brass/gold and my so are my pulls. The pendant over my kitchen table is a oil rubbed bronze/brown that matches that matches the brown/black door hardware throughout the house.

There isn't just one way of doing this and it is very subjective.

Look at this kitchen. I don't see anything wrong with the metals they mixed, someone else might want things more matchy/uniform. It looks like the kitchen pendant is a "brown" compared to the "gold" lighting in the kitchen.
Mission Hills Chef's Kitchen · More Info

Mission Hills Chef's Kitchen · More Info

This one has gold, silver and brown metals. Island pendants don't match the table pendants.
Peninsula Point Kitchen · More Info

.
homechef59 thanked chispa
Design2 girl
13 days ago
@homechef59 just hopped on here and saw this post about your kitchen! Would love to see your finished project and see which finishes you ultimately decided to live with! You have great taste, and I am dying to see those creamy kitchen cabinets!

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