Julie, thanks for posting the pictures and pointing me to Cifial! I agree with sweeby that the first one you showed isn't the right style for us, but the second one (the Techno M3 lav faucet) could certainly work for us. It's unfortunately difficult to judge the color and finish on a computer monitor - I'm taking your word that they're brown and not black! ;) My wife and I have a day of shopping planned for tomorrow, and I hope one of the showrooms we're planning to go to (they're on the Cifial dealer list) will have something in that finish so we can decide if we like it. I do still get sweeby's point that sleek, modern design doesn't fit too well with an oil rubbed bronze that's supposed to convey age, but an even non-weathered finish (even though Cifial calls it "weathered") seems like it could do the trick. But I need to see one to see how it hits me. Aside from finish/color, how are Cifial products quality-wise? We were looking at a Hansgrohe shower head and a Grohe faucet for both their style and quality, but I don't know anything about Cifial other than recognizing the name. And while I like how that Techno M3 line's look is carried through the tub spout and shower controls, they don't have much to choose from the in the way of shower heads -- the Techno M3 seems to offer only a single-function rain head, and we were thinking we wanted a multifunction head (the Hansgrohe Raindance 150 Air is an example of one we liked). Can you mix in someone else's shower head if you get Cifial for everything else? I would think that would look bad, unless I could find something in a pretty similar brown color and style, which seems unlikely. Or would you get the Cifial lav faucet but switch to a different brand/color/finish/style for the shower/tub fixtures? (The sink and tub are on opposite walls, so you won't see them side-by-side.) I would think we'd want the same line or at least similar looks for all the fixtures -- is that wrong? Thanks for all the design help! -- Eric

Actually,I am currently doing the same thing! I did put a new frameless shower door with bronze handle in the shower about five years ago. It has held up fine. Currently I am having the shower and the floor retiled. I ordered the shower head and handles in oil rubber bronze already. I don't see any problem with the oil rubbed bronze- other than they are Way more expensive!

Hi Alicate. Q: Yet, isn't the ORB a more modern finish and therefore [shouldn't] the silver look the best? A:Well, it depends on what you mean by "modern". If what you really mean is trendy then yes, oil-rubbed bronze is sort of modern, but if by "modern" you mean the NEWEST finish, then, no, it's not trendy at all, since ORB is a finish that was first made popular about a century ago, when people were decorating with Mission & Craftsman style furniture in fumed oak. At any rate, ORB is only truly trendy if something that's been around for a decade or more--which, by now, it has--can still qualify as a trend. The really hot trend, however--at least hereabouts--is shiny brass, the same stuff that some people sent to a landfill fifteen years ago because somebody with a warehouse full of new brushed nickel doorknobs to sell told them them that their old brass hardware brass was "dated." My, how time flies! At any rate, if you were talking about doorknobs now, I'd definitely say go with the gold-tone, because as the dark finish coating on ORB wears off, what's left resembles--you got it!--brass anyway. Now, lamps & curtain hardware don't get as much use as do doorknobs, so their finish won't wear off as fast, but I'd still get the gold, and not the silver when it's time to buy new. Here's my real advice, though: get what looks good, not what's--according to somebody with something to sell--"trendy". Or "Modern". Pay no attention to popular buzzwords.

We have a faucet with a "living" finish, and DH added a lot of "living" to it when he was using brass cleaner on some items I have and the handle is now shinier than the rest of the faucet...but it doesn't bother me any...I figure it's going to do a lot more changing over the years.