I think you're absolutely right, monicakm, it must depend on the manufacturer because, as I said before, there is no consensus. So, the faucet I am thinking about is a Toto (also getting a Toto pedestal sink and toilet). Anyone have Toto faucets in polished chrome or brushed nickel who wants to chime in? Thanks! Here is a link that might be useful: Toto faucet

I can't remember who sold me polished nickel fixtures for my bath but if it ever comes back to me, they better leave the country fast. A more nightmarish material I can't imagine, except for polished marble, which someone else is going to pay for, too. Staining, fingerprints, watermarks--on chrome, those are just from dirt on the surface, if you even get them. They come off with pretty much anything you feel like cleaning with--water, soap and water, Windex, 409, whatever. Nickel is a "living" (i.e., decaying) finish. Those watermarks are a kind of tarnish. Especially with polished, you have to wipe up each and every time you touch or use it. Then do a thorough polish once a week. Shoot me. I don't think brushed anything is very authentic to the age of your house, though. As far as mixing metals, it depends where they are used. I have a chrome sorta vintage light fixture in the nickel bath, and you really can't tell--it's way up on the ceiling. However, the sink drain pipe is chrome, and it looks fairly ridiculous next to the nickel console legs, which is why I always keep a towel in front of it.

"lynn2006: Ohh, good point - we'll have to consider what looks best with ss appliances! We're planning on doing our own trim for the Ikea cabinets, so I've done a bunch of googling on paint matches. I read that Simply White (which happens to be our trim color for our casings; I love it) is a match for Lindingo. While Ben Moore's Cloud White and Ralph Lauren's (potentially discontinued) Studio White WW09 are good matches for Adel White. The Adel White Ikea cover panels that we bought Do Not seem to match the doors!!! They are a brighter white and much glossier!! I don't know if we are the only ones with that problem, but we are returning them and plan to make our own (hopefully better matching, and cheaper!) cover panels instead. (This may have been more info than you wanted - sorry about that!)" Thank you for letting me know since I have not looked at Ikea yet and I had planned to go with the shaker door and drawer without any slab drawers and fell in love with the inset but Home depot is having a sale and I got a good price on fancier doors that I first thought were not my taste but they are growing on me when I saw the price and how much better storage I would have and they are close to the BM Cloud White color which is what I wanted. I may have to take a trip to Ikea and back to the local store with the inset cabinets and then price it all out. Home Depot is offering free trash can and recycling bin and organizers, free hardware (but I am having a touching time falling in love with the free hardware), free double silver ware drawer, free paint finish upgrade, free pull out shelves (but I really wanted drawers) and I am waiting for a price on the granite counters and the removal of the soffit, removal of the old cabinets and the tile installation. I love the Ikea organizers and my others choice is covering the soffit with trim since the bigger cabinets are pretty but I am not even 5 feet and have enough problems reaching selves right now and need a stool and ladder for the higher shelves. I am not sure which to vote for yet since I have not begun this process yet but I chose the chrome for my bathroom since I liked the bling.

If you want to draw attention to the handles then select a polished option. If you wish to avoid fingerprints then select a satin option.