BKO was a typo I made in a thread that seems to have caught on. I meant to say TBO (totally bathroom obsessed) but there was a two year old pulling on me, and I hadn't slept, and BKO came out instead. For some reason freaks who are TKO seem to understand that BKO (which makes no sense) means Bath LOL I have mixed finishes in all of my rooms (because I'm BKO AND TKO LOL) In my master bath I have antique gold knobs and gold tone lighting (antique stuff from the 1920's that I restored). The lighting also has browns involved in the design and the faucets are all ORB. The towel bars, hooks etc are all ORB as well. All of the finishes are what I would call "warm" in nature and the colors flow. Chrome would look terrible in that room. In the kitchen I have a SS countertop, fridge, DW and TC. My sinks are SS and the faucets (bar, main and pot filler) are all chrome. My lighting is a mix of antique pieces which have both aluminum (or antique pewter color) and a soft gold highlight on them with amber shades. My stove has both silver and gold on the handles (Lacanche) and my knobs are antique pewter. My other counters are granite with amber running through it prominently and the backsplash is amber as well as the glass in the cabinets. So in that room, I am mixing both gold and silver (warm and cool) tones. In the family bath I have a mix of chrome and brushed nickle. The faucets are chrome, as is the toilet handle and then the other pieces are brushed as are the knobs. The powder room has gold or brass fixtures and knobs. I hate having everything exactly the same except for the most modern of rooms (where that uniformity becomes important in taking individual elements out of the design). So the answer is....LOL you can probably do anything. :oP Does that help???

I would considering antique brass for the lighting, definitely. If you want to tie in the kitchen and the dining room a lot, you could consider antique brass for the cabinet hardware and even the faucet, IMO. If you are doing a stainless sink, you could do a stainless or nickel faucet to blend it with that rather than have an antique brass faucet. I don't think any hardware has to match the stainless...they are appliances. Back when it was typical to have painted white (or harvest gold) appliances, the faucet and hardware were not painted white or harvest gold, right?

The light fixtures, in particular, do not have to match the door hardware. They don't have to match anything really. The matching faucet is kind of a recent thing, and its not necessary absolutely, but you couldn't go wrong with something that went with the stainless steel, like a SS faucet. Are you using pewter on all the room door hardware? I would just be consistent throughout the house. In terms of what is the "trendiest" well, if you look at the most expensive faucet that Kohler offers, the Karbon, the newest finishes are gold, and a pale gold bronze, and trends usually start at the top of the price range and work down. But I wouldn't worry about that, I would pick something that works well with your other finishes.

Please go with something in pleather--the naugas are a threatened species! I don't think light fixtures need to match, especially not the ORB. It's, you know, blackish. Doesn't even count as a metal finish. I think satin and polished finishes should be fine together on knobs and stools. Fixtures and furniture really aren't required to match anyway. Of course it all depends on the room. It's possible for it to be just awful, but odds are much better that it'll be fine.