Hey Jenny, That's exciting that you're getting to the stage of picking out finishes! It is kind of scary, though. One thing that helps is to physically walk through the house in order to figure out which areas you can see at the same time. Sometimes it will surprise you! In my house, I'm having oil-rubbed bronze door hardware throughout (stained doors and trim) and chrome bath/kitchen hardware. Most of my light fixtures are antique/vintage, so they are all over the map. Some people like for every finish in the house to match, and some like to mix them. Personally, I think a house where all the finishes coordinate too well just screams "brand new house," especially if they are all in the trendy finish du jour. To me, the only thing that matters is to match the finishes that are the same type of item in the same room. Like, I would prefer to have all one finish on the faucets in a particular bathroom, but they wouldn't have to match the door hardware in that room or the faucets in another room, etc. Finishes are one of those things that can drive you crazy, but very few people will ever notice them once the house is done.

I am close to getting our pulls figured out. I ordered a few samples of my favorites, and narrowed it down; then it was to decide on sizes. I'm trying them out on our existing cabinets, but the style of the new ones won't be terribly different, so it should work out. We have lived without door hardware for 25 years, so putting anything on the doors looks odd to us. I'm still torn between vertical and horizontal on my uppers. I've gone through a lot of 2-sided tape, sticking pulls to doors! I'm going horizontal on the few base cabinet doors that I have - trash pullout, sink cab, lazy susan door, and that seems right to me, so I can't figure why it doesn't quite look right on the uppers. I have one drawer stack that's 34" wide; the top will be 2 17"-wide drawers, so I'm putting two pulls each on the deep drawers. I'm torn between putting one or two pulls on the sink tip-out (30" cabinet).

I recently (as in this week!) was asking myself the same exact question - a quick look at all my kitchen magazines convinced me that the satin nickel faucet/stainless sink/ ORB hardware combo is done all the time. I think it's a great look. The faucet will pick up on the sink, your Wolf range, and any other stainless appliances you may have. Like you I have creamy cabinets with glaze( with a cherry island) , Wolf SS range, paneled fridge and SS undermount sinks. My granite is in the medium brown tones - New Venetian Gold. I'm doing ORB hardware on both perimeter and island, satin nickel faucets and stainless undermount sinks. Lighting will probably have ORB or similar trim. I've also seen ORB faucets matched up to ORB hardware , including mixed with stainless sinks (one like that right on the cover of one of a recent kitchen magazine) - those can be just gorgeous , too. To me, some faucets styles look better in the ORB than others - just personal preference. In addition to kitchen magazines, you might also want to check out the finished kitchen blog on this site - look at categories and then creamy colored kitchens or ORB. If you want a satin nickel faucet though, I think you'll be reassured by what you see.

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.