It doesn't matter. No rule says' all the metals have to match. Besides, stainless is last years' neutral.

"last year's neutral"

Hmmm. Considering I just bought two of the appliances last week, I am wondering what this year's neutral is? :)

I actually held up the cup pulls and they look really good - in oil rubbed bronze, so I am keeping them. Before they are installed I just have to decide if I am changing my cabinet paint color. :)

We have ORB with stainless. It looks great. I've seen it in tons of kitchens and it looks great. Go for it!

I mixed metals in my home--antique bronze chandeliers with brushed nickel door hardware. It's like mixing woods.

Stainless is timeless.

Susan

I don't think your hardware needs to match your appliances -- ORB hardware and stainless appliances can look terrific! That being said, what finish(es) are your lights and faucet(s)?

"Stainless is timeless."

Really? I've never heard that before. SS appliances have only been in the residential retail markets for what, 15 years? It's a stretch to call that "timeless".
White appliances are timeless.
Black apliances are timeless.
SS has a ways to go before I could make that determination.

Les, c'mon. No one has seen the proliferation of off-the-floor SS appliances like they have in the past 15 years. Back in the 60's the sales floors were not as inundated with SS appliances as they are today.
Any commercial stove, refidgerator or oven could have been used in a residential setting- yes. But in the 60's that was defiantely the exception, not the standard it in now.
BTW- I was born in 68 and do not recall seeing a single SS appliance outside a restaurant until the mid 80s. I still maintain that the timelessness of SS appliances has yet to be proven by time.

Stainless appliances HAVE been around a long time but I think previously they were only used in higher end applications. Now that we all have high end, we all have stainless. Cannot imagine what they can come up with next that we all will want.

I like the idea of ORB. I have cherry cabinets in this kitchen, with all stainless appliances, and am going to get ORB. Last kitchen also stainless with glazed cream cabinets, and I had some beautiful French handwrought iron knobs that were sort of rusty, so same color as ORB. Looked fabulous.

Hey Miles, I hate to be the one to break it to you man, but you don't know everything! As a matter of fact, being born in 1968, doesn't automatically make you an authority on everything, SS included.

Our house was built in 1956. We were not the original owners however, when we moved in, it had a double SS wall oven, SS sink, and SS range top. It was all original to the house.
All the appliances were the builders special, and not commercial grade, just regular old GE was the brand. It was a tract built house and some people had stainless appliances and some had the second choice -- white appliances.

We ripped it all out when we moved in and replaced it all with Coppertone. . . Then in 1985, we put in a new kitchen and replaced all the appliances with Almond. In 2006 we put in another new kitchen and 'went back to the future' put in all stainless again.

So there ya go Miles...It isn't a stretch to say SS is Timeless, since It has been around in regular tract homes for at least 52 years that 'I' personally know about.

You many not be a fan of SS like some of us are, and you're entitled to your own opinion about SS, however not your own facts!
Fact: Ordinary grade SS appliances, have been around a lot longer than Miles has been around.

Joann...

My friend bought a house built in the mid fifties which still had the original appiances. The original owner had saved every brochure from when the house was built and they saw from her notes that she had a hard time picking between 2 appliance choices. Needless to say, they were very happy she got the stainless package and not the pink she also really loved.

Regardless of what you think of it, you have to admit that stainless is here to stay. It seems as though residential and commercial have come closer together than ever before. I don't think we'll go in any other direction unless cabinet fronts become more accessible.

We used to have a 1939 Art Moderne stucco/glass block house on Long Island that still had its original stainless steel GE dishwasher. The dw didn't work anymore, but it sure was cool looking. After that house, we had a 1956 midcentury modern-ish house in New Orleans that had all stainless appliances that were orginal to the house (again, not working!).

Stainless must have had a wave of popularity in the 50s & early 60s in contemporary houses.

Oh -- back on topic: yes, by all means, pick whatever knobs appeal to you & not because they match your appliances.

My parents built a colonial in 1958 that had all stainless.

In WA state I lived in the neatest house built in the 1940's. I loved the kitchen because of the cool appliances. There was a cooktop that pulled out like you would pull out a drawer. You could cook on it, then push it back into the wall out of the way of foot traffic.

Above it was a wall oven with the handle at the bottom. When you raised the door, the shelf rolled out to make it easier to place a casserole, roaster pan etc. in.

They were both stainless steel and original to the house, as was the sink (no dishwasher).

I loved that house! It had lots of coved ceilings with plaster walls.

Susan

By all means, don't worry about matcbing your door/drawer knobs to your appliances.

Yep, no worries about stainless being outdated. My folks second home (the first one I remember) was built in the late fifties and it had a stainless cooktop and wall oven. For some reason I can't remember the fridge except when it was open. Maybe that because I remember so well my Mom getting a medicine I took that had to be chilled. It tasted good.
As for mixing metals from appliances to cabinet hardware, it's like mixing wood in the living room. Don't look at it any different than you would had your appliances been white, black or bisq. You wouldn't feel obligated to have your hardware match them, right?

You asked: "I am wondering if I should stick with the brushed nickel cup pulls and knobs? "

Who do you have to please? Just yourself? Then don't think about "should". Think about what you love.

Do you love the look of your ORB? Then do that.

Are you concerned about resale? Are you concerned about a "unified look"? Then you need to take a bit more time to think about it.

I had brass knobs in my kitchen, and then we installed SS appliances. I always liked the look of the brass knobs, but my 14-year-old son, who doesn't usually express any decorating opinions, said, "Mom, you really HAVE to get stainless knobs now."

Oh. I do?

So we bought a couple, just to see how it looked.

It looked pretty good. So we switched.

Moral of the story... if you can't decide, look at both.

dixiechix.
I have black oiled knobs on my cabs. I found a photo in my archives -- It shows the knobs with my
'Timeless Long Island Stainless Steel appliances!' :)))

While growing up, I also lived in a house built in the 1950's that had stainless steel ovens, range top, and sinks. The fridge was something else (probably avocado, gold, or copper, LOL.) I've loved stainless steel appliances since then, and was happy when they become more "available" in more brands and options. Given the applications of s/s in commercial kitchens, I think they definitely count as timeless. In any case, my kitchen has s/s cook top, ovens, fridge, sink, d/w along with oil-rubbed bronze farmhouse style faucets, dark bronze cabinet and door hardware and also a dark patina copper farmhouse sink. They all look awesome together if I do say so myself. ;~)

I think mixed metals make everything more interesting. Matchy matchy is boring. Mixy matchy that coordinates is my decorating style.

I have a copper sink with a ORB faucet, a copper sink with a brushed nickel faucet, ORB interior door handles, wrought iron chandeliers, rusty bronze cab hardware, stainless sink with brushed nickel, etc. My appliances are both stainless and paneled. It looks like I have effortlessly put together an elegant, warm and inviting home. Only those who know me really well and of course my GW buddies know how excruciating it really was putting it all together.

lsandler, a girl after my own heart. :)

My Mom had a stainless steel cooktop, double wall oven, and dishwasher in the 60's. Stainless has been around for years. It is more durable than black,white or bisque.

I love the look of ORB hardware mixed with stainless appliances. I think it can be too matchy/matchy even to have nickel and stainless. The ORB is a great contrast and will look fabulous. Here's another shot of a pretty kitchen (not mine) mixing stainless range, silver faucet and ORB hardware. It looks fabulous.

Dixie, you could even use a wrought iron if you have black with your stainless. Your metals don't have to match, and i'm not big on silver, so I would choose the ORB. In my new house i'll be using the wrought iron since that's what my kitchen light fixtures are.

Sorry Miles, in this case you are dead wrong! My Mom and Dad remodeled their home in 1958 and were the first people in our small town to have a SS build in over, SS gas cook top, and and SS sink. The refrigerator was a light *pink* the color of the day. It was still working when we sold Mom's house 10 years ago.

White will forever be a standard, but IMO, black could drop off the face of the earth. It will lose it's attractive quality as consumers will want something that doesn't show every smudge and fingerprint.

I remodeled January 2008 and have SS appliances with ORB hardware on my cabinets and ORB lighting fixtures. I love it!

I think that the ORB or black looks best on any cabinets with a rich or dark finish, because if you put stainless or nickel on dark wood, and step back from it, you get what we call the Morse Code effect...a room full of little dots and dashes!