There really aren't any rules. It looks better if all are of the same finish, although I've seen numerous examples of mixing painted with metal; otherwise... it's pretty much whatever appeals to you. "Heavy" handles and large knobs are usually visually preferred for base doors and drawers. If you are looking towards the future, handles with crossbars or a wide loop which are designed so that your fingers can curl around are somewhat better than knobs because arthritis and injuries make knobs difficult to grasp and pull. I personally find "fingertip" handles awkward and uncomfortable. Styles and number of handles used are usually associated with ease of opening: drawers 15" or less wide work satisfactorily with one handle/knob centered. Wider drawers will slide easier with two handles/knobs which are usually placed 25% of width from either end. If you purchase ready-made or custom, they often come pre-drilled for attaching the knobs at the right distance. One word of caution -- many upper/wall cabinets have the knob centralized vertically on the door edge -- be sure the shortest person can comfortably reach that handle!!

Thanks, Beekeeperswife. I sure put in my time agonizing over those silly pulls---but when I saw them I knew they were 'right', and away we went. 1/3 the length of the drawer--that sounds good to me. However, I have 'in-between' sizes of drawers... do you round up or round down? Also, I should have mentioned that the 6 inch pulls are actually almost 7 inches long, and the 8 inch ones nearly 9. The measurement is between the holes, and the front bar actually hangs over a little on either side, adding the extra inch. So do you round up or down on this calculation, and what is "close enough"? I'd assume that a 7 inch pull would look good on a 22 inch drawer. But what about the 23 inch--it's closer to 21 than 27, so I should perhaps go with the 7 inch long bar there, too? I'm just not wanting to screw this up, as these are going to be permanant! Thanks everyone... Cj

Hi Moto and Dreamhouse, Sorry, I did not see the post. We really wanted to have a newly built icebox for our kitchen. My recollection is that there are two firms that do this, one in VA and one in CA. However, the lead time, when we inquired, was 18 months. (Little did I know then that our reno would actually take 18+ months!) Also, to look like a real old ice box, it should be pretty big and particularly wide. Our layout was done and we only had a spot for a more normal fridge. So we bought a subzero and had our cabinet maker make panelling for it. If you look at old fridges on line, you will see they are usually tiger oak. So we chose that type of wood and a mid range stain. The hardware was from the company in VA that also makes whole iceboxes. Even the hardware had a lead time of 3+ months. One key thing to keep in mind is that the refrigerator should look unfitted, like an icebox. To that end, for example, I would not take it to the ceiling and would not use crown molding or anything too fancy. Also panel the sides. I would also try to use a different wood and finish than exists anywhere else in your kitchen. I have to run but will post the fridge hardware link later. Ive attached a photo of the fridge door before staining.The zinc counters are in another post, sorry I dont know how to link in the message body. Here is a link that might be useful: door photo

Here are the specific products I used... you can sign up for a Lowes card in store and get 20% off, even if you don't actually go through with the application or use the card. Unfinished pine treads with bullnose> - this looked pretty bad after 1 coat (unevenly soaked in) I thought I'd made a mistake but after 2 coats it looked great. I put in vinyl "wood" plank floors upstairs and down. It was a total of less than $1000 for the flooring for the 1500 sq ft townhouse, and I installed it all myself never having done any flooring or in fact any home reno projects before! At first I couldn't decide what to do with the stars - I definitely did not want carpet as we were putting in all hard floor everywhere else. I priced oak treads and those covertreads and everything was over $2000 as you said (not spending that when I put in the entire house flooring for half the price!). Yes if you are putting in new carpet upstairs I would do the stairs first so you can go over the top lip with the carpet rolled over for a finished look. Here's the upstairs hallway looking into the office after the floor was done but before the stairs (I had to finish the floors so we could move in, stairs were done a few weeks later while I figured out what to do with them - we walked on the yucky splintery plywood steps for a bit! Our steps were not all the same width they were wider at the top of the staircase than the bottom by about 1/2". I just took the shortest measurement of all the steps and had all the treads and risers cut to that size. I wasn't sure if I would be able to convince the Lowes people to cut different pieces to different widths let along keep track of them! As it was, their cutting had some variance anyway within 1/2" so before gluing and nailing things in place, I just tried out the individual pieces on each step and moved them around to get the widest pieces on the widest steps and vice versa. There were only small gaps at the side of some steps which you can see in this photo... I just don't mind them. If you don't like even small cracks/gaps you can fill with caulk and paint over the caulk or you can get stair trim (but that would add to the cost and the labor of cutting all the trim).