This question comes up every now and then. I've had birdcage pulls in pewter for about three years and never once had them get dirty. I understand the concern, but in my experience, it's unfounded. I have regular pulls on the doors and bail pulls on the drawers.

Segbrown, As far as I know, there is no "birdcage" style hardware on antique cupboards from the Am. colonial or federal or pre-Civil War periods. I believe it is a modern adaptation, but I could be wrong. In the last 20 years or so, similar wire cages appeared on hardware and on a lot of wrought iron railings. The most accurate cabinet closure you could use for really historic cupboards would be a piece of wood or metal on a fulcrum that is lowered across the junction between two cupboard doors. In time, this will probably leave a scar on the piece, which is treasured by antique owners. Not exactly elegant. "Drop" pulls were used on drawers in the 1600s and early 1700s in American colonies; they could be medieval for all I know. They have resurfaced a few different eras thereafter, often on historic revival pieces, such as on my parents' 1920s bedroom set. They are indeed clumsy and they're noisy and hard to grab, which might be the reason they were replaced by bale-type pulls. They're on William and Mary style stuff, much like Pilgrim furniture. In 18th century to the early 19th century, you got bales on batwing-backed handles or even more pared down bale handles without a back plate. After the turn of the 19th century, you got oval shields behind bails. Then came the round knobs of the pre-CW period, including those big flat round wooden knobs of the 1830s and 40s and 50s. Sandwich glass elaborate molded design knobs were about 2 to 2 1/2 inches across. Bennington ( Rockingham ) style clay knobs were used before the Civil War--there are lots of them in the Arabia steamboat from that period which was salvaged and are in the museum in Kansas City. The ornate Victorian molded metal design pulls and knobs were post-Civil War and today's trendy bin pull is definitely last quarter of the 19th and into the 20th century. I think that the birdcage style of ironwork is related to fireplace tool handles, which allow the user to avoid burns when grabbing them. The birdcage pull or handle is perfectly fine to use in your modern kitchen. You live in the present and you probably don't have antique freestanding cupboards. There are some remarkable historic reproductions being made of the Sandwich pulls and the Bennington pulls. I just love them, but they won't work in my kitchen, sigh. Emenee has an attractive line of coordinated metal and clay hardware pieces. I got a chance to look at them at Twin City Hardware's display room and I left drool on them, especially the brown swirl knobs. A couple other repro places which interest me online are http://houseofantiquehardware.com/ http://www.lookintheattic.com/ Here is a link that might be useful: One place to look for historic hardware

I am s-t-i-l-l trying to decide what deco. hardware to use on my refaced cabinets. Our previous cabinets had cutouts on the underside/upperside of the doors/drawers so I never had to make this decision. It seems like it is taking me longer to decide which pulls/knobs will looks best than planning the new doors, countertop etc. I have it narrowed down to the pewter,satin nickel, weathered nickel and iron side of the color wheel. If no one has these pulls I guess I will have to order a piece of each color to see which will look best. The pattern will be between Vineyard, Inspirations or a plain, simple style. Thank you. Jane

Kailuamom, I love those SS pulls! Thanks for the link. I went to the eBay link and was initially determined to buy them for my cabinets. However, as much as I love them, I realized they probably wouldn't look too good on my cabinets. Our house, built in the early-1990's, has the medium oak cabinets that were so popular at that time, and they have never had any cabinet pulls or knobs on them. I've been wanting to give the cabinets a little facelift by adding some cabinet pulls. The overall look of the home is more traditional (although I tend toward a little more clean lines and don't play that up a lot). As a result, while I really like the look of the pulls you have, I'm thinking they probably wouldn't be the best for our particular circumstances. Maybe in our next house ... I have a couple questions, though. I really want to use SS or brushed nickel pulls. We need to replace our current SS faucet soon, and it wil definitely be another SS faucet. However, the exposed hinges on the cabinets are darker (brass, I think?)---the same as the door knobs and hinges on all the doors throughout the house. So now I'm not sure what to do. I guess I could replace all of the hinges on the cabinets, which sounds daunting, but is that a good idea, since all the the other doors in the house have the brass hinges and door knobs? Or does it matter? Also, the darker brass hinges seem to blend into the woodgrain now, but if I replaced them with the SS hinges I think they would really stand out---not exactly the part of the cabinets I want to feature. So what would all of you recommend? I wish the hinges on the cabinet doors didn't show, but since they do am I going to have to use brass hardware if I want to add pulls to the doors? If so, I'll have to consider whether I'd be just as happy continuing without any pulls on the cabinets. I definitely would want something with fairly clean lines---maybe just a simple arch would be okay. As you can see, the more I try to decide the more confused I get. I really admire all of you who have had to make so many decisions in outfitting your kitchens. I hope to do a major remodel in the future, and I'm both dreading and eagerly looking forward to it.