That's funny...our GC tried to steer us away from satin or darker finishes for the same reason yours gave for avoiding chrome! LOL Anyway, we had chrome fixtures throughout the house and I found them very easy to keep clean and shiny - just a wipe with glass cleaner polished them up nicely. We decided to go against GC's advice and used brushed nickel in our master bath and it's no harder to clean than the chrome. Just wipe with some glass cleaner.

Donna

Ditto lizabeth first half comments. I've already had rohl replace some faucet handles and I haven't even done a reveal yet! However, I love them so....

Thanks for all of the comments and opinions. All of my faucets are chrome. By hardware, I mean the cabinet knobs and pulls.

Do you have hard water? I hear polished anything is more difficult to keep looking nice if you have hard water.

We don't have hard water and I haven't had any difficultly keeping my polished chrome master bathroom fixtures clean. I usually use vinegar and a rag to clean them. If I am behind in getting to the bathroom to clean and there are a lot of water spots, vinegar and baking soda paste does the trick.

My kitchen faucet is brushed stainless (Hansgrohe) and it doesn't show anything.

In my recent guest bath remodel I went with polished chrome for faucets, shower fixtures, lighting and towel bars. I just wipe everything down as I dry myself off. It's been 7 months and I haven't had to use anything else to keep them sparkling. I would say my untreated water is in the mid-range of soft/hard.

I went with chrome because I was getting tired of brushed nickel (door knobs throughout the house), all chrome matches, and it's more budget-friendly. Even though I generally prefer warmer tones, the cooler look of chrome doesn't bother me at all. I would use chrome again for all my plumbing fixtures.

Ah,I see your note that you are looking at pulls and such, not faucets. My bathroom has glass knobs backed with chrome so I don't gave any experience with chrome knobs or pulls.

I've lived in a lot of houses with chrome and kids and it's never been an issue and no special upkeep. Polished nickel does show fingerprints and requires special cleaners.

Satin nickel knobs in the kitchen, easy to clean. Doesn't show anything but brownie batter.

Polished chrome knobs in the bathroom, easy to clean. Doesn't show anything but the occasional toothpaste splatter.

Eta: all splatters wipe off like they were never there.

It's all good.

This post was edited by bpathome on Tue, Jan 13, 15 at 12:09

I have satin finished pulls on my kitchen cabinets and they require frequent wiping. They do show fingerprints, smudges, etc. When ordering samples, I noticed that some brand's satin finishes are shinier than others. I went with the shinier brand, not because I liked the finish better, but because I liked the design. My pulls have square, flat surfaces, and I think that contributes to them showing smudges faster. That said, wiping them down now and then is not a big deal and does not involve "polishing", but rather just a quick wipe with a cloth.

I have chrome faucet and sink accessories, pulls and knobs in the kitchen and the Delta stainless satin in a bathroom. The chrome always looks good and is super easy to clean. The satin takes slightly more effort and shows spots between cleaning. I'm a chrome convert.

My contractor also tried to push me towards brushed finishes. I have always had chrome -- I have never found it to be a maintenance nightmare. I like the little bit of sparkle that you get with polished fixtures. We too have a busy household with small children, and I have never found my chrome to be difficult.

i am not sure if these are polished nickel, i just remember my kd having them in one nickel and chrome.
they have a sheen and are no fuss at all. actually my dark cabinets show every little smudge but not the pulls.
i will say that i wanted chrome, it was so bling! i was vetoed by hubby and kd who agreed it was too much:(
at least the shiny nickel was close to the bling of chrome...go with what speaks to you:)

I have polished nickel pulls, knobs, appliance pulls & faucets. No upkeep at all w the pulls & knobs. The faucets show some water spots which are easily wiped away w/ a dish towel. My kitchen is 1 year old. I have the Flitz & another metal cleaner (the names escapes me) but have yet to use either.

My KD suggested chrome and we went with chrome, but I'm still waiting for the reno to begin this month. I think it is more timeless and it is the finish on my faucets that is supposed to last the longest. Plus, it just prefer how it looks. Someone mentioned bling - that is funny since I was thinking of having some crystal knobs and my KD said we can always add those later. Idk, I'd just train the boys to wipe stuff down - sounds like a good chore.

I'm not a bling person and didn't get chrome for that reason. Around here one can get into trouble using "timeless" for most anything, but I do think that chrome is a direct and enduring finish.

To me there's a world of difference between chrome and polished nickel. PN is really pretty and I do like the warmth of it compared to chrome, but I've always had chrome and it's about as low-maintenance as a finish can be, while most PN finishes tend towards the opposite end of the maintenance scale.

I agree with linelle about chrome--it's never totally on-trend and so never totally dated, either.

It depends entirely on your water.

In our last home, we had town water, and I never had spots on anything and didn't understand all the fuss and figured it must be people who don't have cleaning help.

Huh.

Our new house (old) has well water, which we have conditioned with a mini factory in the basement but it still very hard. My nickel faucets ( and especially a nickel bar sink) drive me crazy, and that is with twice weekly housecleaners and weekday kitchen help.

I'd say, ask around your neighborhood?

I have polished nickel hardware on my cabinets and faucets in kitchen and powder room. I think it depends on the manufacturer. It's only been a month for me but so far, no issues at all with the cabinet hardware (top knobs). even the knob on the trash pull out which is probably the most heavily used (with dirty hands!) looks perfect. The faucet I wipe down with a towel after every use and it looks great (waterstone). However my powder room faucet (kohler) is a bit of a pain to keep looking good and if I could redo, I'd do that in chrome.

I put polished nickel hardware in a bathroom 18 months ago. I bought it at HD, so nothing special. I didn't see any need to polish it until reading one of these threads a few weeks ago as it looked fine to me. I took a cloth to it and it did make it shinier. But nothing came off on the white cloth. I wouldn't get a PN faucet though.

I did PN for pulls and knobs (along with faucets). It's prolly the only bling in my timeless (but a bit mundane) kitchen. I tested deep cleaning my foreign-made knobs (restoration hardware) with simichrome and it did take off the brown stain the knob had.

We have had PN knobs and pulls from RH for 4 1/2 years. No real issues. I've polished a couple of them a few times. Chrome would be the safest but I like the warmth of the PN. Faucets are SS.

We have had PN knobs and pulls from RH for 4 1/2 years. No real issues. I've polished a couple of them a few times. Chrome would be the safest but I like the warmth of the PN. Faucets are SS.

We have Polished Nickel knobs and pull in our kitchen and chrome in our baths. Built the house about 3+ years ago now. We are a busy young family (kids 3 & 7) as well. I am very type A with cleaning, but have had to learn to let go with the addition of child #2 and double the square footage. With all that said, I have NEVER polished our kitchen hardware. Frankly, it has never occurred to me to do so. I simply wipe the most used ones pulls when I notice them looking dirty (while I'm already cleaning the kitchen after dinner). That's it! Who has time to polish knobs?!?

We have these in polished aluminum. I love the way they look, but because of how they are made and installed, they do catch every crumb and even lint, and grab fingerprints. I'm not super anal OCD about it, but if you have those tendencies, you may want to go with a brushed chrome finish. I have never found nickle to be worth the extra expense.

We have polished nickel everything in our bathroom. When we were looking, I was told to make sure it had a PVD finish. Here's a description from the California Faucets website (from whom we purchased most of our polished nickel):

"PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) uses a state-of-the-art process that molecularly bonds the finish to the faucet, creating a super-hard surface that is by far the most durable available today. Products with a PVD finish will not corrode, discolor, or tarnish. Even high wear and tear items like handles or pop-up drains.

These cutting edge finishes are so effective, we guarantee them for life against tarnishing, PVD has proven resistant to over 100 cleaning products and can withstand many harsh environmental factors such as salt air and hard water."

Obviously, this description includes some marketing, but I just wanted to make sure you were looking at PVD finishes if you do go with polished nickel.

I agree with mtnrdredux - Polished nickel is great with water that is not hard or with a lot of minerals - We installed a PN Rohl faucet and shower in our bath 18 months ago and really easy to maintain and looks great - I would not have done this in our old house that had a lot of minerals in the water.

Wanted to add .. Our polished nickel faucetry was all quite high end. Herbeau, Rohl, THG, Horus. Pretty darn pricey, 1k and up per faucet.

So it was not about fixture quality,but water composition. Do ask your neighbors!

Polished chrome does not need much of anything to look bright and shiny. No polishing. I had fifty year old chrome knobs and fixtures that looked as good as new. Chose chrome again when we renovated those spaces. Chose chrome again for our four houses. We do have hard water which spots in one of our houses.

I have shiny chrome and brushed. Both are low maintenance. I like the shiny on the cabinets with a darker stain, adds a bit of sparkle.

I had a PN Rohl kitchen faucet. I love the warmth of the PN compared to chrome, but I will say the PN was more high maintenance. But, beautifil! I don't have hard water, for what it's worth.

I know it's a few months old, but I found this thread because I had the same question, except I've already bought my PN fixtures. They're beautiful and new and shiny, but I already notice water spots on my Rohl exposed shower, and they don't just wipe off. We have a water softener and usually no spotting problems. I'm afraid to use anything besides mild detergent and water, although Rohl recommends a special cleaner occasionally--forget the name. I've had polished chrome and brushed nickel faucets/showers before, with no issues. I don't mind a little upkeep, but it's kind of frustrating to think I have to worry about water in a shower.

feddup, that's exactly how I felt after having my Rohl PN kitchen faucet installed for a week! I don't have the name of the polishing paste they recommend to use, but it's good & does work well. I bought mine on Amazon & another product that helped to keep it less spotty for a little while, but not forever! It'll look great after polishing it, but you do have to use it often. Yes, a big pain in the bum! But, oh so pretty! Sorry I don't have any better news for you.

Good to know. I was so worried about using marble in the shower; never gave a thought to the metal.

I've had it then, polished chrome all the way and honed marble for me. Four kids. I'm a dietician so cook lots and we have six cats and an irish wolfhound

feddup, I believe someone mentioned using Simichrome in one of the other posts. That's what Rohl suggested. I can't remember the other product I bought off Amazon, but it helped to keep it looking for a few extra days! Any help is great w/ PN!

we've got all PN waterstone and I've been using catmom's water/alcohol/lavender concoction with a microfiber cloth and it works like a charm.

Our kitchen faucet is by Grohe and for some reason only dirty water really tends to show up. It's the kind of dirty water that leave spots on the countertop you'd want to wipe up anyway. I'm not sure quite how that works but apparently some brands are better about this sort of thing than others.

I have lived in the same house for 39 years and have done three remodels. There is no doubt in my mind that chrome is the way to go. I have one set of fixtures which have been here for 25 years and they are beautiful. As for Rohl, plumbing supply people say there is no better and I put in one set in my main bathroom (I have six) and love it but don't use glass cleaner on it. Supply stores have a specific product and you don't even need that if you just quickly wipe up after using, one swipe with a microfiber cloth I keep under the sink. I am not a fanatic, it takes ten seconds and it doesn't matter if you miss a couple of times but you will never be sorry. However, now companies like California Faucets and Newport Brass make the Rohl classic styles in polished chrome and the price is about 40% less and you have both beauty and excellent function. In the long run, after I have obsessed over the exact choices every time, I like everything I have now because they are good, fairly expensive but not Rohl top of the like (or Watermark) and polished chrome and they last.

I just ordered chrome sliding door pulls, chrome door knobs and chrome faucets. Hubby is against chrome pulls/knobs in the kitchen and since that's his project, I guess I will see what he comes up with.