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!!

We selected Thomasville "Eden" in cherry stained in briarwood. We are VERY happy with them so far. They are installed as of last week, just need to be trimmed out. No, we did not install them ourselves. We used the installer from Home Depot. When we met him prior to signing the agreement, we liked him so much that we ended up asking him to be the GC on our entire project. Everything has run relatively smooth, with only a few minor glitches. The cabinets themselves seem to be good quality and we have not found anything (yet) that disappoints us about them. We went with most of the "bells and whistles" including soft close, full extension drawers, slide out shelves, lots of trim molding, 6 columns, and the side door things at the ends of every run. We paid $18,500 for them - and got in on the 10% off deal at Home Depot in addition to the free base cabinet with silverware separator from Thomasville. (the other option was a free SS sink, but we'd already decided on Blanco Silgranit). So in answer to your question, YES, I found them to be "reasonable" considering the sale & freebie, compared to other cabinet shops I tried dealing with. I am going to try to get updated pics today to post on my RMS space and when I do, I'll repost it on here for you to get a closer look. Another thing - we LOVE our KD from Home Depot. She's gone above and beyone and we've struck a friendship up besides the business end. Hope that answers your questions. Feel free to ask more if you come up with anything. It's been a very positive overall experience thus far, and I'm happy to share.

OP, please forgive this OT commentary to answer Julie. You can email me, too, if you click on My Page. Julie, thank you for the compliments. It's taking me so long to finish that no one notices anything I do get done anymore! :o) Anyway, I posted something in the forum below about type of paint. As for painting 'pure white', I wouldn't do bright white, but something on the order of Behr's Swiss Chocolate, which is just a perfect, subtle white that will compliment your granite. I painted cabinets as described on the link below. After drying several days, I then took a small palm hand sander with 220 grit and sanded off the corners, edges, and high profile parts on the doors and other areas of the doors to show wearing away of paint. I then took a small 1" black foam brush and used Minwax stain on all of the exposed newly sanded wood, cleaning off excess stain off the paint and doors in about five minutes. You will have to choose a stain to compliment your granite and wood floors. This can be a messy process, so by a couple of boxes of disposable medical gloves. This is the best, easiest way to keep a messy job 'clean'. Especially if you work in the house like I do. Once stained, let it dry a day. Then I mixed the glaze as I described on the web address in this paragraph, except I painted it around all of the edges of the door profile to accent and define the interior areas. (I mixed up about a pint of glaze at a time.) I wanted a more dramatic look to my doors, so I left a lot more product on my doors that the average pro painter. Use a 2.5" sash brush by Wooster. I love Purdy brushes, but for this job, only the Wooster works the best. I know, I tried them all. http://www.sherichase.com/progress/July2008Update.htm . After the glaze, I also did another technique to the doors using an oak colored stain on the raised, thickest part of the door to give it a more golden, rustic look. I have a similar pattern in my kitchen table, except it has a light grey glaze. I did dry-dragging of a large brush across the front face of the doors with the light oak stain. It's subtle, but gives dimension and character when you're up close. I can take a better photo if you like. Let this dry a day. Then I waxed the doors with clear Briwax. Ut takes about five minutes per door or so. Here's where I made a bit of a 'mistake'. I waxed with light brown, but I think it was a bit too yellow, so I'm removing some of it now. Half of the kitchen is waxed with clear, the other half I'm having to really work to get the wax off without messing up my paint job. So even on my photo above, you can see the uppers have brown wax and lowers have clear wax. It's all subtle. Well, I do have some of the brown wax off the upper in that photo. It's going to take some time and I have a lot to do right now. As always, wet sand BY HAND between every coat of anything you put on your doors: paint, glaze, etc. Just make sure the product has cured before you sand. Wet sanding is the best. I gradually work up to 600 grit. I am still working on my doors now and am not pass 320 grit, I believe. I still have to get off that brown wax. It's not coming off like I think it should with the clear wax. That being said, my kitchen photos show myriads of stages and mistakes. You can see my progress at: www.sherichase.com/progress to see where I started and am today. Email me and I'll give you my ph.# in case you need to call. FYI: Only use a hand palm sander to remove wood and paint. Do not 'wet sand' with any electrice machine. All wet sanding is done by hand. Light pressure with the grain, wetting the door with a fine mist spray bottle then wiping off excess with a microfiber cloth. Hope this helps. Here is a link that might be useful: Painting cabinets

Cotehele, I'm sorry for not getting back to you sooner but I totally missed this post. The hardware is from Horton Brasses. They have a wonderful return policy so if you order from them and the color isn't right, you can just send it back. Megpie, I would love to post pictures of my kitchen because that would mean it was finished!!!! Things are moving at a glacial pace but all I need done is the backspash, shoemolding and painting. I'll try to post some progress pictures later today though.