I used a pull.... and I borrowed another GW-er's idea to use a larger size than on my other drawers. It's 7 or 8" long, so I hang by dish towel on it (right across from the sink). That way dirty/wet hands grab the towel and don't get the pull and cabinet dirty :) It works reeeeaaaaallly well, though I did have to find a knob/pull line that had lots of different sizes. I used Restoration Hardware. FWIW I have knobs on my cabinet doors, and pulls on my drawers. Since the trash is like a big drawer, this made sense to me. And- looks great!

I think the finish would be more important to me than the color. I'd choose satin or brushed nickel or satin or brushed brass depending on the rest of the colors in the room.

Our doors arrived with black hinges. Generally you're able to specify the finish for hinges. Was this not an option? As Alison said, pictures would help a lot, of both your kitchen and also the light fixtures and pulls you're considering. Especially since I'm not quite clear on what this -- "My style is traditional with a tidbit of county" -- look like. I had planned on oil rubbed lighting, cabinet pulls, and plumbing fixtures. Some of the better ORB finishes are darker and look almost matte black to the eye. My cabinets are cream colored and the appliances are going to be stainless steal. When I realized our sink would be stainless steal too, I thought the ORB faucet would look funny with all the SS, but then again won't the SS faucet look funny with the ORB pulls? I would choose a stainless steel faucet. No, it wouldn't look funny with ORB pulls because stainless steel or chrome tends to be the default for faucets. People expect the kitchen faucet to be something like stainless steel or chrome. ORB tends to read as trendy, and in your kitchen with all the other ORB elements, it could also look a bit too matchy-matchy.

I’ve had knobs, and I’ve had pulls. Much prefer pulls on all cabinets. I like the uniform look, and pulls are much more ergonomic. Also, as pulls stand away from the door, the doors tend to stay cleaner. When we renovated our kitchen (almost 6 years ago), I installed all pulls (from Top Knobs), and am so glad I did.