Mixing Hardware Finishes - No Big Deal?
Danielle Gottwig
8 years ago
Did / would you mix hardware finishes in your kitchen? Do people notice differences? Or is that a detail that goes unnoticed?
We'll be getting stainless steel appliances. Sink material has not been determined.
My favorite pulls (Design House's Saloon Pulls) are an "antique pewter" color, which doesn't seem match common faucet finishes or stainless:
So here's what I am wondering. Assuming the above selections are not changed, do I need to be careful about faucet finish? Should we avoid chrome faucets (for brushed nickel), if the pulls are not also a bright, gleaming material?
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Comments (12)
lisa_a
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoI had several designers tell me that as long as the style and feel of
the elements were similar, mixing finishes wasn't a problem so mix away. So we did. We chose fixtures that are clean-lined, classic, and traditional leaning. We also kept the finish the same - satin nickel - for all plumbing fixtures throughout the house.We have ORB pulls and lighting, SS ovens, SS and hammered pewter hood, white fridge (existing, not replacing until it dies), paneled DW and a satin nickel faucet in the kitchen. We have antique silver tea set items in the glass cab to the right of the sink.
Close-up of pulls.
We have quite a mix of finished for our lighting in our FR: wrought iron, antique brass and glass (with a red glass finial), ORB, and polished nickel. The cab pulls (can't see any in the pic below) are matte black.
We have a polished brass chandy, matte black pulls and ORB door hardware in the DR. (As part of our remodel, we replaced our home's builder basic polished brass knobs and
hinges with ORB levers and hinges. The finish was wearing off the most heavily used knobs.) We bought the chandy more than 21 yrs ago, when we built our home. Loved it then, love it still; we saw no reason to replace it just because it may not be the "in" look or metal.Closet-up of pulls.
HTH!
Danielle Gottwig thanked lisa_aRelated Discussions
What's the big deal about Pro-Mix??
Comments (16)Minnamouse - I posted this at the end of a different thread you posted but perhaps you didn't see it. Here's a cut & paste section, followed by a few new thoughts: "Minnamouse, if you had all that trouble with damping off you might really want to consider a good commercial blend. The reason I say that is because they are mixed to provide an appropriate level of moisture retention and trying to get that with your own mix could be a real challenge. I like Promix and Sunshine mix best and personally dislike Miracle Gro. Part of that is probably due to regional growing condition bias. Miracle Gro dries out way too fast for me here while the other two stay at just the most perfect moisture level for much longer times. I do think that Miracle Gro may have an advantage for people growing in wetter conditions. The same features that hurt germination rates for me and made planting out challenging would probably have been advantages in growing regions that got a lot of rain this year. If you are still working at getting good results with WSing, I'd make ProMix a first choice in areas where you usually don't have muddy gardens and Miracle Gro potting mix a first choice in areas where mud in the garden is common. (Sunshine mix is less readily available and more pricey.) I'd hold off on using home mixed mixes for anything but seeds you have in huge abundance where won't be upset if they don't grow. That's actually what we do - I use our home grown container mix for things like zinnias where I have many giant bags of seed available. When you have a load of surplus seed you can live with a potting mix that wicks water in a less than perfect way or that might crumble or break apart when you try to transplant hunks of seedlings." To specifically address your question today, in my opinion the biggest deal about using a purchased mix is that the moisture wicking and retention balance is better than anything you can put together on your own - and that can be VERY important in seed starting. My family likes to be very cost conscious. We grow most of our own food. We have to container grow our veg in five gallon buckets here because the local soil is pretty much just rocks, coal and a bit of clay. (Nice if you want to run a quarry, lousy for gardening!) Our growing & food producing containers are all filled with a home blend of compost with a little perlite. That's great for mature plants and not having picture perfect wetting and moisture retention is not a problem at that stage. Good enough is perfectly fine. But for seed starting and seedlings we only use Sunshine mix or Promix. Yes, it's more costly - especially when I WSed over 3600 containers of flowers and hubby indoor sowed over 200 tomatoes plants and about 50 each of peppers, eggplants, gourds, melons, beans and the rest of the stuff. Maybe I should also mention that hubby Pat's family has been commercial growers in England for at least 6 generations. They made all of their container mix (like you describe above) but bought in their seed sowing mix by the pallet load. In his professional growing experience, and our personal home growing experience it is worth the cost to buy a good seed starting mix - and save home mixes for once the plants are past the seedling stage. That's how we do it because we consider the cost of seed and we want strong seedlings and high germination rates. That's also why I won't use miracle gro here - although if I was in waterlogged Pennsylvania this year I'd probably appreciate it's moisture wicking profile better. I hope this helps. I don't know if you've seen any of my other posts but if you have you probably know that I've got very similar views to you about getting really good value for your money when you are gardening. To me there is such incredible value in planting a seed and getting a healthy strong seedling - ready to grow big and strong, provide flower or food, and then provide seed for future years. I just can't afford the cost of seed, time lost, and food lost by seed starting in a homemade mix - and that's even with having my own English gardener (with decades of growing experience) right here and his elderly mother(with even more experience) just a phone call away. I hope I don't sound like I'm just a member of some kind of Pro Mix fan club. I'm not. I like anything that gets me top notch results. That just happens to be that pricey Pro Mix and Sunshine mix. Lynda Here is a link that might be useful: This is why I seed start in Promix or Sunshine mix...See MoreWould you make a big deal out of this?
Comments (2)If you discussed the cherry wood top and told the designer that's what you wanted, then IMO you should make a big deal out of it. Regarding the base drawer, find out if you paid for the pegboard. If so, ask for a credit. Since it wasn't listed on the order I doubt you were charged for it. Since you're the one that knows what was thoroughly discussed with the designer, it's difficult to say who should pay for what. For the prices you've been quoted to make corrections you could probably have the redo's done much cheaper than going thru the designer. I'd take the base drawer to a cabinet maker and I'd also get a quote from him for a new cherry wood top. If the desk was painted, you could have it repainted for much less than $1000. As you've discovered, just because professionals are brought in to do the work doesn't mean the homeowner can assume everything will run smoothly. Double check everything!...See MoreWould you make a big deal out of this? Kitchen remodel...
Comments (9)I am not sure how much you should pay for vs. the KD. We talked for such a long time with our kitchen guy, changed styles, colors, nice to haves etc quite a few times. He kept notes as did I. When the final quote came in, some of the "nice to haves" weren't listed. He didn't forget them, we just never made them a "must have" and he was keeping our budget in mind. So when we asked for a new quote with those things and it sent the cost over our previously agreed upon budget, it was then our decision to keep them in. We told him originally that budget was our #1 consideration, so he did what we told him. We also got a quote from another designer who put every bell and whistle in without asking what we wanted and it came in at twice our budget and she didn't think twice about presenting it to us that way! Each designer has their way. I don't think yours intentionally misrepresented the order. You even said those things were "mentioned" in the past, but I think it was up to you to make sure you got what you wanted. I would bet that peg drawer would have been the same cost he is quoting you now if you had gotten it in your original order. The color is a whole different story. Where did he get the color from that you got? I don't understand that one and it seems he should correct that for you....See MoreMixing metal finishes in bathroom
Comments (4)I have this article saved in my favorites for a reason � I love to mix chrome with a hint of gold or bronze. It gives a great look and I think you'll be very pleased with it. sweeby makes a great point by noting that the fixtures are much more important than the color you go with. Here is a link that might be useful: [Metal Mixology[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/metal-mixology-stsetivw-vs~318268)...See More
cpartist
8 years agolisa_a
8 years ago
Lisa G
8 years ago
banana suit
8 years ago
Amber
8 years ago
Carrie B
8 years agoDanielle Gottwig
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoAbby F
8 years agosomersetlass
8 years ago
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