The hangey down things are called "bails" and the back is an escutcheon. Are these things colonial period antiques? or victorian or reproduction pulls on an old piece. The thought occurs to me you maybe should not be polishing them...or perhaps they have been laquered and you need to remove the laquer before polishing them. Anyhow....remove them and put them in a non metallic basin cover with very hot water and sprinkle a liberal amount of Bar-Keepers Friend into the water. Let soak for about an hour....rinse well and follow up with more barkeepers friend for the really bad spots and then finish off with a little brasso....or a Blitz Cloth. A Blitz Cloth is a treated flannel cloth used by military officers to polish their "brass". Linda C

For a plating company, I would search for "decorative metal plating" or "decorative metal finishing". That would help separate your search out from the industrial platers who do strictly industrial/military type plating. You might check Schaub hardware for pulls. They have some in antique pewter or nickel finishes that might work for you.

You can definitely mix finishes and I agree that the antique brass would go with your granite, floors and sink. Go for it. Your kitchen will be unique. I like the look of antique brass and have seen some pretty faucets that come with that finish also. My only question is does antique brass have to be polished like regular brass?

Sorry for the late response - emails don't get sent to me for some reason when there are new replied. I had completely forgotten about this post! klcharles Your kitchen is exactly what I needed to see! Not only is it beautiful, but exactly what I'm trying to accomplish. My light fixture is a very hard color to explain. It's kind of gold but has silvery undertones? I feel like antique brass may actually end up being close but not close enough and stick out worse than using polished nickel. I really, really love how warm your kitchen feels. Since my island is a warm wood I'm going to go for the PN.. Though I still love antique brass and it's in a few other light fixtures throughout the house. Springoz WOW!! Everything in your kitchen just works so well, I love it. What kind of wood is your island? That light fixture is amazing!!!! Lathyrus One regret I have is that my door knobs are just the cheapest ORB we could find. My hope is to slowly replace them with antique brass knobs. Yours are absolutely beautiful. I did find ONE cabinet knob that looks like true antique brass, unfortunately I felt like some of the other options just didn't match it well. They were more.. Yellow?