On rereading this, thought of something kinda funny. You mention the brushed nickel door knobs. IMO, you can go with whatever bathroom faucet finish you like, even if it doesn't match the door knobs or the faucets in the kitchen. I'm definitely not a "the whole house has to match" guy. The funny part is that back in the 1950's, it apparently was important to match the door knobs, in a new house at least. In my tract development, all the homes have a sort of copper-tone finish on the door knobs and hinges, except on the bathroom and kitchen side of the doors, where they are chrome. The hinges were also chrome (they are on the bathroom and kitchen side for both doors), although I replaced them because they were pitted and rusty. I'm assuming the homes all had chrome faucets originally. And it's not like they took two knob sets and just split them, because the locking button is on both chrome ones. Strange, eh? I'm wondering if it's possible to order a split finish on lock sets these days? I'm in the process of replacing the doors in the house and they will all have the same finish on both sides. A little quirk that will be lost in my home, although not quite. The same thing was done with the two pocket doors going into the eat-in kitchen - the little finger grippy things on the door - kitchen side is chrome while other side is the copper tone. I replaced both doors but kept the same finger grips. This post was edited by DreamingoftheUP on Sun, Mar 23, 14 at 6:22

Good point yadax. At least you have the stuff to hand and can bring it in to the room to see how it looks. We're supposed to be deciding on our shower door this weekend and although we are going frameless, there will still be hinges, etc. writersblock, I agree that it may all end up looking random which is the last thing I want. I'm all for sleek and organized looking. Argh, I just cannot deal with any more decisions! The safest way to go might be everything else in chrome to match what we've already installed.

"brushed nickel in ... on one of these posts someone said that finish is plated" I've mentioned "plated". Almost all / options / colors / finishes / are plated. Underneath the plating is something solid. e.g. solid brass (hardware like handles) or a brass tube (the faucet body) or a strong plastic (the faucet's handspray). I used to find it confusing to read "all brass" and "chrome" in the same description. Not any more. Chrome is plated and always has been. For some people, it's considered such basic simple knowledge that it doesn't need to be stated. For some reason, it was not part of my general education and upbringing. So, I went digging for information and found that there was almost always a plated finish (on faucets and on hardware): chrome. brushed nickel, whatever other finish... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrome_plating "Types Decorative Decorative chrome is designed to be aesthetically pleasing and durable. Thicknesses range from 0.002 to 0.020 mil (0.00005 - 0.0005 mm), however they are usually between 0.005 and 0.010 mil (0.00013 and 0.00025 mm). The chromium plating is usually applied over bright nickel plating. Typical base materials include steel, aluminum, plastic, copper alloys, and zinc alloys.[2]" Most of the other finishes are by PVD method. Even stainless can be applied by PVD. The exception to this "finish plated onto something" is stainless hardware in general and stainless steel faucets that are stainless throughout (which are rare, and European). "Stainless" is a recipe with many ingredients; depending on the recipe it can end up looking any of an infinite number of shades: more nickel, more chrome, more silver, more white or more gray. Chrome also has color variations. It can be applied thin or thick. It can be applied on top of a layer of bright nickel plating. This changes the look. Look at chrome from a very high end manufacturer, and you will see beautiful color. -- I notice that the manufacturers of hardware and faucets almost never describe their chrome. -- some faucet manufacturers will lifetime warranty only chrome and one or two other finishes. sometimes they exempt the whole faucet from their lifetime warranty even though it's only the finish that has changed. (!). --

I've never heard of wenge before and am still scratching my head over what ORB is. Faucets are heavy duty, but if you want some brown or bronze type tones on other things that don't take such a beating, you can simply spray paint them. I bought a hanging Tiffany chandelier that had bright brass fittings. I spray painted them bronze and since nobody ever even touched them, that paint is still going strong and nobody would ever guess they didn't come that way. I didn't even bother to prime, as I recall. I just masked off stuff and sprayed away, chain and all. I'm not sure if this is helpful to you, Meg, but I hope it is.