1) Personally, I do not think all of the hardware has to match in finish. I have mixed chrome and brushed nickel and stainless in the same room. Personally, I prefer them to be in the same "family" (ie: silver colors), but that's just a personal preference. 2) I do not think that hardware finishes have a strong impact on whether a room looks dark or light. I believe that paint, floor color, countertop color, and vanity color have a much bigger impact on how dark a room feels because they fill up the space. 3) If you really like the contrast of dark wood (and/or dark granite or something) with the white, go for it. Consider using a light colored wall paint to keep the room from feeling too dark. I love the striking contrast of white and dark wood. 4) What other finishes would you like to mix in?

I like a mix. Our old house had ORB cabinet hardware, stainless plumbing and glass with polished nickel fixtures. It looked great together and was one of the reasons that the new owners (our new friends) loved the kitchen. This remodel will have PN, BN, and stainless. We're tying two rooms together and the FR has BN hardware where the kitchen will have PN with stainless appliances. gothaml, I look forward to seeing your lighting! I'm betting it's going to look wonderful.

Suzy - I have the same problem...my house is traditional colonial, all the current hardware is brass. (Doors, lights, etc.)Plus my decorating style when I did the living room, next to the kitchen, has definite golden undertones.My new cabinets are white traditional raised panel. I've flipped back and forth on lights and hardware and so forth, driving myself crazy. Do I match the brass? And coordinate with the living room? Or go more current with polished nickel and coordinate the style? Ay yi yi. My current thought is to use hardware that is "pearl nickel" or "#15 Satin Pearl" (Hickory Hardware & Anne at Home, respectively).The slight pearl hint on the hardware looks rather silver-gilt like, and magically picks up the golden tones in the adjacent room. You do need to get a sample, though, it looks different in real life than on the computer monitor. The tricky part is that there aren't that many manufacturers with the finish, and each one names it differently. You can find lights that have the silver gilt gold finish as well. (named differently by every manufacturer!) Just a thought, hope it helps!

My two bathrooms are as polar opposites as you can possible get! I'll explain: My bathroom (the master ensuite is light (but not white marble, hex floors and white/light gray paint light). Moonlight "travertine like" porcelain floors and walls, Seatones (blue, aqua and sea green) glass tiles, Giallo Ornamentale granite and a light blue ceiling. Dark vanity. Crystal glass sink. The master bedroom and ensuite are totally different from the rest of the house and we're ok with that. Those are private areas. The rest of the house is done in rich warm colors, rich browns, pumpkin, deep golds, plum, dark sage green, bronze and black. DH's bathroom flows with the look of the rest of the house. His granite is mostly black, deep orange, dark gold. His glass sink is a Colbalt Copper color. Floor tiles and tub/shower surround is dark charcoal (basically black with accents of tumbled crema marfil and ORB metals). The walls were just finished today. A beautiful spanish knife texture with a glazed faux finish. Color is reddish bronzed over dark gold base. This is also the bathroom guests will use. It's bold and dramatic. He likes it. I like it too but I much prefer the tranquility of the Caribbean inspired color palette in my bathroom. So yeah, I have no problem with bathrooms looking TOTALLY different <g> Oh, they ARE on opposite ends of the house :)