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

I think it is a matter of personal preference. I do like them to match ... one of the things I liked about doing a whole house reno and addition at once was the continuity of palette and finishes. So it was an important detail for me, in fact I put in all antique white ceramic hardware. That said, we have a pre-existing pseudo-indoor-outdoor space with something like 10 sets of french doors and a few solid doors. They had lovely brass hinges and levers, and I didnt think the antique hardware would look right (ye olde poolhouse?) so I kept them as is.

Hi, Again - First, I do like my KitchenAid dishwasher - especially the cool blue lights. It works well, even though I'm afraid to put in truly dirty dishes! I can't recall which model it is, but I can look it up if you want the info. Second, Etc. - Here are the photos I promised: More photos of White Fantasy Quartzite than you probably wanted (Is it wrong to be obsessed with this countertop?): Photos of Lutron Switchplates and Dimmers (I forget the color, but the line is Diva and Maestro - and I got samples and placed them against my backsplash to see if they matched. They did, perfectly - yay!) OK, I also included more photos of candy, because I'm also obsessed with that. Note that the kids are not allowed to touch the apothecary jars, but the penny candy jars are all theirs. Yes, I do laugh at myself:: I think the photo with the apothecary jars shows a good sample of the jet mist granite, too: Here are photos of the pendant lights and the Hickory Hardware American Diner pulls, knobs and cup pulls. They aren't great pics, unfortunately. The thing that ties the cabinet hardware, pendant lights and kitchen faucet/hot&cold water dispenser together are that they are all satin nickel and they all have "beading" - a row or two rows of banding - at the edges. I hope you can see that in the pics. I do occasionally catch my sweaters on the knobs and pulls, but as I haven't ruined anything yet, I don't mind: I just realized you can click on the photos to go to my album, where you can see larger version of them, which may be helpful for details. A few additional thoughts. I debated putting in the outlets on the horizontal, so they would blend in with the subway tile backsplash. Of course, as soon as I made up my mind, I went to tell my contractor, who was in the kitchen, installing the outlets upright. Oh, well. I can definitely live with it (although I had to work very hard to convince him to install the Lutron outlets/switchplates -he thought white was just fine. Silly man!) Also, although I thought I had thought everything through, using the great advice from everyone here, I'm not happy with my silverware drawers. There aren't enough - really because they are very shallow. I think I should have figured out how to put in at least one or two deeper drawers so I could have put in two layers of silverware, knives, etc. Also, I thought I was going to have three drawers underneath my cooktop, with the top drawer to be used for untensils. It turned out that I can't use the top drawer at all because of the depth of the cooktop. I'm not sure what I would have done differently, but I wish I could use that drawer! Anyway, I think that's it for now, until I show you the "before" and the bathroom. Thanks again!

live wire oak- Like happyafwife, in our area, ORB hasn't faded. It is used more often than not in new construction in the most upscale neighborhoods. That is why we felt 'safe' using it. I love the look of stained woodwork, too. But my old woodwork wasn't stained - it was a medium brown painted/glazed finish from the mid-1960's. After ~45 years and three owners, it looked terrible and needed to have something done. To strip and stain it all would have been cost prohibitive. So we opted to paint everything (cabinets, doors, baseboards, etc)a soft white. It makes the house look so much lighter and larger - I can't believe that too many potential buyers will be turned off by it.