'Brass' and 'all-brass' faucets can be made of separate individual brass pieces that are then soldered together to make the faucet guts (what is below the pretty trim piece that you see). The pieces can be made thinner and the final faucet thus has less material in it and costs less, especially with overseas assembly these days. Such faucets I have been able to bend in my hands. The casting process that produces a 'cast brass' faucet results in a one-piece assembly for the faucet guts. The casting process can't be controlled to make thin parts, so the final part is thicker, heavier, stronger and more costly. The guts of cast faucets are strong, durable assemblies, and are typically found in higher quality hardware.

I ended up doing this w/ my kitchen faucet about 6 months ago & I love it! I've been trying to find out how to post my pictures on here for y'all, but I can't figure it out. Sorry! Not very techy here! About a year or so ago, I'd seen a post on a designers blog where the girl unlacquered her kitchen faucet. Unfortunately, the blogs gone now but I have her pictures & what she said all about it. Both, the blogger & I, sent ours to someone that unlacquered them for us. She sent hers to a guy, I believe in San Francisco. The name of the place is The Sink Factory & the guy that did hers is named Ragnar. I sent mine to a metal guy here in Austin. You can reach him here & his name is Augustine. He wasn't real cheap, but for the price I paid for the faucet + his cost, it was still less than buying one that already has a live finish. This girl mentioned that she had gone around to a bunch of salvage places & found out that any lacquered brass can be stripped, even if it says "Lifetime Finish". The only prerequisite is that it has to be solid brass. She said the neck on her faucet was brass plate on copper, but Ragnar told her he could still do it. He told her not to use anything abrasive on it & not to polish it & it'll keep looking good. She said she cleans it every couple of weeks with non abrasive cleaners & that's it. Augustine said my neck was solid brass, but that surprised me because it was lighter than the main piece, so I don't really know. Just to be safe, I don't use anything abrasive on mine, either. I think I found the exact faucet that she had, on Overstock.com. It's still on there, here. It's so cheap, $290...but mine's dripping already, so what does that tell you about the quality! Now if I can just get it to stop dripping, it might be worth it! I have pictures of both, hers & mine, but again, I can't figure out how to post! It used to be so easy on old GW! :) I have a mac & have saved her pictures & mine as PDF's. I think that's the problem! Maybe I can try to figure it out tomorrow. Anyway, hopefully this will encourage you to go & do it too!

Your refrigerator handles look like they are an ORB (oil rubbed bronze/brass) finish. We have door knobs from Rejuvenation that are true oil-rubbed brass, and over 18 years the dark brown "oil" finish has rubbed off of the frequently-used doors revealing the brass underneath, but in a natural way so it doesn't look patchy (like chipped paint). Your fridge handle on the left sort of looks like a naturally worn finish, but on the right handle it looks like paint chipping. In any case, as a temporary fix I would recommend removing them and spraying them with several coats of Rustoleum spray paint in "Dark Walnut" satin finish. That will give you a convincing ORB finish. With heavy use the paint will probably start to wear off again, but you can always re-coat them as needed. I have used Dark Walnut satin spray paint on hooks, storm door handles, a headboard, and more, to mimic other ORB hardware in our house. The only place it hasn't held up really well is on the storm door handles where it's worn similarly to your fridge handles, but it still looks better than the shiny brass it's (mostly) covering up. I probably didn't sand the shiny brass on the handles with fine grain sandpaper before spray painting them, but would recommend doing that to your fridge handles to help it adhere better.

Actually, I don't have one on my list...... Why? For the OP here: Because I love stainless or satin nickel for a kitchen faucet unless someone has a white farmhouse sink, and hates a stainless sink. That white or soft white sink looks good with any finish, really, and I'd eschew only chrome from the many available. Forget Polished nickel for the high maintenance aspect including spotting. The OP wants "warm, warm, warm, and traditional. But the op does NOT see that the polished brass is actually less warm than the more burnished tones of brass. Those that look JUST a wee bit aged. Richer. Less "bossy". He mentions door knobs.....The most beautiful of which in brass tones are Emtek "french antique", and even better when just the rosette back is that finish, with a crystal knob. The best brass finish in lighting is hands down, Visual Comfort.......whether accent or the entire fixture. Good mimic? Pottery Barn! He may or may not know, that brass , (after nearly two decades of cool gray, shiny interiors) made a gigantic comeback as the market exhausted cool interiors to a level of boredom nearing yawn. As to a very traditional faucet in a richly toned brass? That makes me want a bridge faucet! Not for convenience, but only for looks..........YIKES!!!! ykes, yikes. below My only point to the op is that when you have a budget ? You will have a hard time fighting major marketplace trends. You can certainly have it "your way" but it will often imply a deeper dig, more money.......and you should always ask why the very thing you seek seems so unavailable. Or not great when you DO find it within a mass market google search. The OP has not mentioned whether he is cladding appliances. Even if that is the case? You can't clad the range: ), nor the microwave. So there WILL be some stainless.... some black in this kitchen. Without hammering brass tones to death ; without annoying the op ? One has to ask, WHY even the most significant of online mass retailers, seem to know something you do not know, or are simply unaware of , as nobody does a kitchen weekly or monthly save designers. Pottery barn light "brass" below- and you will see the identical tone in any item PB wearing so much as a speck of brass finish. Lamp, bath hardware etc. Which looks warmer and richer below? This?? Or this : )? Door knobs....... Classic? You bet. Which looks warmer and richer below? Emtek french antique or their polished brass ? Want cabinet knobs? A cup pull? There you go. Some folks in the vast marketplace are better at something than others. That includes finishes . Some look old money rich, and others look a bit common "Big Box" store. That's life. Huge trends are far different than fads. Scroll back up to that warming trend I mentioned . Trends are hard to ignore: )