Have you actually seen or felt any of the hardware you're considering or just taking your GC's word on it? I had my heart set on the Aubrey pulls so drove 65 miles to a store to put my own hands and eyes on them before I shelled out my hard earned cash, which, btw, I recommend doing with ANY hardware you're considering. I was impressed by the quality of the pulls and knobs RH displays on the little boards. (I was disappointed to not be able to rummage around on the huge wall of hardware like they had years ago.) I bought small samples of the Aubrey in polished nickel and polished chrome, a couple of other pulls DH liked, and a couple of different knobs. They all felt solid, heavy, and very well made. I went on to order samples of a few other pulls from different companies when DH didn't initially like my choice of the Aubrey. Compared to the other pulls, the Aubrey felt completely smooth on the handle part and heavier. Some of the other pulls were rougher and you could feel a seam on the handle from the mold or whatever they use to form them. Even though DH didn't like the style of the pull at first, he liked the quality very much. In the end, I chose three sizes of the Aubrey pulls (no knobs) in polished nickel. Of the 100 pulls I ordered (bought many more than I needed as I wanted the flexibility of changing my mind on sizes and then returned the rest), only one any had sort of little flaw in the nickel. Having read that some people in the past had trouble with the Aubrey screws, I sent a pull with the screws to my cab maker ahead of installation so he could decide if I needed to buy different screws. He said the ones I was sent would work fine on my cabs. He had never used RH hardware before, but was impressed with the quality and appearance after he installed them. It's only been a few months, but I'm having zero problems with the pulls. Well, except maybe my obsessive need to walk around wiping the small finger prints off so that they shine. :-) Look at any pull you're interested in IRL. Touch them. Hold them. Hold them up to your cabs to test the projection and appearance. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: More pics on this thread

Sorry, ORB = oil-rubbed bronze! :) Our backdoor hardware is oil-rubbed bronze, which I hated at the start of our remodel, but which actually looks more at home now that it's done--it plays off of the black fixtures, I think. (We also replaced the door with a stained rather than painted door, which helped a lot too--so rather than "random finishes," we have the nickel on the cabinets, the ORB on the stained door, the brass on the painted doors/windows, and the black on the lights and accents (stove grates are black here too). Plus I totally forgot about the stainless hood, so yeah, we are not sticklers for matching finishes! (We do also have an older house, though, which I think gives us a little more freedom for finishes to vary than a newer house where everything was matchy-matchy to start with--even our windows and doors with original hardware vary in that some of the hardware and hinges have been painted over and are now "white" and some of the hardware is still brass.) Our kitchen is not open to any room except our breakfast nook, so we did match the fixture finishes there. But I don't think we needed to do that, necessarily. I would wait on your dining room fixture till the kitchen is done and see how you feel about matching versus not at that point.

You can use spray on lacquer from any hardware store to coat the hardware and keep it shiny.

As with all good design, matching everything exactly isn’t the right call. You want your space to be curated and custom, and if you choose the same hardware throughout the house (especially in different rooms), your home will feel builder-grade and boring. Your hardware should be sisters, not twins—meaning sharing some similar elements but not the exact same. For example, if you have a more modern aesthetic, pick 2-3 hardware colors and choose all modern hardware. That way, the space will feel cohesive and custom without feeling boring. We have some ideas about hardware, fromour favorites to everything you need to know about hardware to what paint colors go best with what hardware. Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress!