If you had to guess, what hardware finish would you guess is the most popular?
Satin nickel?
Brass?
While satin and aged brass finishes are making a slow but steady comeback, our three, most-popular-ordered-every-day-of-the-week finishes are: oil rubbed bronze, satin nickel and satin brass; in that order. And you thought I was kidding about brass!
We stock just more than ten hardware finishes and that’s just for hinges! They come in radius and square profiles, spring loaded, pin and ball bearing styles. Maybe that’s too many choices but we understand that coordinating all of your lighting, plumbing, cabinet and door hardware finishes can be like working a 1,000 piece puzzle. So, how best to choose hardware finishes? Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
1. Do you want all rooms to match throughout the house? If so, pick finishes that have longevity. Bright brass was popular for well over twenty years before it fell out of favor… and primarily because it became more and more yellow, shiny and plastic. Solid, non-plastic, brass is making a comeback (see above.)
2. What will your door color be? Ideally, your door and cabinet hardware contrasts with your door and cabinet stain or paint so that you can see where the handle is on the door. If your cabinets are gray, you may need a little shine, like a bright nickel, or a darker finish, like brushed bronze, in order to achieve that contrast.
3. Do you plan to sell your home in five years or less? If so, select satin nickel. It’s considered a neutral finish that doesn’t attract attention and blends easily with neutral colors as well as brighter tones.
4. Where are your natural transition points? If your master suite has good separation from the other rooms in your home, it’s perfectly acceptable to select finishes that are unique to the rest of the selections you make. Polished nickel is a great example. If you love the warmth and beautiful undertones of polished nickel but can’t afford to make it the selection for your entire home, make it your hardware selection for just the master suite.
5. How will you make sure everything matches? You won’t. But you can obtain samples and compare them side by side; door hardware with cabinet hardware with lighting fixtures with plumbing fixtures. Consider them at the distances they will be from one another and know that if they’re close-but-not-quite, they still might peacefully co-exist. Especially if one is on the ceiling and the other is on the door.
Lastly, be aware that there are no industry standards for finish names like, “oil rubbed bronze.” While most manufacturers offer an oil rubbed bronze finish, they will vary from brown to black with copper accents and everything in between.
The good news? We have storm door hardware, multi-point locking hardware, barn door hardware and hinges in finishes that jive with one another! All you have to do is make sure the lighting and plumbing fixtures match! Happy selecting!
-Holly Bayer, ASID