Mixing Metals at Home: The Do's and The Don'ts to Know | Kathy Kuo Home (2024)

Hi Kathy, we are remodeling house and I’m not sure which kitchen faucet I should use. My decor is colonial/primitive, my countertops will be quartz soapstone look with a black Blanco sink, my appliances are black stainless and my cabinets are a medium taupe color. The rest of the fixtures (bath) are oil rubbed bronze. Someone told me to use either brushed or polished nickel for my kitchen faucet (please note, I am not a fan of chrome) and I was wondering what your opinion would be. Thanks so much. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks for the advice to not worry about micing warm metals like nickel with cool tones. I know nothing about colors. So this helps me plan for my house.

My kitchen has white cabinets with pewter pulls and stainless steel appliances. Island is stained charcoal. Granite is slate blue grey and beige. Im installing a globe/orb chandelier over island and trying to figure out what finish to get. Pewter or brushed nickel?

Hi Kathy!
We just bought a home that needs some renos. The overall house has silver hardware and chrome faucets. We are painting all the cabinets white and we are going for a modern farmhouse feel. The floors are a dark grey/brown laminate. The staircase railings all have matte black metal finish. I love the look of the gold/brass hardware. I was thinking of doing pulls and knobs in the gold/brass and toying around with either matte black or gold/brass lighting fixtures. Probably a mix of both. Do all my lighting fixtures need to match? Like all black or gold etc. And also the faucet in the kitchen is silver but I dont feel like replacing that at the moment. Would the silver faucets look silly?

Would love an opinion. My dining room is fairly neutral I think, it’s repose grey wall, with the chair rail. And the rug and curtains are a grey/cream Buffalo check. The wood furniture is the farmhouse two tone, creamy white on bottom, walnut top. I’m thinking of mixing black and gold hardware, but not sure how it’ll look. The entryway table is nearby, and that has a gold frame and gold brushed candlestick holders. So I was thinking between curtain rods, chandelier and sideboard decor, I could mix them. I found your post helpful, but which would I make the dominant metal?

Thank you, your article was great! I am building a new home that will have white cabinets with a large navy island and navy hood fan. The counters are alabaster white quartz. I really wanted to go with gold tones for my hardware and lighting, but chickened out. I’ve already purchased 2 beautiful polished nickel chandeliers for above the island, but I am being drawn back to the gold tones. I’m at a loss as to return the beautiful chandeliers and switch to gold or try to incorporate the two metals. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!!

Hi Kathy,
Question: We are building a house at the coast, and we need to make door hardware and cabinet hardware choices asap. My dilemma is that the mixing of the metals. My kitchen cabinets are white with white quartz with veining of greyish/brown going through it. Should I use the bronze door hardware while having a stainless steel faucet and satin/brushed nickel pendants in the kitchen? Also, should I use bronze or satin/brushed nickel cabinet hardware? Unfortunately, all of our plumbing fixtures that we ordered are brushed nickel.
Thank you! Need to order the doors asap. Thank you.

I bought bronze Plumbing fixtures from signature hardware . All faucets and shower products. Please loook at that color and tell me what other metals can I mis with this and what color should my appliances be ??

Hi Kathy,
Help! I have a champagne bronze faucet and French gold hardware in my kitchen. Believe it or not, these 2 finishes match well together. I’m doing sconces flanking my vent hood and 2 pendants over the island. My dilemma is what finish should I go with the lighting. Should I stick with brass or go black, white, glass? Any feedback you can give me would be so helpful and greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Looking for advice. I am renovating my kitchen & love the mixed metal looks. My cabinets are a cherry grey stain for the lowers & painted white for the wall & tall cabinets. I have my eye on honey bronze cabinet pulls from Top Knobs & hae already purchased my light fixtures in a dark bronze (almost black) to go with my kitchen table that has a black base & wood top. I will have black iron stair railing coming into my kitchen as well. My appliances are classic stainless steel. I hope this doesn’t sound like too much going on b/c I love all of my pieces individually. My biggest struggle right now is pairing a gold Brizo faucet with my stainless steel sink in my island or sticking with classic stainless for the faucet. The faucet will be front & center in my island under 2 glass & dark bronze pendants so I don’t want to make a mistake. I would love to hear your thoughts!

This is a great article! I have a question. We have wonderful stainless steel appliances I would like to stick with and I have falling in love with some forest green cabinet for our kitchen. I’d like to add oil rubbed bronze fixtures and hardware and have white for a background to all. Will that work?

We are building a home using a neutral desert boho/Spanish revival scheme. I want to use matte black as the main metal, with a champagne gold as an accent metal. My biggest sticking point is the stainless steel appliances (and we’ve searched and searched for appliances, and the only set we can find that fills all of our practical needs is stainless steel, so I’m stuck with it)! Will that throw off the entire scheme?

As you mentioned, you should have one specific type of metal for the focal point in the space, and accent it with corresponding metals. My sister recently moved into a new space, and would like to make it feel like home. I will have to share these tips with her that she can use in her decorating.

Hi Kathy.. I just came across this article which I LOVE! I am doing my kitchen remodel and my cabinets are stained a sandy biege. I did matte black handles and I have a black leathered countertop and a black farmhouse sink. While I like the black.. my husband really wanted it, the countertop resembles soapstone but less expensive, I am thinking I would like my lighting to be brushed nickel. I have a small kitchen and I don’t want too much matching or black overkill. My appliances are all stainless steel. I guess what I am wondering is if thats going to be way too much silver between the lights which will be 2 pendants and an indutrial drum fan light plus one small light over sink. I may do the light over the sink black. IDK I am so confused. My floors are grey and I am doing a white backsplash shiny subway tile backsplash. Ant input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

We are building a home – transitional style, light and warm. Ivory, creams, beige tones – wood beams (med). Our cabinets will be Alabaster or similar. I planned for brushed nickle hardware (door hardware on order, but nothing else yet!!). As it’s getting closer to selection am having second thoughts! I know we’ll have lots of texture throughout the home when complete, but am concerned my hardware will wash into my cabinets and there won’t be enough contrast. I love matte black, but want a different feel.

Hi, I have a gorgeous chrome mirror in my dining area, and I want to create a gallery wall in our entryway hallway that leads into it. I want to use gold frames (with thin borders) for a bit of pop. We have 10′ ceilings so I’m going to go with a minimum 11×14 frame, two rows of four. What are your thoughts?

Hey Kathy thank you so much for this post. I have been stressing about mixing metals in my new home. My space is going to be white and grey all of my lighting fixtures and faucets, knobs, etc. are polished silver but I want to add gold or bronze cabinet hardware. Do you think that could work? I love both gold and silver! I’m torn. Please help!

Hi! I have a question about mixing metals in a guest bathroom I am adding to our home. We live in a 1932 craftsman cottage in Florida-just to give you an overall vibe. I have a clawfoot tub with polished brass feet on order–the drain will be polished brass as well. I have not ordered the faucet shower enclosure yet. I am thinking about ordering in oil-rubbed bronze to play off the matte black and white distressed floor tiles that will go in the room. Would that work? If I go that route, should my sink faucet be oil-rubbed bronze as well (I am converting an old sewing machine base into a sink) or would should I do polished brass to bounce off the polished brass feet of the tub? I am second guessing all my decisions. Thank you for your help!
Viola

What do you think of pairing this newer champagne bronze color with traditional bronze or oil rubbed bronze? It’s not as stark of a contrast but I think it’s a gorgeous color. We have lots of bronze and oil rubbed bronze throughout. I have white cabinets that I am going to put bronze hardware on but our island is a dark grey/brown color and I was thinking of doing the champagne bronze hardware there and then maybe tying it together by switching out the kitchen faucet to the champagne bronze. The faucet is on the side with white cabinetry.

THis article was so helpful! We are just re-doing a kitchen in white with Taj mahal, stainless appliances. I have dark oil-bronze windows visble from the next room, so wondering how I can bring in the dark tones with my love for antique gold and coolness of brushed nickel?

Hi. I love this article, it has helped so much. In our kitchen, we have a natural/silver/ grey look going. With a glass and stainlesss base table and a nook corner with grey and stainless chairs. The counters are a neutral granite. We finally found some bar stools we like, but the legs are a gold finish. I can’t get myself to make it work as I visualize the look. What do u think?

Thanks for mentioning to choose a metal that you love and can be the most dominant in your home. My wife is thinking about having the metal fixture’s in our home finished next week in a shiny look because she doesn’t like the way the flat look is in our bathroom. I think it’s a good investment to hire a reputable professional to help us polish the steel we need to have our bathroom look luxurious.

Kathy-
What a great, informative article! Remodeling a bathroom in our 1937 Cape Cod. We have chosen to try and stay somewhat period with Chrome/porcelain cross handled fixtures for the sink and shower. We also have a 36” white porcelain/chrome console sink with a white inset medicine cabinet. The walls will have a 48” white subway tile wainscoting/ shower with a dark grey hex tile floor. Walls likely to be a cool blue or sea foam green.
My question is in regards to lighting and door handles, etc. We like the industrial style and would like to break up the metal. We are looking at two sconce and a pendant over the white medicine cabinet.What would you go with?
Thank you!

Hi there! We are doing a re-do for our small master bath and want to incorporate multilple metals but I am needing some advice. The primary metal is satin nickel – Faucets, slipper tub feet and taps, shower hinges – towl rack etc – you name it it is all satin nicle or nickle/chrome. I would like to blend in another metal color on the warmer side. The room colors are: Light beige/cream walls, off-white trim, Dark/black purple vanity with granite top on the darker side which picks up the vanity color, Beige/taupe tile. I am open to switching out some of the satin nickle to getting the right look. I have considered oil rub bronze vanity lights to pick up the darker vanity, but recently saw the golds and loved them paied with the oil rubbed bronze. I can get a little idea crazy sometimes, so any help level setting what would be the best way to get a warmer feel in the bathroom would be wonderful
Thanks – Deborah

I love your article Kathy! We are building a house currently. The dining room is separated by butler pantry to rest of open concept living/kitchen area. Can I do brass for foyer and dining light fixtures and chrome lights in the living/kitchen/breakfast area? You can see the living room and dining room from the foyer. Thank you!

Thank you so much for this article! I’m really loving the gold kitchen fixtures and hardware in the grey/ white kitchen. However, my husband and I can not agree on the bathroom fixtures, lighting, and door handle colors. He prefers Oil Rubbed Bronze( i like it as well), but I’m afraid it won’t match well so I was thinking to go with black. Which would you match with gold, black or bronze? He said Chrome and Silver are completely out of the question.

Hi!
I’m building a new home and am currently picking out the cabinet hardware and interior door handles. My lighting and plumbing fixture throughout the entire house are all polished chrome. Do you have a suggestion for my cabinet and door hardware? Thanks!

My kitchen is champagne gold faucet/knobs with stainless appliances….I love it! We are redoing the main floor bathroom…can I go with black/iron and chrome?

Hello, this is all very helpful. I am building a house, modern farmhouse vibe. My kitchen cabinets are simply white benjamin moore and the island and nook are cheating heart benjamin moore. My faucets in kitchen are matte black. So I am puzzled as to what to do with my cabinet hardware. Do I and should I do black hardware? The black will show up on the cheating heart but brass looks so great on the cheating heart color as it is a dark grey/black colour. But wondering if the brass will look good on the simply white cabinets and can you mix matte black faucet with gold hardware? I have not picked my lighting for the room yet. Thank you

Hi! I’m not good with decor at all. I am trying to pick curtains for all the rooms in my home and i am not sure what color rod/grommet color to get. All of the Door handles and other hardware/fixtures are satin nickel but all of the curtains that I like have oiled rubbed bronze metal grommet. I’m not sure if this will look weird since all of the hardware in my home are satin nickel. Can you please give some advice?

I find myself running into this issue in the bathroom im remodeling. I bought brushed brass plumbing for sink faucet and shower and hardware on drawers, yet the standard drains and flushers in the sinks, toilet and bath are chrome. the shower door and mirror that I ordered are also edged in brushed brass. do i have to replace the drains in sink and bath to match?

Hi! I am remodeling my Georgetown Townhouse and I can’t decide on kitchen hardware. My cabinets are a shoreline gray, and I was thinking of a antiqued Brass faucet and pot filler with antiqued brass knobs on the upper cabinets, and under the island and the bottom cabinets would have a nickel or chrome finish. What do you think? Should I do all nickel on the cabinets and just have the brass faucet and pot filler? My floor is a dark chevron, with white marble countertops.

This is a great article! I’m trying to finish up the design for our kitchen and have fallen in love with brushed bronze hardware for our cabinets, with similiar accents in our pendants and chandelier. With stainless appliances would you just go with a stainless sink and faucet? Thanks so much!

Hi Kathy,
Quick question. In my kitchen we have dark brown (almost black) cabinets, granite countertops that are white/grey/brown. Our floor is a medium brown hardwood. All of our door knobs and cupboard handles/pulls are brushed nickel. Our sink facet is also brushed nickel and our appliances are stainless steel. Currently our light fixtures above our table and island are chrome. I am wanting to change out our light fixtures, but wondering if I should stay with the chrome/brushed nickel colors or go black/oil rubbed bronze colors? I like the darker/oil rubbed bronze look, but wondering if we already have too much dark in our kitchen and also wondering if it will go with the brushed nickel metals?
Thanks!!

I am a senior and remodeling my kitchen as a diy’er. I am using antique nickel light fixtures as well as cabinet hardware. I found (and purchased) the perfect faucet … only problem is that it was a discontinued model and only one available in another state. It is shiny chrome. I have contemplated painting it to match the antique nickel, but I have numerous concerns about going that direction! How do I leave the shiny chrome finish as is and hope that the metals mix in a manner in which they flatter each other? Perhaps I am stressing too much! Your article contained a lot of great information, but I suppose I am just wanting someone to tell me what to do!!!!

Hi! I follow you on instagram! I am having a master closet island built and trying to figure out hardware. Island is white with white quartz with a bold gray vein through it. My hardwood floors are chocolate brown. My master closet is not attached to my master bath but is close by. Our master bath is very traditional with white marble herringbone floors, polished chrome hardware, and white marble countertops with small gray veins. Would you carry the same cabinet hardware into the closet or choose a second metal?
Thank you!

Hi Kathy, what a great article! I had a question I was hoping you could help with. All of our knobs throughout our renovated house will be unlacquered brass, but we just heard from our door company that they can’t do unlacquered brass hinges within our budget. Do you think we could do satin brass or bright brass instead? If so, is one better for the hinges than the other? Thanks so much!

We are currently having our kitchen done, we have a dark blue island with white top, and the wall units are a very light grey with but her block. We have 3 hanging lights over the island which are a tinted glass, which at the ceiling base is copper. My question is, shall we go brushed chrome tap and cupboard handles or shall I look at copper? Our appliances are black with chrome details, such as cooker, kettle/toasters and coffee machine.
I’m unsure what to do…

Oh! and I do plan to put some iron accents in the laundry room – bench, shelving brackets…

This article is sooo helpful! Our recently remodeled kitchen/family room area has a combination of brushed and polished nickel and some stainless steel. Also some iron accents with the furnishings. Now we’re re-doing the laundry/mudroom which can be seen through the kitchen door. I’m toying with the idea of brushed gold cabinet knobs and faucet. Seems safer to stay with the nickel, but I really love the champaign gold tones.

Hi Kathy,
Great article! I would love your opinion. In my mountain condo, I have medium brown stained window frames that have brushed nickel hardware on them. My doors throughout have the same stain. Should I go with brushed nickel door knobs or oil rubbed bronze? I have both metals throughout the condo – oil rubbed pulls on all the cabinetry and brushed nickel faucets & Light fixtures.
Thanks in advance!
Natasha

Hello. We are building a home, and are close to completion. The overall vibe is semi-industrial coastal farmhouse. The home has white doors and matte black door hardware throughout (which is pretty fabulous.) Anyway, the bathroom cabinets are painted white, the countertops are black/grey/white granite, and the door/drawer pulls are black. All bathroom sink and shower fixtures are chrome, as is the vanity lighting. The small amount of metal on the glass shower enclosure will likely be chrome, but I haven’t ruled out matte black. The mirrors are large and frameless with a beveled edge. So, I can’t decide if the TP holder and towel bars should be matte black or chrome. I’m leaning toward the matte black, but can’t commit. It seems like such a simple decision, but I can’t make up my mind, and would welcome some input! Thank you!

Hi, I am renovating an apartment. The entry foyer is lacquered in blue, all the hardware in the apartment is in chrome. Would a gold and white console table be ok – very modern and minimalist.

Great article. Question for you. I am finishing up my home build and have a master bath with rift sawn white oak with polished nickel faucets/hardware with polished nickel & linen shade light fixtures. I want to purchase a rose gold metal floor mirror for the closet that you can see from the bathroom and there is a hanging light that is in front of the mirror. I guess my question is does rose gold work with polished nickel/ white oak? 🙂

Great article. Question for you! I am finishing up a build on my home and wanted your input. 🙂 I have rift sawn white oak cabinets in the master bath with polished nickel hardware/faucets and lighting. I wanted to get a rose gold metal mirror for the closet and have a light fixture that is a polished nickel with a linen shade that would be right above the mirror. I guess my question is – does rose gold and polished nickel go well together. Thanks much!

What about the same metal in different finishes, like a brushed and polished nickel? Does that count as one or two metals? Thanks!

Thank you for the article. Would it be a do or a don’t to mix six steel (shiny silver colored) and four brass (again, shiny) dining room chairs? The chairs are by different designers, but are both vintage from the 50s/60s. The rest of the dining room furniture is antique wooden furniture (including the dining room table). Thank you for your thoughts.

Thank you for the article and actually replying to the questions. Two questions. How long do expect brushed gold|brass to remain in style? What is your thought about the black stainless appliances and their longvegity?

In my studio…I have a polished nickel task lamp, and chrome deer head on the wall….I am looking at a bronze tree lamp for a corner near the bed…can this work or should I choose the tree lamp in nickel?

I just purchased a vintage home built in the 60s. I have to get the plumbing fixtures replacement in all three bathrooms. Most all the finishes lights mirrors etc. are antique brass. I love the champagne bronze colors but they only make it in the sink faucet and not for my showers. Can I use the champagne bronze sink faucets and use the brushed nickel shower faucet ?

Hi! We are building a new craftsman style rustic home. We oWe are ordering white windows but Im torn about the window hardware. Im thinking of distressed nickel as I think it will go with everything. Do you think this would be OK, even if all interior doors are oil rubbed bronze? Thanks!

Thanks for this post! I built a new home and plan on changing out the builder’s standard satin nickle light fixtures with items with satin brass (including drawer pulls for the cabinets). I’ve already purchased breakfast room chairs and bar stools that I love but they both have silver nailheads as a dominant part of the design. Do I need to go through the grueling task of changing out the nailheads to match the gold accents?? I have stainless steel appliances with a large venthood that is the focal point of the kitchen so the silver tone will remain, however mixing metals, esp. gold, is new to me so I need some validation if these chairs will work properly. Thanks in advance!

Is it ok to mix metal finishes in a kitchen? I have to replace the main faucet on my sink and the pot filler. The ones already there are in brushed nickel, but I’d like to replace these with polished chrome. The finishes on the appliances is a brushed nickel.
Thank!

Kathy, I am in the process of remodeling my kitchen. I have ordered a beautiful Delta polished nickel kitchen faucet, spray, soap, water dispenserand button for garbage disposal. My countertops are quartz, coordinating backsplash.
My cabinets are BM Revere Pewter, (light gray)
My question is what metal color should Igo with for my kitchen hardware?

Hi,
What a great article. Some of my fears have been laid to rest. Just a quick question. if my lighting, appliances and facet are nickel can I add gold drawer pulls and knobs? If so, I’m guessing I need to incorporate some additional gold. any suggestion on accessories I can add?

I loved your article. What are your thoughts about this combo in the kitchen… White shaker cabinets with blue island. I want to use gold pulls and will use a white/gray quartz. Most of the pendants I am considering (style and cost) are silver/chrome. I looked online but every picture I see is the nickel or chrome handles and gold fixtures. Do you think think the reverse would look good? Appliances and faucet are stainless and brushed nickel. Thanks in advance.

I am designing my kitchen and my cabinets are white and island color is grey with white Quartz counter tops. My faucet is brushed nickel. I wanted to do brushed gold cabinet hardware. Can I do this?

I like nickel entry door knobs but I don’t like the styles of nickel entry door light fixtures. Can I put a rubbed bronze or black finish light fixture with a nickel door knob/lockset?
Thank you.

Hey Kathy, I’ve got a headache trying to put this total kitchen remodel together. I fell in love with brushed antique brass. I found the cabinet hardware and it’s very reasonably priced, however, the faucet, not so much. It’s like searching for a unicorn. I decided to go with oil rubbed bronze for the faucet. I think I would be ok sticking with the antique brass for the cabinets. My husband says it needs to match. Please tell me I’m right…….please.

Thank you for the information but need some clarification and advice please. Do you consider brushed stainless steel appliances as one of two metals or are they considered neutral (as a 3rd choice)? We currently have all door hardware in ORB and most lights. We are currently remodeling kitchen with baths to come later. I am wanting to lighten up the house but cannot budget changing out all of the doors from ORB. Thinking of putting satin nickel pulls on white kitchen cabinets with very light/off white quartz counter. Stuck on what to do with the sink faucets and lighting. Need to replace the ORB lighting in kitchen and dining room which will probably cause the living room light to be changed too since it is open to the kitchen and also ORB. Love the polished nickel faucets for a kitchen statement piece (really 2 – prep and main sink), but afraid it will be too shiny for the ORB and also concerned about spotting or tarnishing? Any thoughts? Thanks!

Hi great article. I am trying to coordinate my kitchen with my living room and master bath. Will have a new gas insert with stainless steel accents. Our living room has a lot of brass and wood. I am thinking of adding a few stainless steel accent pieces. I think it will work. As to my kitchen, which has sight to my living room, I will have porcelain grey marble with gold on my counters. My appliances will be white and I will have light oak cabinets. The knobs and pulls will be brass and crystal. Light fixtures will be white with a sink pendant in a in torquise. Master bath will have the same marble porcelain as the kitchen,with crystal knobs and light oak vanity. The light fixtures will be stainless steel. I am thinking this will all work and blend together. What are your thoughts?

I enjoyed reading your blog. I currently have a pewter chandelier over my dining room table. My dining room is partially seen from the living room. I currently have a burnished brass/wood floor lamp in the living room and need a new foyer ceiling fixture. The foyer is part of the living room. I found an oiled bronze fixture that I really like but I don’t know if I can mix all the metals.

Back in the late 9o’s I had a friend compliment my unintentional mix of metals in my modest home decor….move forward now to a remodel and it’s dark oil rubbed brass (on the blacker side) with brushed nickel for the fixtures, and burnished gold on walll accents. I’m going to send this article to every next person who negates my decision. Thanks for validating my eclectic taste. I’m def following now. 😍

Help! What if I have two different gold tones? My kitchen faucet is a deeper, yellowed gold (Moen), but the knobs and pulls I purchased are more of a flat brass finish. Can I kix these two? They won’t be directly next to each other, but I’m still worried about clashing.

Hello! I have not long moved into my house and we are re-doing the living room, i was wanting to do black and golds centred round my navy couch however one of the the walls are tiled grey with chrome finishes as well as the T.V have silver edges? will this clash too much or should it be okay if i try find gold/silver mixed ornaments etc? The walls are currently white but we are thinking of painting them a warm grey/beige colour.

Love your article, it is so helpful! I have a bathroom that is all polished nickel hardware. I found a chandelier that is antique silver. Do you think that will work together, or is it too similar? Thank you!

I have given so much thought to “mixing my metals”, that finding this thread was such a God-Send!
Will I be happy with Oil-rubbed bronze cabinet pulls?
And why has NO-ONE on Earth designed a two-toned Pull using bronze & steel (not copper)?
I’m designing my very small Open Kitchen with gray shaker cabinets (they have green undertones), oil-rubbed industrial flush mount ceiling fixture with opal glass, 2 sexy delicate bronze glass pendant lights -also oil bronzed, yet the sink, faucet & appliances are stainless steel. I like the way the bronze pulls feel against the cabinets… what do you think? There is so much stainless steel in the kitchen… UGH!

Hi Kathy,
Stumbled across this article after my husband and I started arguing about the color of our master bath shower enclosure/fixtures. We recently replaced all the brass doorknobs, drawer knobs and hinges in house with oil-rubbed bronze. In master bath, we pulled out the dual brass faucets and went with polished chrome. Our problem arises in the clear glass shower enclosure. The frame is brass as are the shower fixtures. It’s cost-prohibitive to get (very large) brass frame and door handle replaced, so we thought why not tape off and spray paint the frame oil-rubbed bronze as a cheaper fix. Now the dilemma. Husband says shower head and faucet need to be oil-rubbed bronze to match frame. I say the frame is like knobs and hinges, oil-rubbed, and shower head and handle need to be chrome like faucets. The chrome is sort of neutral IMO,(or accent) against oil-rubbed hinges everywhere else, since other faucets are chrome. He thinks it will look odd. Who is right?

We are redoing our house. All of our door knobs and all of our light fixtures and majority of our faucets are oil rubbed bronze. In the master bath we used satin nickel faucets but I found an oil rubbed bronze light fixture I absolutely love. Is it bad to mix the two? Also in the kitchen our faucet and light fixture are oil rubbed bronze and I would like to use satin nickel pulls. Is that ok?

Hi Kathy!
I cannot tell you how much I loved this article and reading through the past questions with your advice. You clearly have exquisite taste and know your stuff. I am hoping you can give me some guidance with our lighting that will be going into our newly remodeled home. This has proven to be a very stressful topic and I just need some advice from an expert. I am losing my mind over this. Our main floor will be open concept with full sight lines of the entry, dining, kitchen and family room. We have purchased brass pendant lights for over the island (white shaker cabinets with virginia mist granite on the surround and Calcutta Verona quartz on the island all with brass hardware) and are wanting to use our existing fixture in the dining area (wood and black metal globe). I know you are all about mixing metals, but should be stick to these two (brass and black) rather than adding in a third. And if that IS the case then should I consider glass fixers to layer in texture. For some reason my question mark button isn’t working right now…… we are still needing a stairwell chandelier, entry fixture and a ceiling fan for the family room. What would you do 🙂
I greatly appreciate any help you can offer Kathy!

Hi! Really nice article. We just bought our first home and are decorating our dining room/entryway. The dining table is a dark mineral color along with a bench and 4 midcentury chairs which are rust velvet in color and dark grey gunmetal legs. The chandelier is a cluster pendent fixture with black wires. The carpet is a light grey with a little bit of rust/orange here and there. The walls are light light grey. And the curtains we just put are a crossweave of grey and white. Now to my question! We are thinking of putting a console and mirror at the entryway and wanted to venture into metals instead of a wooden console. Which color would you suggest? A glass piece with gunmetal would be the safe choice with the rest of our decor. But how would a brass metal piece with glass look? And how about the finish of the mirror? Would love to get your thoughts. Thanks in advance!

This is such a great article and comments! I’m hearing you say quite often to not use more than 2 different metals. We are remodeling the kitchen where we opened the space up into the dining room. All metal in my home is rubbed bronze (lighting, door knobs, right down to bath fixtures, etc.) and more than likely will be going to go with bronze in the new kitchen – Though I have been oogling the brass fixtures and hardware . My husband is not sold on the idea, however. Cabinets are painted silk with hazelnut glaze and we chose a light granite with brown and black shiny flecks and a solid cream trellis backsplash. I know I do want to incorporate gold accents into the space and in dining area. My table is dark espresso with cream colored parsons chairs. I fell in love with a crystal chandelier that is finished in chrome. Matching mini chandelier that I would use as an over the sink pendent. I get that the chrome is for extra glitzy effect. Will this throw off the look of the space?

Brilliant article! We are planning a kitchen renovation as part of a bigger project and have a brushed silver fridge and range and I’m debating brass cabinet hardware and tap vs stainless steel? We may also have black cast iron radiators too. Too many decisions!

I love this article! I am having a hard time figuring out what direction to take my lighting for my kitchen pendant lights and over the kitchen table that is open to the family room. Cabinets are white, island is walnut, all our hardware is a brushed Nickel, stainless steel appliances, chrome faucet. I am fearful that since we already have two metals that introducing a third (copper or black/iron) may be the wrong way to go. Would love your thoughts.

Question: Redoing my master bath with sconces by the mirrors at vanity and a small chandelier over the tub. The sconces and other stuff will be chrome but the chandelier I like is brushed nickel. Will this be ok?Thanks for your help.

Love love this article. We are redoing a house. Using satin nickel door knobs and hinges for all the bedrooms. In the same hallway as the bedrooms is a bathroom that we plan to have brass plumbing fixtures. Considering three options for bathroom door hardware– which do you think will work better?
1) satin nickel door knob & hinges to match the hallway room knobs — will this go with the brass plumbing finishes in the bathroom?
2) satin nickel for exterior door knob, brass for interior door knob — in this case should the hinges be brass or satin nickel?
3) Brass hardware for bathroom door — though this means in the same hallway, this will be the only door that does not have satin nickel hardware.
Thanks!

I’m remodeling our guest bath. The walls above the wainscot will be SW Naval and the wainscot, trim and vanity will be painted white. Also white subway tile in the shower/bath and statuario white marble look porcelain tile on the floor. I’ve selected Brushed gold for the Towel bar, toilet paper holder and robe hook. Brushed gold and glass for the vanity hardware. The faucet and tub fixtures are satin nickel. My light above the vanity is brushed gold with cracked glass globes. NOW my question is the shower rod. I have an oil rubbed bronze rod that I bought years ago and never used. Should I use it and spray paint it a gold or satin nickel or leave it as is?. It is a 3/4″ diameter of twisted iron by the antique hardware line of rods. Thoughts? What metal color would you choose. Thank you so much!

I love your article. I have read through all the comments, but did not see my proposed metals combination addressed. Updating both 1950s bathrooms entirely (goodbye vintage pink tile!). I am crazy for polished nickel and am planning for that with all the plumbing and faucets. The vanities will be painted white (SW Westhighland White), with quartz calacatta countertops. My question is the cabinetry hardware. In the master bath, it is approximately 3 ft. away from a built-in dresser wall that has beautiful Ribbon and Reed Antique Pewter drop pulls and knobs (patterned and matte finish) for hardware. I would like to use the same pewter hardware on the bath vanities, but was not sure if those two metals would compliment each other. The rooms will be very neutral colors, porcelain calacatta style tile in shower with a warm grey accent window piece and carried over to the counter backsplash. The guest bath will have white subway tile with calacatta marble accent tile stripe for tub surround. Floor tile is a light grey/beige porcelain tile for both baths. Do you think that polished nickel and antique pewter can play nice together? And if so, I would say that the polished nickel plumbing would be the dominant metal as the vanities will each only have 4 drop pull and 2 knobs of the antique pewter. Would you recommend that my mirror and lighting be in the pewter to balance the polished nickel or maybe adding countertop accessories in pewter. Lastly, I am unable to locate a polished nickel curved shower curtain rod. What metal would I choose instead? Thank you for your advice!

Trying to decide what to do in our renovation! I have bought a few things that are oil rubbed bronze, including all of my light fixtures, buy my husband just informed me he ordered nickel hinges for the cabinets. Do I change the cabinets to oil rubbed bronze and keep that same color through out? Or do I make my cabinet pulls nickel, and have oil rubbed bronze door handles, because I already have those too!

Hi. Loved the article! Wondering what your take is on when buying vintage pieces to mix in a room. My living room has lots of gold, as I like a French look. Sometimes the pieces are different gold tones as I cannot get them to match. How can I work with the gold tones that I have in lighting, sconces and mirrors?

Hello! Great article! We have just bought our first home and as its a new-build, naturally all the bathroom brassware is modern chrome… (Which I’m not a huge fan of!). However we don’t have towel rings or toilet roll holders yet, so would it look bad to get black, or oil rubbed bronze towel rings/toilet roll holders with the chrome taps/finishing, or shall I just stick to chrome until we can afford to replace it all? Many thanks!

I have just purchased a home that I’m trying to blend what I have with what is in the new home without redoing everything. It is an open concept kitchen /living room area where the kitchen has light hickory floors and cabinets with black and flecks of red granite counter tops and in the living room. I am incorporating brushed nickle table and floor lamps and brushed nickle hardware on the wood furniture which has a modern feel. The light over the table is a mesh cylinder in a bronze color. My question is should the finish on the fan in the living room be brushed nickle to reflect the brushed nickle in the living room or bronze to coordinate with the lamp over the table. Both pieces can be seen as you walk into the room.

Thank you for this excellent article and all of the helpful comments. Finding this is a decorating treasure and a huge help! We are switching out lights in our kitchen/dining area. I found a beautiful caged lantern in oil rubbed bronze to hang in the dining area and for the bar, I would like to use round glass pendants with matt black rods and brass accents. In one article I read, it said that it’s fine to mix metals as long as there is a contrast in them; otherwise, it looks like you have made a decorating mistake. Now I am worried that the matt black on the pendants isn’t enough of a contrast with the oil rubbed bronze on the dining lantern. The fixtures are close together. Would it be better to get the pendants in gold instead of matt black and brass? It’s too late to change the lantern, I’ve already ordered it, but I can still change the pendants. Thanks so much for any help you can give. I don’t want to make a decorating faux pas!

Hi! Thanks for the helpful article. What are your opinions on mixing oil rubbed bronze and black? We recently did our bathroom with all oil rubbed bronze fixtures but have now found a black mirror and black shelves. Is it okay to mix those two metals?

Hi again, instead of asking my question in a different field I asked here but I will be very happy if you will answer me anyway.
Thank you

Hi, we are going to refurnish our living room, we choose a gray velvet sofa and chair for two sides and for the third side two white chairs with nickel legs. The cabinet dishes is also white and the windows drapes are between white to beige color. My question is if it’s ok to go for a clear coffee table with nickel all around or same table with gold or another option for white top and nickel legs?
What about mixing gold accessories?
What carpet color will you recommend?
Thanks in advance

Hi, I’m redoing my living room and dining room( which are both in one large room) can I mix pieces of furniture with a champagne gold and a yellowish gold together?

Thank you so much for this helpful article! We are renovating our kitchen currently and have chosen a warmer white for the cabinets, stainless appliances (all of which, except for the double wall ovens and trash compactor will have cabinet facings), white farmhouse sink with chrome faucet which will be on the island, countertops including the island will be Taj Mahal quartzite. All exterior and interior door knobs will be matte black. My dilemma is about the cabinet and drawer hardware and the pendant lighting. If we went with chrome hardware for the cabinets to match the faucet, how would it look to have two lantern style pendants over the island in like a satin brass? Thank you.

Hello!
Love the article! I recently bought a house and want to update the kitchen. I wanted to do a deep navy island with brass fixtures and a white marble countertop. My kitchen cabinets are a like grey and I wanted to put the same brass fixtures to have a more modern look and tie in the island I am adding. I will also have the marble cup tops in the kitchen as well. My sink, faucet and appliances are stainless. Do I need to re think my awesome brass cabinet fixtures and just go with brushed silver or something? Thank you for the help!

Hi, great article! I need some help. We just brought a house. My appliances are stainless steel. We went with a mirror dining table with a chrome base. The chairs are dark gray with a dark brown wooden base. Our floors are dark brown wood. We love these gray sofas but the base of the sofas are golden. Would that look weird? We are also stuck on bar stools. We like gray bar stools as well but don’t want too much gray to look boring.

Hi! We have a bathroom with warm tone beige tiles. We chose a wall mount brushed copper faucet but can’t find any of the other fixtures to match. The Schluter piece my contractor used in that bathroom (without asking me) is in polished chrome. How would it look if I did the rest of the fixtures in polished chrome and keep the brushed copper faucet as an accent? It is a small powder room. Will be putting up a mirror, sconce, towel bar and toilet paper holder. Thanks!

Hi! I am redoing a small powder room. We are doing navy wallpaper and warm taupe marble chevron floors. All hardware is polished nickel. Can I do a brass sconce above the mirror? Should the mirror be closer to nickel or brass if I go the brass light route? Also, unrelated, but what color do I do my molding and baseboards?? My marble isn’t available as a baseboard option!

Hi, I need help! We are building a farmhouse type of home. Hardwood floors, beams, wrap-around porch, metal roof & clawfoot tub. The kitchen is going to have white cabinets with a gray island. One of the bathrooms will have a gray tile. The house will have several colors of gray paint. We were going to use Brushed nickel as all of our fixtures but my husband really likes the look of oil rubbed bronze. Can we use oil rubbed bronze as our door, lights, hinges, faucets with so much Gray in the house?

I just purchased a new house and it feels like the builder emptied out all of their miscellaneous hardware pieces. Door handles throughout are chrome, kitchen cabinets pulls are aged brass, stainless appliances, a copper sink, oil rubbed bronze faucet, all bathrooms are decked out in gold, and laundry and mud room have a dark silver metal. Where do I start to clean up this mixed mess without spending a fortune? The sink can’t be removed from the island without a major renovation (I checked).

This is so helpful and reassuring! A question… I’m wanting to do predominantly brass in my kitchen and in at least one of the guest baths. If one is doing brass hardware (faucets etc…) in one room, is it preferable to do the same in each bathroom? Or is it fine to do stainless in one bathroom and brass in others? Lastly, since GE’s new Cafe’ line has options for bronze handles etc… I was going to do that, plus brass faucet and 2 large brass pendants over my island. Now I’m thinking this may be TOO much brass! Curious your thoughts on that! Many thanks for any advice!

Hi! Thanks for the great article! I’m remodeling a small bathroom, and a bit confused about the hardware options! The room will have darker gray patterned tiles floor and white subway tiles wall. We love the look of matte black fixtures, and have all shower fixtures, vanity faucet, and light in matte black. I spray painted the vanity hardwares and made them satin bronze. We are getting glass shower walls and door, which will require a 1 1/4” thick header that goes all the way around the top. I’m wondering what metal we should get for the glass hardware… Brushed nickel seems like the simplest look, but is it too much to introduce a third metal? Black or bronze will match other fixtures, but I’m afraid that the header will stand out too much against the white wall…. Please HELP!

Hi. Great article. We just did a whole house Reno. All faucets and cabinet hardware are in chrome throughout kitchen and bathrooms. Door knobs and light fixtures are brushed nickel. Is this ok? Thank you so much!

This article is extremely helpful. However, I am still at a little bit of a loss in my kitchen. We are building our home and I just decided on champagne bronze faucets & pot filler (brass) in the kitchen. I thought I could do these with chrome or nickel cabinet hardware and brass lighting but I’m starting to doubt myself. I’m searching and searching design photos and can’t find any examples of this. Everything is chrome faucets with gold lighting or gold hardware or both. Will this look ok in reverse??? If I have gold lighting and gold faucet (so everything above the cabinets in gold) and then chrome hardware, will it look misplaced??

Hi! This article is very helpful! I have a question about an island chandelier in my kitchen. We have cream cabinets with oil rubbed bronze pulls and faucet. The appliances are stainless steel. The chandelier I am looking at comes in this really pretty antique silver (some gold hues coming through). Could I do that? The space does open to the family room and eat in kitchen. In my eat in kitchen I have an oil rubbed bronze/black chandelier. I personally love non matching in a home. I am worried it will be too non matching in such an open space. thoughts? THANK YOU!

Hi Kathy! Great read! I’m so glad I found this thread while shopping for lighting for my new house. I am using matte black door hardware and brushed nickel lighting throughout the house. The walls are super light gray and bedrooms are a touch warmer but still super light.I found a chandelier I absolutely love for my foyer however it’s antique silver (slight gold undertone). Would this clash with the other metals I’m using? Thanks so much!

Can I mixed polished brass lights and satin brass lights in a kitchen? One set of pendants above the bar and another above the dining table? There will be also stainless appliances, white cabinets,with satin brass pulls and an antique wood buffet and some antique barn wood shelves.

Hi Kathy I hope you can help… we are redecorating my daughters bedroom and she has her heart set on grey bedside tables with yellow gold legs with matching chest of drawers. Would it be okay to have a desk in the same room with rose gold legs and rose gold bedside table lamps ?

Hi! I’m in the middle of redoing my master bath. The shower trim and fixtures are chrome,cabinet pulls are gold, and vanity light fixtures are chrome.
For my sink fixtures I have an antique brass and a black faucet. WHich one would be better to use? Bathroom will be a white I think… floors are a white/blue design. I feel it may be too much going on ? Decisions were made before i was really sure.

We are redoing our downstairs after a flood. Most of the house is sort of 80s/90s with gold fixtures and finishes everywhere. For the down stairs I don’t just want to put more gold in as over the years we will update the rest of the house and might want to do something different. Much of our furniture is from my mothers so it’s traditional and has gold or ornate things to it. Our downstairs has some things that are gold that I was thinking of leaving but where we are doing new fixtures I want something more today but that does not clash with all the gold and brass. I thought black but all I can seem to find is oil rubbed bronze and that seems like it would not really go. I need a ceiling fixture and two sconces for the landing when you go downstairs. They will be right by a closet with four brass door pulls. Also in the power room I need a faucet and wall sconces. The toilet and window hardware is gold. The mirror we were going to use is kind of an antique brass. Again I can’t find just plain black but only orb. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to get more gold fixtures.

Hi Kathy,
We’ve planned a few projects around the house this winter to list our house for sale in the spring. Most all fixtures in the baths and kitchen are shiny silver but I love the rose gold tones. If we keep faucets, light fixtures, etc silver where should I try and bring in the rose gold? I’m also trying to figure out what wall colors would be best? Warm or cool neutrals? Thanks!!

We are remodeling.
We painted our kitchen walls repose gray and our trim is Dover white. Our cabinets are aged white glazed with brown and island is repose gray with brown glaze and fantasy brown countertops. I have an oil rubbed bronze faucet and I have pendants that have a m ix of bronze, gray, white ect. Would aged pewter pulls look funny if I have an oil rubbed bronze faucet or do I need to stick with oil rubbed bronze pulls?

Hi! I am probably one of the absolute most wishy-washy people you’ll ever meet. We are currently building a new house and when it comes to the kitchen, I’ve probably changed my mind a dozen times. Anywho, I have already purchased all of my light fixtures, all being ORB with the exception of copper pendants that will hang over the island. My cabinets around the perimeter of the kitchen are a very light, soft gray, almost a taupe-white kind of color, and the island is a darker taupe gray kind of color. The counter top is a white quartz with a minimal amount of gray veining. My current dilemma is that I found matte black hardware that I absolutely love, but am worried about it clashing with everything else I have going on. One more little bit of info, the oven hood is also ORB (7 layers of ORB which looks black) with very subtle copper. Appliances are all stainless steel. Please help! 🙂

Hi. Great article. I’m redoing our dining room. The walls are grey w/white trim and oak flooring. Door hardware is still pewter, we ar eventually replacing the door but not yet due to cost. Fans have gold hardware. Our chairs are purple velvet on the front with gold and purple design (kind of like damask print) on back and our table is grey wood. Rug is cream and grey flowers. We are thinking of replacing the rug. I found mirrored chevrons that are rimmed in gold I wanted to put up on walks. I’m trying to go for a room reminiscent of being in a LaDuree shop. Was going to put up signage above our large picture windows and wall opening (all windows and openings are roughly 3 feet wide at least) but am struggling with deciding to use gold above windows and a pewter above wall opening or if I should just keep all gold? I might put up two shelves with metal accents am worried I’ll have too many mixed metals. I hope I’m explaining this decently. Should I pick 2 metals and keep finishes the same for this room? Help I’m a mess. Please advise. I’ve tried to include lots of detail so you can get a better visual picture. Thanks, Beverly

We currently have all oil rubbed bronze fixtures. I really love the aged brass faucets. Would they work well together if faucets were aged brass and door and cabinet hardware remained oil rubbed bronze? I’d eventually like to replace the interior doors with solid wood doors and use vintage style crystal knobs.

Hi, I’m so happy I found your blog! Everyone I know thinks I’m crazy for wanting to mix metals in my kitchen. I do have a question if I’m doing it right… I just installed white upper and grey lower IKEA Bodbyn cabinets. My fridge is a Big Chill white fridge with chrome handle. My stove is a white porcelain 1950s Wedgwood stove also with chrome hardware. I wanted to use brass long handles for the cabinet hardware. My contractor thinks if I’m going to do that, it shouldn’t be shiny and recommends a brushed brass instead. I’m torn!!! I’d love for your advice! If you need more of a image of the space the floors are pecan colored with hints of grey and my walls are going to be covered in white subway tile.

Hi.. we are building a custom craftsman home in TN. Interior door knobs and cabinet hardware will be oil rubbed bronze. Cabinets are white except for powder room and a guest bath dovetail gray. Countertops marble. As I overthink everything I am starting to stress about faucets. Especially the kitchen. Does everything need to be ORB? It seems a bit much. Pendants in kitchen are the industrial polished nickel above the island where the sink is… Thank you for any advice! Christy

Great article!! I know this is a bit old but I am desperately needing metal mixing help. We are currently trying to finish the master bathroom in new construction. I intended on mixing brass and black however due to budget constraints, both are out of my price range on shower systems (btw $400 more for a color change???). Anywho, my light fixtures are a brushed gold, white marble top on a vanity painted moscow midnight (deep pretty teal), and a bold floral curtain. Tile will be 4×16″ white with dark grout. Should I go with chrome since it is shiny? Can I get away with not matching the faucet to the light fixture? Originally, I had gold light, black metal rim mirror, brass faucet. Please help! I have made so many decisions I can’t think anymore…

Wonderful post! And seems to have helped many people. I love mixing metals but I am trying to figure out how to solve a problem I’m having with my new kitchen. I was so intent on having a Delta champagne bronze kitchen faucet. Problem is they don’t make everything else I need, like the instant hot water tap or the air button for the garbage disposal. I thought of going matte black for all the sink fixtures, but would that look good if the cabinet hardware is all champagne bronze (a very light gold)? Cabinets are warm gray, counters white with gray veins and a hint of gold in the veins. Sink is white fire clay. Floors are a warm, but not orangey, wood tone to give life to all the gray and white. Stainless steel appliances (Bosch, so the tone is a little warmer than most). I will have matte black in other places in our home. And was going to do brushed gold pendants over the island, which, with our layout, puts the black fixtures in between the pendants and the gold cabinet hardware. We are mixing white plantation shutters and natural woven shades throughout the house. So lots of neutrals and textures, mixed metals here and there and some wood in the floors and woven shades to liven things up. I’m confident about where I’m going with just about everything but want to make sure the matte black fixtures will look nice with gold hardware in the kitchen! In the bathrooms I am planning on choosing a finish for fixtures and hardware and probably keeping them consistent within the room.

Hello, We are building a new home,open concept with white cabinets, grey painted island, stainless steel appliances, brushed nickel hardware. My dilemma is choosing light fixtures and ceiling fans. We need a light over our dark wood table and I found an new bronze contemporary oval/linear fixture with white glass that I love. I am unsure how to pull all the lights/fan in the room together. We have a stainless range hood over the island and a lounge area adjacent that needs a pendant or something that coordinates. I also found a silver linear chandelier that would be an alternative to the bronze light. Any suggestions would be helpful! Thanks!

Hi! Thank you so much for sharing the article! My husband and I are in the process of renovating our kitchen and we are struggling with picking the color of the fixtures. We have white cabinets and crown molding, grey walls and warm oakwood floors. We are also planning to get either white or grey quartz countertops. For fixtures, we are stuck between satin nickel or champagne bronze/satin brass. We love the look of champagne bronze/satin brass but I’m afraid it will be outdated in a few years and satin nickel is a classic but then again champagne bronze/satin brass is so beautiful!! Any thoughts!? Thanks!!

Loved the advice you gave here! You mentioned having one main metal finish and one contrasting accent metal finish. By “main” and “accent,” do you mean more and less predominant or does that refer to sizes of specific pieces (like finish of a metal coffee table vs decorative item)? And if the latter, what category does hardware fall into since let’s say a media console is a large item but the hardware on it isn’t exactly plentiful.

Great article! I am a little worried about our current bathroom. We made a slight decorating mistake and bought a oil rubbed lighting for our bathroom and put it up… everything else in there is a silver color and I’m trying to figure out how I can tie everything together! Should I put up an oil rubbed bronze curtain rod? Or switch out the handles to an oil rubbed bronze? Or just start over!! Thanks for your help!

Hi, I’ve been reading all of the comments but haven’t seen this answered: can you have a stainless steel kitchen and prep sink, and have Brizo Luxe Gold faucets? Kitchen store says no. We have white walls, warm gray cabinets (was thinking brass pulls), and a white and gray quartzite. Many thanks!

We are presently redoing our “new to us” home. We have added dark brown bamboo floors in most rooms, white shaker cabinets, stainless appliances & sink & faucet. We will be getting Alaska White granite. We have a floor to ceiling rock fireplace, and another 4’ wall with floor to ceiling rock. Our ceilings in half of the kitchen, dining room, and living room are made from pine done in the 80’s, translation kinda orangy yellow. My husband doesn’t want to paint the boards, and surprisingly I have grow to like them somewhat. I figure I can lighten the feel some with lighter jute rugs, etc and we do have a lot of windows & patio doors. Our home kinda looks like a mid century modern home inside and out. I’d like our home to be decorated more like a modern beachy farmhouse, if that makes any sense. I love the modern beachy look, modern farmhouse look, and even industrial look. Anyway my question is do you think oil rubbed bronze doorknobs, stainless appliances & sinks & faucets, oil rubbed bronze or black lights, and oil rubbed bronze cabinet pulls would all work good together? I don’t know if all that would be too much with everything already in the home. I haven’t decided on furniture yet, but maybe either navy couches, and white chairs, with a brown leather ottoman or I really don’t know 100% yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Kitchen remodel and open floor plan on main… just bought beautiful oil rubbed bronze light fixtures going for modern farmhouse look… appliances sink and faucet all stainless. I need to buy cabinet pulls for white cabinets and love matte black and have accent pieces that are black iron. My question is can I mix matte black/black iron with oil rubbed bronze and stainless steel??? Seems like matte black and oil rubbed are too close but not the same?? Thanks for your help!

Hi kathy
I would like to ask u would a beige wooded classic furniture match with golden stainless coffee table and golden side tables or not ?
Bare in mind my reception walls are light beige and floors are beige marble

Hi there,
My kitchen cabinets are a cherry wood with a slate grey stain, they’re mostly grey, but with hints of brown mixed in. My counters are white quarts and appliances and sink are stainless steel (under mount). I found beautiful champagne bronze knobs and pulls, but I’m wondering what color sink faucet I should do. Matte black or the matching champagne bronze? I have pendant lights that are glass with a black pole and also a natural colored round wood table, with a black iron base in a nook off of the kitchen. Not sure what color chairs I was going to do, either natural or black.
I’m just worried that if I do a champagne bronze kitchen faucet there will be too much gold (which my husband is not a fan off) and also, that it will clash with the stainless steel appliances.
Thank you in advance for your help!
Danielle

Hi Kathy,
I LOVE your site. We are updating our home. we want to do dark brass door knobs for the main hallways of the house. Floors are original maple hardwood and walls are light gray. Do you think that would ok even though all the other metals in the house (remodeled kitchen and bathroom) are brushed nickel?
Thank you so much! :

Hi Kathy! Love your article! Thank you for posting it!
We bought a new house & renovating all of it. All paint will be light gray (to the bluish side, not beige side). Dark hardwoods. White trim. Kitchen uppers will be white. Island will be light gray. White sparkle quartz countertops & light backsplash. I had already decided on brushed nickel hardware & faucets for kitchen & bath. But I just ordered beautiful latern-like pendants for the island in ORB. Even though my style is traditional, I love the look of the farmhouse ORB in light fixtures. So planning to do my dining chandelier & bedroom & hallway semi-flushmounts in ORB. Do you see any issues with having ALL hardware & faucets throughout the home being in brushed nickel & ALL light fixtures being in ORB? Also what is your thought then on doorknobs if I do this? I was originally planning on brushed nickel for all of the knobs. I just saw photos of ORB on doorknobs, & it is beautiful & stands out, but I am feeling like if I went that route then I would need to carry the ORB elsewhere throughout the house like hardware and faucets, which I was not planning to do. Should I reconsider this? Appreciate your thoughts and perspective!

Hi Kathy,
I am super stressed out at knowing what to do with our kitchen in the house we are building.
I want a white kitchen and I want to decorate with copper pieces and our cast iron collection will also be displayed as well.
Can I do stainless steel appliances with this setup? I am afraid it won’t go well and look too noisy. I am tempted to do all white appliances for that nice clean and seamless look. I don’t really like appliances being the focal point of a kitchen and I am afraid the stainless will stick out too much. But I am also realizing that nice modern white appliances are hard to come by.
What are your thoughts?

Hi! We are redoing our living room and have nickel finishes with wood beams and fireplace. For the ceiling light fixture, is it ok to do a bronze finish light?

This article is so timely, because I’m having trouble with the metal finishes in our new kitchen reno. (Mostly modern farmhouse style with some vintage touches, like jadeite accessories and white subway tile.) We have a vintage-look, diner-style table which is a chrome base and white top with gray and white vinyl chairs. We were thinking black hardware for the white cabinets and sink, but I’m wondering if they should be oil-rubbed bronze instead or chrome as there seems to be more choice. We will have 3 lighting fixtures, a pendant over the white farmhouse sink, a pendant over the table, and a sconce over a little coffee bar which will have floating wood shelves. I can’t decide on the finish for these either! Can I mix the oil-rubbed bronze with the chrome and stainless? Is matte black better? I’ll be grateful for any advice! Thanks so much!

Hi Kathy ! This article was very helpful, so glad I stumbled upon it. I have a question regarding mixing different golds together. Specifically mixing a brass (shiny gold) faucet with brushed gold handles and drawer pulls. We have brushed gold light fixtures throughout the house as well. I purchased the brass faucet before I purchased the light fixtures and things didn’t get installed until later and now I’m wondering if I made a mistake with the brass faucet ? Is it ok to mix metal finishes ? Would I need to add in more brass accents to accentuate the faucet ? We have an open kitchen and floor plan and you can see the mixed finishes very clearly when you enter the home. I REALLY appreciate your help with this! Thank you in advance.

This article was the most helpful I have read!! We are building a new house and I am using champagne bronze (gold) hardware in the kitchen. After read this article I think I will go with a chrome faucet. Though I Have 3 bathrooms to choose faucets for and all colors are grey/beige accent tile, with white subway and white cabinets. The master is a grey and white marble. Also all my lighting seems to be the farmhouse style bronze or iron like metal in the main living areas. Should I just make it easy and use chrome everywhere else and accent with gold decor? Or would you say they are all their own room so it wouldn’t matter if downstairs had gold and say a powder room had Oil rubbed? Thank you!!

Thank you so much for this article. I could not have come across it any sooner. I am right in the middle of changing my foyer area, and although I read in the article how different color metals can be mixed; could a rose-gold console table, a beige wall unit with rose color piping (1 tall piece) go well with an antique gold pendant light above? Oh, and I may add a pretty gold color (looks close to antique gold) bow chair too. What are your thoughts please? Thank you in advance!!!

Hello Kathy, I am so grateful I found this blog. I like your taste and advice about mixing metals. I am renovating a home and need some help.
In the kitchen I have stainless steel appliances. I have a bronze Hubbardton Forge chandelier over my breakfast table and intend to put pendants in the same finish over my island. My faucet will be a centerpiece in my kitchen because of where it is. Do I need to stick with a bronze faucet and bronze cabinet hardware so as to only have two metals, the stainless steel appliances and the bronze accents? Or can I use a polished nickel faucet with the bronze lighting and stainless steel appliances? If I can use a polished nickel faucet then would my cabinet hardware need to be polished nickel also or could I use the bronze cabinet hardware? What would be your choice?
Also I have already installed polished nickel faucets in all of my bathrooms except chrome in one. I have a lot of dark (bronze or black) chandeliers and sconces in the remaining areas of my house but I wanted polished nickel in my bathrooms because it looks so clean and spa like. Do I need to bring in the bronze tones with the lighting and cabinet hardware for harmony with the rest of the house? Or can I bring in gold and do the bathrooms in totally different finishes from the rest of the house even though in some areas you see the bathrooms from within the bedrooms as there are no doors between the berry and bathrooms in my guest rooms?
Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer!

Hi! We are remodeling our kitchen. Can we mix oil brushed bronze with gold? Cabinets are white and island is navy blue.

Love this article! I’m comfortable mixing metals for the most part (I have oil rubbed bronze door hardware and matte antique gold kitchen hardware), but when it comes to coordinating lighting, I get confused. Can I go with a matte gold or brass for my eat-in kitchen ceiling light (maybe sputnik-inspired), and a chrome or nickel finish light in my entry foyer? (I was eyeing a 10″ dia mirrored ball pendant for here). I am just not sure if eating area light and entry light should be the same color of metal or not. With that said, I have an oil rubbed bronze orb fixture hanging over my staircase, which thankfully isn’t visible from the main floor. But this light is what’s really throwing me off, because if I mix my metals on the main floor by using a brushed gold look and a chrome/mirror or brushed nickel, then I’ll have 3 different metal finishes in my home. Too much?

Thanks for this article. It was very helpful. Here is my question. We have brass plated fixtures everywhere (e.g. fireplace, door handles, faucets, shower frame, dining room chandelier, etc.). We are redoing a bathroom and I would like to use polished nickel or brushed nickel (faucets, cabinet hardware). Would it be a problem to use nickel in the bathroom (cabinet hardware, light fixture, faucet) if everywhere else in the house uses brass plated fixtures? Also, if the door handle is brass plated, would I have a problem with leaving it as is and using nickel hardware in the bathroom? On a side note, the new bathroom vanity will be stained in mocha.

I need help please! We are trying to renovate our hall bath. It’s not huge and there are no windows. Several years ago, we did have the shower/tub redone with tan stone, with touches of oil rubbed bronze. Currently the bathroom is a deep garnet color with dark bronze accents (mirror frame, curtain rod). We are about to get new flooring, vinyl that mimics the stone in the shower. I want to repaint the bathroom vanity (currently it is white) to save some money. The sink will be replaced with a solid white sink and we have ORB faucet ready to be installed. We kind of tried to go with a Venetian theme and it does look pretty nice (some tiles had some bronze medallions so we just carried it over). I want to change the vanity to a gray color, but using small ORB knobs. I want to paint the walls but I don’t know what color. I’m leaning towards blues, but I don’t want anything very bright. I also don’t want anything so pale it looks white against the few white things in the bathroom (sink, toilet, tub, a wall decor piece). What color gray would be good with the ORB hardware and white sink, sitting on a flooring that looks like old brown stone? And what color walls can I use to make it a little more sophisticated?

I’m getting 6 panel door for my bedroom. Can I use brushed nickel hinges and door handles if i have Brass door handles and knobs in my kitchen?

I really enjoyed this article! I have a super basic question. We are remodeling our master bathroom. It’s a small space. The vanity is white with a granite top (that looks like marble) and has shiny silver cabinet pulls. Before it arrived, we ordered sconces that are brushed nickel. Do i need to exchange them for shiny silver? We haven’t purchased the faucet or other accessories yet, like the towel rings. Should everything be shiny silver, or if the brushed nickel will be okay, should that be the finish for all of the extras? The walls will be Bejamin Moore Horizon, the floors will be a light gray, and the shower and walls will be white subway tile with dove gray grout. Thank you!

Hi Kathy,
We are getting our house ready to sell and are updating/replacing a few things. Our bathroom has me going crazy. We don’t have enough finances to do a remodel so I am trying to embrace the brass. The walls are painted a light warm gray, the countertops are creamy marble, with oak cabinets. The shower and all fixtures are brass (your typical 80’s/90m’s bathroom I guess). The door pulls need desperately to be replaced and 1) I wanted to matchy match by instinct but can’t find any good brass pulls 2) but then got to thinking it might be okay to do chrome or brushed nickel pulls even though everything else (the shower, towel bar mountings, and faucets) are brass. What is the best way to mix metals when brass is the main focus?

I’m glad I found this article. I have stainless steel appliances in my kitchen – so I thought I had to do faucet and pulls all stainless steel. I saw a chandelier that I LOVED that was chrome – and decided to just go for it. Then I decided to make the faucet and pulls all chrome. So appliances stainless steel, chandelier, pulls and faucet chrome. I was nervous making the choice, but the guy at the store said it’s okay to mix Stainless Steel and Chrome – so I am going for it. My cabinets are a medium to dark gray, I have medium brown flooring and gray walls with white quartz countertop and white backsplash. I’m hoping the Chrome and Stainless go well together. After reading this article I’m excited! 🙂

Let me begin by saying: thanks a heap for this article. It definitely helped steer me in the right direction. But as most of the readers here, I am in dire need of some advice. I recently purchased 8 dining room chairs that are neutral ivory with a metallic sheen. The chairs also have a gold accent strip on the back about 6 inches wide (I wish I could attach a picture!). I’m wanting to order the aluminum chrome chain terzani chandelier to go above the table. Since that’s quite a statement piece, I’m wondering if it would be awkwardly competing or complimenting the chairs?? Please help.

Hello!
We are currently remodeling a home and have completely renovated the kitchen. We have all stainless appliances and white cupboards with brushed nickel pulls. The countertops are going to be a chocolate stained butcher block and the floors are light grey. Above the island i was planning to do brushed nickel pendants with glass globes, however our dining area is extremely close to the kitchen and i am having a hard time figuring out wether or not i should do a darker light in that room. I am going for more of a modern farmhouse theme but with the kitchen and dining area being so close i am worried about mixing the metals in the lights. Any recommendations? Thank you so much!

I loved your article. I’m currently remodeling my home. I love how the black/oil rubbed bronze looks on the doors but I don’t think I want to get dark light fixtures and faucets. What other color metal do you recommend that would match with the black door knobs?

Thank you for the great article on mixing metals! We are doing a kitchen remodel and I am struggling with some of the details. We are opening the kitchen walls halfway which will look out onto our living and dining room areas (which are cream and beige tones). The kitchen cabinets will be a medium grey, stainless steel appliances, and white counters/backsplash. I would love to connect the warm tones of the living and dining areas with brass hardware in the kitchen. My only hesitation is that I don’t want to feel like I need a brass faucet too, with brass pendant lights over my island. Would it work to do oil rubbed bronze hardware with the grey cabinets and then add in bronze carriage pendants to add in the warmth of the living and dining rooms? I’m struggling with this one! Thanks for any feedback!

Hey, great suggestions! Thank you for posting, I just googled metal spindles, cabinet pulls, door knobs, light fixtures and up you popped!
We are choosing interior finishes for our home being built and I’m stuck… satin nickel door knobs have been picked early on in the process then cames kitchen cabinets – white shaker style, stormy black soapstone counter with waterfall island sides, dark white oak floors and open concept great room… we need to choose cabinet pulls, metal stair spindles finish, light fixtures and paint. We really don’t have any idea when it comes to metals. We are having stainless appliances and sink with chrome taps. I’m early 50’s and have many different tastes LoL. I like the modern farmhouse, classics, transitional, industrial… help?

Thanks for the mixing metal article! We are building a house and are finally seeing the kitchen come together! It is an open concept floor plan with dark grey kitchen cabinets with satin nickel pulls, statuary marble quartz (white with light grey marbling), and an aqua glass subway tile backsplash. We will have stainless steel appliances and hand scrapped hickory rustic wood floors (some grey tones mixed into the wood). Our light figures throughout the house and door handles will also be satin nickel. We will have light grey walls with white trim.
For our kitchen island I want to bring in some warm tones (and pull out the warmth from the hickory floors) with some copper pendants that have a little natural wood accent. Do you think these will look out of place or bring in more character and warmth? Thank you!

LOVE this post~ thank you and love all you do. We recently bought a walnut dining table with matte metal legs (steel but matte) we have 6 white leather chairs with metal legs and was wondering could I jump on the band wagon and add two end chairs of navy blue with GOLD or brass legs? The table is by the stairs with iron (dark) spindles. Is this all too much ?

I am updating a bathroom and found a fabulous copper tub. However, my existing color scheme is black & a rough pitted iron on the faucet fixtures. What color fixtures should I use when I redo the shower & tub (the existing fixtures are no longer available and can’t find anything like them). Or should I not purchase the copper tub?

Hello! Love this post. I just bought a new house that’s basically a blank state except the kitchen. Don’t love the kitchen but it has to wait because we are redoing everything else. It has medium cherry cabinets, slate floors, and black appliances. Current pulls are kind of a dark brass/light bronze, but I may change those. It needs a new faucet but sink is stainless. My main issue is that it is part of a long, fairly open space in my house that also includes the dining room. I’m thinking i need to do maybe ORB and gold in the dining room to go with the kitchen, but don’t necessarily want this throughout the house. If I do them both in this combo (upgrading pulls &a faucet in kitchen), is it okay to do other rooms in different metals? My very large living room connects via a doorway but is a separate room. I’d like to stick with lighter metals in there (husband is partial to silver tones, but I’d like to branch out into copper or gold too). We do have an existing mantle display that is basically all types of metal in different objects, and I love it (and it gets compliments!), but don’t think that much variation would look good across the entire room. Do you feel like it’s better for the main rooms of a home to be cohesive in style, or is it ok to mix it up from room to room?
I’m awful at this so I appreciate any guidance!

I found this fantastic article because I just bought a new gorgeous champange faucet for my powder room. Now I’m hesitating getting it installed. The rest of the fixtures are polished (light, towel and toilet roll holder). Should I change these out or embrace the mix?! When I see mixed metals it’s usually the light and accessories are the warm tone and the faucet the cool. Help! 🙂

I’m doing mostly unlacquered polished brass (hardware, kitchen faucet, frames) with iron/matte black accents in the main areas on first floor. In different rooms such as kids bath, master bath on 2nd floor, is it ok to have a somewhat different themes in each room? Was doing slightly more industrial in kids bath with matte black and some chrome accents, then in master bath, polished brass accents with chrome….or do i need to simplify?

We are building a new house. From our great room on the main level you can see the two large foyer lights, stairway light, kitchen pendants, and great room ceiling fan. I love kitchen pendants with chrome rods but the two foyer lights I love are glass with delicate iron work as the framing for it. I am in a dilemma as to whether these will look cohesive and then what color do I do for the stairway light (thinking black) and for the fan? Then what hardware matches on the kitchen cabinets. I have a chrome faucet. Help! 🙂

Interesting read. My wife and I are re-doing our kitchen and are debating a brass ‘subway stile’ type backsplash. Counters are a dark gray, cabinets are natural birch. Appliances are stainless. Would the brass backsplash be too much? I don’t want it to be too busy, but I’d like something that stands out.

Hello. I have polished nickel hardware and lighting in my kitchen. The dinette is a dining room style room beside the kitchen but I have a gold framed piece of art in there. i would like to do gold light fixtures in the dinette. Can I do so?

Your article is just what I have been searching for! We are building a home and are currently selecting lights. My style is classic farmhouse. I have selected two very beautiful glass pendants from PB to go over my island. My kitchen sink is directly across from this island. I found this really nice looking matte black pendant that I was thinking to put over my sink. I am hesitant though because I am not sure if mixing glass pendants with a metal pendant would look ok. What would you suggest? Thanks so much!

Great article! We have stainless steel appliances, a dark grey iron sideboard, and a wood-top harvest table with hot rolled steel X legs. These are all in one room. I’d like to buy white Tolix/Marais chairs for the table but am worried there will be “too much” metal. Would love to know what you think…

Loved reading your article! I’m building a house and a new kitchen. Afraid to make any decisions! LOL. I have Dynasty Omega kitchen cabinets color is Beach House, which is a creamy white color, around perimeter of kitchen with Cambria Berwyn countertops. The color of my island is called Rain which is a light gray color with a walnut wood island top. Island is 112 x 60. Can I mix Polished nickel lantern pendants over island with oil rubbed bronze sconces around kitchen? And then not sure what finish to use for cabinet hardware and kitchen faucet? Any help you can give would be EXTREMELY appreciated! Thanks!

Our new master bathroom has gray floor and shower tiles which are accentuated with silver and brushed nickel tones in the listello. The walls will also be painted gray. Our faucets are brushed nickel finish. I found a gorgeous crystal orb chandelier but it only comes in two finishes– antique bronze or champagne. Which finish would look best? The ceiling heigh is 14 feet. Thank you!

This is a great and helpful article. I am researching mixing metals and hadn’t seen anyone else mention black/iron so thank you for including it. I have been wondering though if the size of space affects whether the metals should be mixed and if yes, how much? I am installing a very small bathroom that has a walnut vanity and a matte black faucet. (i love matte black). The stand-up shower has chrome trim and handle and since was I unable to get a matte black shower panel in my budget I ended up going with black & chrome. In my mind I had wanted to have a simple gold mirror and/or wall sconces; but given that the space is very small and there is already black & chrome faucets, would you ditch using any gold or make a statement and go with a larger gold object(s) like wall sconces or a mirror or both.

Love this article. I have a new-to-us house and we are updating the 1970’s wood/gold look. The space I’m slowly decorating is a long section in the back of the house, one is our “formal” dining space (we aren’t that formal- it’s a huge dark colored farm table and nice upholstered chairs in a neutral/linen) and then the living room. The walls are Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter so a nice grey leaning “greige”. The only thing I have actually permanently mounted on the wall is a steel sign with a saying on it. It’s in that “modern farmhouse” vein- actually ordered it from a certain HGTV designing duo’s site. I’m going to make that a family gallery wall and am trying to figure out what frames to put around it. I have black, I have unframed canvas prints and I was thinking some in a light wood with silver metal lining the inside. Not sure how the black will mix there and I think I’d need another style frame to fill it out- and then if I do non-picture accents what should those be? So that’s problem #1. Problem #2 is what to do for my coffee table in the living room. I have been drawn to the brushed gold base with marble or white topped styles. I figure being on the other side of the space they won’t compete and might help define the spaces a little more? I can’t even think about colors for curtain, a rug for the living room or any of the rest of the living room furniture! I want Navy as my main accent color if that helps. Thanks for any advice!

I have a beautiful chair with bronze nailheads, and want to buy a couch that matches it beautifully but has smaller silver nailheads. Can i do this? If I bring in other things to tie them together? Or is that a no no? Sorry if you already answered it….I just want a specific answer regarding the nailheads and i respect your opinion.

Hello Kathy,
I am loving all the posts and responses here!! I need help with my kitchen remodel. I have all black stainless samsung appliances and I chose a copper farm sink and a copper hood system. My cabinets are white tops and gray bottoms. I am torn and I need to know if I could use antiqued brass for my hardware and faucet. I am feeling that if I use copper for everything it will be overload. Is it possible to mix copper and antiqued brass this way?
Thanks!
Heather

Need advice! We have gutted our bath, which is 2 sections with a cherry wood vanity w/brass pulls, vanity will have a black granite top with white vessel sink, tilt mirror with narrow brushed brass frame, brushed brass sconces w/white linen shades, small gold leaf ball chandelier, white shiplap floor to ceiling behind vanity, cranes wallpaper with white creams and brownish black on other 3 walls. Can I use a chrome vessel faucet with all the brass? There will be a chrome shower head and faucet in back section and chrome commode lever. In back section there will also be 2 large brass hooks on shiplap walls(shiplap will go 3/4 way up, then wallpaper). There will also be a brass tissue holder. So what’s your opinion on 1 lone CHROME FAUCET in front section?

Hello Kathy! Wow – what an amazing article to come across! Love your vision! While we are remodeling our kitchen which started out as a small project of getting the cabinets painted white, turned into a complete re -do. Which makes me happy but a few of the early purchases, I wasn’t into because I was just happy that we were doing something and my husband wanted black stainless appliances and white cabinets – I said fine because I just was figuring it wasn’t even close to what I wanted. Well, three months latter we can’t change those two things but i wondered about mixing metals with the black stainless appliances? We will have Mont Clarity countertops with a very large table – not island – in middle with Cambria Berwyn ( has taupe/tan/gray and silver metallic flecks) as the table top. I was hoping to mix polished chrome and brushed brass handles, knobs and pulls…? And pendant lighting to be one or the other – Now my husband says “that is too trendy” . I am really not trendy but I like tradition with a little bling…. Any thoughts? Thank you and thank you for this article!!!

How do you feel about different color metals on different floors of the house? For example oil rubbed bronze on the main level with brushed nickel upstairs?

Hi. We are building. We are in the process of picking out lighting. The nook chandelier and kitchen hardware is oil rubbed bronze. Would pendent lights for the island that are matte black look ok. We have white cabinets and a dark expresso island.

wondering if oiled bronze faucet/shower would look ok with polished nickel cabinet hardware and maybe nickel lined mirrors?

Hi, we are building a home. I already have a wooden table with a brown top and black legs. I would really like to go with polished nickel for hardware on cabinets and pendants over my island and table. Am using white cabinets with the island painted a gray tone. Would like to go with granite with a gray tone also. Would a polished nickel pendant over the island and over the table look bad? Someone suggested using bronze over the table and island, but I really don’t want to use bronze. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Anne

Great read! We are currently designing a new kitchen with Navy blue wooden cabinets and a carrera marble worktop and are having a slight dilemma choosing the handles. We love how copper looks against the blue as well as the worktop but our built in appliances and extractor have stainless steel accents and we are not sure whether the two metals will work together. Would it be safer to with a pewter or chrome handle? Thanks.

This blog on Mixing Metals is just outstanding. Your responses to client comments & questions turns out to be just as educational. Bravo! Well done!

Hi ….
my house was built in 2014…. brown woods, bronze fixtures….
My faucets are bronze or orb…. just learned that term…. can I use gold/brass hardware?

Hi, I am so glad I found your blog! We are doing a major remodel and addition to a 1957 brick home; all interior finishes are polished chrome (lighting, plumbing, door hardware, etc.). The front door is walnut with polished chrome entry set. We are having simple square downlight sconces installed every few feet along the brick front and “Pearly White” painted hardie board back of the home, as well as glass and metal sconces next to each door. Our new windows are Marvin Integrity ORB and the new steel columns will be painted ORB. I don’t love ORB light fixtures, I like the silvery tones. A designer friend says I need to switch the exterior to ORB to coordinate with the windows and columns. I have found a couple of neighboring homes where they mix the finishes successfully, but they only have their home numbers and one front-door sconce in the chrome, whereas I will have several sconces plus patio fans in the polished chrome/nickel finish….. Will it look awful in the front with the ORB windows and columns if I don’t use ORB color scheme with the exterior lighting? Need to let contractor know which finish to order. Thank you in advance!!

Thankbhou for this great article!! We are completely renovating our 1800,s farm house and I’m having a hard time with mixing metals!! The kitchen will be red brick floors and backsplash with soft white Cabnets and black stainless kitchen aid appliances, white farmhouse sink and black leathered granite with cream and white movement. I’m leaning toward stainless faucets and pewter pulls but I don’t know what lighting to do over my island that will be black with a white granite top with blacks and cream movement!! I have a lot of old copper molds. Do I go cooper, orb or black??
Problem #2– my master bath will have s gray leather marble with cream and white movement and my vanities I think will be a complimenting shade of gray. I’m undecided on fixtures, mirrors and sconces!! Do I use stainless faucets? But what color mirror and sconces?? Then there are the door knobs through out, pewter? Black? All trim in house will be white, and floors will be hand scraped hickory!!!

Hi! I am building a new house and have been able to make decisions fairly quickly until I got to door hardware! I want white cabinets, marble looking quartz and chrome faucets. This is for the kitchen and master bathroom. I am stuck on door hardware. Should I do black or chrome interior door knobs? I would also like to be able to do antique gold pendants over the island in the kitchen. Also can I do matte black on all exterior doors and chrome on inside doors or I that to much? Thank you!

I see you’re giving great advice here – one more question for you. I have a kitchen with white perimeter cabinets, black island, black soapstone on perimeter, white quartzite on island, stainless range and refrigerator, brass hardware, I’m thinking of brass pendants. What color should I do for my metal hood. I like zinc but is that too many finishes? Or will the light zinc blend with stainless and a darker patina blend with the black island? I was also going to do 2 brass sconces in the kitchen. I can also try a white hood or doing different colored pendants over the island. Or a polished nickel faucet to break up the brass and just do brass on the hardware. Oh there are too many decisions! Thanks for any advice 🙂

Hi Kathy
First off this is a great article! Would love your opinion. My kitchen has white cabinets with white quartz counters and chrome finishes. I am so bored with my chrome pendants so I ordered pottery barn brass pendants (bells).. I’m hoping it will pop and it will all come together. You’re opinion is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi there, great article! I am doing a kitchen renovation with white shaker cabinets, gray island and quartz counters. The pendants I love are the VC county industrial large pendant in polished nickel. I would do polished nickel hardware. My dilemma is the kitchen faucets I am considering are either chrome or stainless. I like the pull down kind with the coils. My appliances are stainless. In this situation would you do stainless for the faucet? I like the look of polished nickel or chrome kitchen faucet better but having trouble finding polished nickel. I’m worried about 3 different finishes.

Hello, finding this site was a gem; these mixed metal elements are really pulling on all of my design heart-strings. I am conflicted with trying to replicate this design in my new build within my open kitchen area. So far I have picked out: stainless steel appliances, Du Chateau antique white floors, white cabinets, navy island, and Giotto Brazilian quartize island and counter tops (with blue veins). So far I plan on adding pops of brass/copper tones on cabinets pull handles and pendant lights. My question really is – will a matte black Brizo Solna faucet and pot filler look as though it is competing with these metals? Thank you and keep up the good work.

I love your article and have another question. In my kitchen I have brushed nickel faucets, bronze pulls and a bronze chandelier in my kitchen nook. I wanted to add 2 brushed gold lanterns above the main island. I have a large kitchen and family room. Is this too many metals?
thank you so much for your expert advise!

Hi and tnx so much for this article, it really talked to me…
Question: I’m putting in a new kitchen, bottom darker grey and top white shakers, white quartz countertop with grey veins, grey parquet look glossy tiles for floor white chevron for backsplash (didn’t decide about grout yet) and slate appliances (enough said?)
Now I can’t decide about cabinet pulls and faucets, either stainless steel look or gold brass/champagne bronze, I saw the Delta 9159 faucet which has a beautiful arctic silver or a stunning champagne bronze option, reasons for stainless steel are cuz they match in all the way but I’m afraid it’ll have a dull look because it’s all grey and white that’s why I wanted the gold to add warmth and life… but I’m afraid it shouldn’t ruin the entire kitchen if it’s off… and what do I do about grout for white backsplash, and maybe I should do a different color for cabinet pulls than faucet? I’d really appreciate your advice and thanks in advanced!

Such a great article! I am so glad I found this. My husband and I are currently looking at replacing a couple chandeliers in our kitchen that are currently black with either rubbed oil bronze or gold fixtures. I think the safer choice is the rubbed oil bronze since all kitchen knobs and our door handles are ROB. Too our dismay the faucet is still stainless still but matches the sink/appliances. We’d like to eventually put in a farmhouse sink with an ROB faucet so I’m worried if we got the gold fixtures we’d be managing a lot of finishes in the kitchen with all the stainless steel appliances, ROB already in there… but we both think the pop of gold could be a focal point… I’ve seen gold fixtures in kitchens mixed with silvers that look good but not any ROB… Would love your opinion!

I’m remodeling a bathroom to add a second sink. Cabinets are white and floor tile is charcoal. What do you think of ORB light fixture and chrome faucets/cabinet hardware? If those work, what would you recommend for the framing on the mirrors above each sink? (The mirrors are separated by an 18″-wide center tower between the sinks.)

Wow…what a wonderful blog!! I am building and like everyone else wondering if I can mix Polish Nickel faucet & island pendants with a Chrome Shaded Crystorama chandelier and ORB door knobs…on & on it goes…lol. However, reading ALL of these posts has made me feel better about mixing metals, particularly when dealing with open kitchen/LF/DR concept. Kathy…THANK YOU for your inspiration, your professional guidance & your willingness to give it so freely on this blog!! 🙂

Thank you so much for this article! I have always had a ?? over the problem of different metals, but you answered it perfectly with some great images.
Much appreciated.

My kitchen is small and I want to use black or a dark metal knobs for the white cabinets, but I’m having a hard time finding plain black hinges. It was suggested to me that I just leave the brushed nickel hinges. I am concerned that it would look too patchy. The faucet is brushed nickel and won’t be changed. Any suggestion?

Loved your article. But struggling with my kitchen. We are building a new home with a rustic look. Using oil rubbed bronzed fixtures for the faucets and stainless appliances. But struggling with having a copper farm house sink and hood. Not sure it will give the right feel. Should I go with a stainless sink and a wood hood and skip the copper all together? Would appreciate your insight.
Regards
Jeannie

Greatly appreciate your article and I feel validated by all the questions regarding the dilemma of choosing fixtures and hardware. We are building our first lake home and leaning toward a somewhat sophisticated farmhouse feel. Open floor plan with stainless steel appliances, white shaker cabinets with a gray island. I want gray vanities in the master bath along with Carrara marble shower. I like brushed nickle or satin nickle hardware and fixtures in the bath and kitchen however I struggle with the rest of the house as I fell that iron or ORB would look best for the other rooms. I worry the nickle will start looking cold and bland but I do not know how or if I can mix the finishes through out the home. Thank you, Jamie

Hi,
I have an older home that I’m renovating. My kitchen cabinets will be white and I want to do ORB hardware for the contrast. We have ORB throughout the home on the doors and windows. My windows are steel. My island will be a dark navy blue – I would like to go with an antique brass for the hardware as the ORB doesn’t contrast, but not sure if it’s a faux pas to mix the hardware colors. I was also planning on polished nickel faucets, but am concerned about introducing a 3rd metal. Any advice would be much appreciated 🙂

Hi Kathy, For my small master bath renovation, I purchased an espresso colored vanity which came with polished nickel hardware. I purchased a beautiful polished nickel faucet to match. However, in searching for a polished nickel shower head and matching shower control for a stall shower, I found that choices are limited in contemporary fixtures in polished nickel unless special ordered and that can take several weeks. So, I purchased the 2 shower fixtures for the stall shower in brushed nickel. Now, my dilemma is whether to use polished nickel or brushed nickel for the tub faucet. I found a beautiful modern waterfall tub faucet online which is available in either polished or brushed nickel. I’m thinking polished nickel since the tub and vanity are directly opposite one another. I would appreciate your opinion on which metal would work best. Thank you!

Great article! My dilemma is I have kitchenaid appliances, white shaker cabinets. Stainless sink. Should I go satin or brushed nickel pulls and knobs? Thanks

So glad I found this blog! I’m renovating my kitchen but have gotten stuck design-wise and could really use some input! We have black appliances and will be using Ikea’s Bodbyn grey cabinets with Nougat Caesarstone countertops, a white quartzite/acrylic sink, and golden champagne color handles. But from there we don’t know where to go! We’ll have a pendant light over the sink and two over an island, but I’m not sure what color their metal should be, especially since we’re not sure what color faucet we’ll be using either. Any recommendations? Thanks for your help!!

I really appreciated this article! I’m in the process of building our home and I’m trying to figure out how to finish it. I’m going for modern industrial. Our main colors throughout is black and white with light wood. I was thinking brushed brass metal with accents of black metal as well. But a part of me is thinking instead of brushed brass should I be going with copper? I love both of them but I have no idea what would look best. Do you have any suggestions? A lot of it would be lighting and faucets and hardware on the cabinets.

Hi, I loved your article! It was very helpful! I just have a question I was hoping to get your opinion on. I have a white farmhouse sink and I just bought a champagne bronze delta faucet. It looks more like brushed brass. I’m struggling with what color of sink drain I should get? Should it match the color of the faucet or can I use a different metal such as chrome or just plain white? You’re help would be much appreciated!

My husband and I recently bought a house that was built in the 60s and are slowly decorating in a midcentury modern style. Our breakfast area has three large square-shaped overhead lights that are flush to the ceiling and finished in polished silver; they are original to the house and kind of cool looking. I love these brass curtain rods and hardware I found on Williams-Sonoma’s website but I can’t decide if the brass will work with the polished silver lights. The curtain rods also come in polished silver so I could go that route if that works better. Please help – I’m in a mixed-metal battle!!

I’m helping a friend renovate his home. He prefers polished brass hardware for doorknobs and cabinet pulls in the kitchen and baths. My dilemma: should the kitchen and bath plumbing fixtures be chrome or brushed nickel/stainless steel? What about the cabinet pulls in the bathrooms? And the towel bars, TP holders, and lighting fixtures? At the moment, helping him is feeling like a burden – but your article is a ray of sunshine! Thank you!

I’m building a beach house and struggling with picking the door knobs finish for the interior doors. The faucets are all chrome however, the exterior doors all have satin nickel as they came with the hurricane proof doors. I don’t know whether to go with similar nickel interior handles or go with chrome. Appreciate your advice.

Thanks for the article. I recently remodeled a home that is very different from my last home. Previous was traditional and new home is more modern. I’m struggling with choosing lighting. I have brushed nickel fixtures in bathrooms and all hardware is stainless or brushed nickel, but in lighting, the silver tones look so stark and harsh to me. More often than not, when the metal on lighting is in silver tones, they add a bright white shade which seems too modern and harsh. What do you suggest to combine the two, without looking like I have two styles colliding.

Hey there, this article is very insightful!
We just moved into a brand new house and are excited to paint and decorate and really make it our own. The house has lighting and hardware pieces that all consist of a very dark oil-rubbed bronze. I love it! But I also love the idea of having brushed gold accent pieces. Our bedroom is a greyish blue and our bedroom furniture is a warm grey with some hints of brown to give it that little hint of rusticity. I guess my question is, would brushed gold accent pieces clash or “compete” with the oil rubbed bronze hardware (i.e. Curtain rods, door handles and hinges, light fixtures.)?

Loved your article! I’m moving into my new apartment this fall and while my main tone for the entire apartment is neutrals, I seem to be struggling a bit with the choices I made regarding mixing metals. My main metal is silver, but I found this beautiful copper lamp that I just couldn’t pass up. If I put both of these metals in my bedroom, would they clash?

Hi! I have so very much enjoyed your website, thank you for all of the wonderful advice, and pointers. My husband and I are in the process of building our “dream home”, we really want to have black knobs and hinges on all interior doors (front door will be black with brushed nickel handle, black hinges), my kitchen cabinets are all white, and while I really want black hardware for the cabinets, and brushed nickel for all faucets and pot filler (appliances are stainless steel), we are worried about lighting. Should we have all black light fixtures throughout the house (dining room chandelier, kitchen island hanging lights, foyers, etc.) or will the brushed nickel be the better choice? Or either way, or a combination? Will the combo of black hardware on doors/cabinets mesh well with the brushed nickel faucets, and possible light fixtures? Thank you in advance!

We have two barrel chairs with chrome nailhead trims. I was hoping to use them with a round storage ottoman in a small sitting area near our entryway but the ottoman has brass nailheads. We were wondering if it would be possible to tie them together with something like metallic pillows (gold and silver) so it looks intentional or will the chrome and brass nailheads just clash?

Hi, I’m in the middle of a powder room remodel and I have bought a chrome faucet and tp holder and a white pedestal sink. The walls will be half way tiled with a blueish faux wood tile and the floors will be brick. I have also bought orb flush mount and vanity lighting. I am unsure if I should get an orb or chrome mirror or change to chrome lights and a gold mirror. I’m having a hard time visualizing orb and chrome. Thanks for you thoughts!

Do polished nickel and antique nickel provide the warm/cool contrast you recommend or are they too similar?

Hi,
In the middle of a total kitchen redo. I splurged on a gorgeous polished nickel faucet (more like a piece of art by Waterstone) and matching instant hot water faucet. These will go into an island. I am thinking of keeping the island as the focus point in polished nickel but then doing the chandelier (in the adjacent dining room), cabinet pulls, and prep area lighting in brushed nickel to try and tie things together with the stainless appliances and new cherry cabinets.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Cindy

Thank you for your article! You answered every question in such detail! I read through all of the comments hoping I wouldn’t have to bother you but I need some advice!
We are building a new home and it is a mountain rustic style-but not too rustic!
My kitchen is white with Shaker Cabinets. Appliances are stainless. I want a natural backsplash. We just picked some fixtures. I love the new Champagne bronze and will be all faucets and pulls in every room. The door knobs and hardware will be ORB throughout the house. My struggle is with the lighting over the island. I want a warm rustic feel but the Champagne Bronze seems more traditional? Will copper pendant lights over the island be ok? Or should I stick with ORB for all lighting? Thank you for your time–off to follow you on Instagram!

Hi. Great article! We recently purchased a home built in the early 1990’s. All of the door knobs, bathroom fixtures, ceiling fans, etc are shiny brass. I’d like to slowly replace the door knobs to a more updated look. What are your thoughts on the metal for the door knobs? We need to put in new door knobs on are outside doors soon and we were thinking the oil rubbed bronze would match the house exterior since it is a brownish brick. But what are your thoughts? Also, would it be better to have the interior door knobs and the exterior door knobs the same finish or could we do the ORB exterior knobs and something else inside?

Hi Kathy, this article helps with my exact struggle! I am redoing my powder room with white carrera marble tile half way up the wall, bluish gray paint and a custom made white cabinet. I fell in love with small black iron, wood and glass pendants to go on either side of a mirror but I already bought a chrome faucet. Do I need to switch my faucet to black iron? And then what type of metal would you use for the knobs on the cabinet? Thanks so much for any help you can give!

We are renovating a kitchen and thinking about putting polished nickel pulls and knobs on the white perimeter cabinets and brushed brass pulls and knobs on a dark (BM polo blue) island and floor to ceiling pantry cabinet that is adjacent to but not in the kitchen. Looking at all stainless appliances and polished nickel faucets and light fixtures. Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Hi! We are in the process of remodeling our kitchen which is open to the dining & living room. I have earthy colored stacked stone around our fireplace and oil rubbed bronze spindles and light fixtures. The kitchen will have white cabinets, stainless appliances. I was planning on brushed stainless hardware on the cabinets. Should I do oil rubbed bronze lighting? I feel like I need to add some oil rubbed bronze or the kitchen will lack some warmth needed. Should the faucet match the hardware or the lighting? Or should I use all oil rubbed bronze and only have the stainless appliances? Thank you!

Hi there! I loved reading your article 🙂
I am redoing my bedroom and I have a ceiling fan that is bronze, I bought satin nickel curtain rods, my door knob is also satin nickel. I wanted to stay with the bronze but now not so sure. Do you think those two medals will go together?
Thank you!

Hi Kathy! Great article and thank you for sharing! I’m currently renovating my bathroom and the fixtures are all chrome (marble floor, white tiles for shower). I’d like to add another finish to keep the space from being too cold or monotonous. Would brass sconces help break it up? Or would I need to add brass hardware to the vanity cabinets to help balance the mix? And maybe add some black as accessories (mirror, black and white bath mat, art). Thank you for your input and advice!

Hi Kathy,
Great article! We are picking finishes for a new home and I’m in love with the natural brass Edgecliff pulls from Schoolhouse Electric. My concern is that the sink faucet is chrome, stove is stainless Wolfe and light fixture over the island is black. The cabinets are white, island a dark grey and counters white caesarstone. Is this too many metals so better for me to stay with chrome pulls instead? I love the warmth of brass but also want it to look like it all works together.

Great article, and great info in the comments! I recently redid my bathroom and used all chrome finishes, except for the pump on a soap dispenser (gold). I’m moving into styling the bedroom, and I’m leaning towards using black/antique brass as metal finishes in that room. Thoughts on using 2 vastly different metals in rooms so close to one another, even though they are well divided?

Hi! What a helpful article! We just bought a 1950s style house that we are totally remodeling. Every window and door has to go and now I’m struggling with what type of hinges and doorknobs to use! My new kitchen is going to be white with a fabulous stainless banded hood but with big brass pendant lights. I have 3 huge sets of French doors and don’t know if I should stick with satin nickel handles or so more of an unlacquered or antique brass. We are replacing 30 windows and doors in the house and I’d love for them to be consistent and then mix fixtures around them! I was going to do orb but I have so much brass (mid century lighting and lots of navy!) and silver that I think it is just adding a new piece to the puzzle. I think I might even do my window hardware white and crystal modern disc doorknobs just so they aren’t in competition with anything. But what should my base for the knobs and hinges be!??Struggling so much with this decision! Thanks for any advice!

Hi Kathy, great article! I’m doing some redecorating in my living room and going with a shades of gray type theme with silver/metallic accents. My “statement piece” is a glass coffee table with a brushed nickel finish. Can I still add some true silver/chrome pieces to the area without it clashing with the table? Brushed nickel can be tricky sometimes but I fell in love with the table and had to have it. Thanks!

Hi Kathy. Amazing article and so informative! I have a question about my whole-house renovation… what to do for the interior doorknobs/hinges (all will be replaced). House is a traditional large colonial with dark wood floors/white moulding throughout. Kitchen will be white with Polished nickel faucets/pulls, wrought iron pendants/chandelier, careers or quartz counters, stainless appliances. Bathrooms have “shiny silver” faucets too. Foyer chandelier and DR chandelier, however, are matte/brushed brass. I was thinking of matte black or ORB doorknobs/hinges? Or do you think I should go with something like glass knobs or polished nickel?? I would love any advice!

We are remodeling a new house and have knocked down walls to have an open kitchen, Living and dinning room. Most of my lighting fixtures have polished nickel on them but I also ordered an Orb light that is a brushed nickel. I am nervous about mixing the brushed and polished nickel…

Love this article! Question, I am about 90% done with remodeling my 1950’s-era home and I’ve done all of my fixtures throughout, including lights, faucets, drawer-pulls, even my curtain rods, in shiny, silvery chrome. One of the last things left is finding the perfect chandelier for my dining room and I am OBSESSED with having a “sputnik” chandelier in a brass or dull gold color. The house is rather transitional in style and my color palette leans towards the cool side with lots of grays and blues. Am I crazy for wanting to add a gold chandelier to the mix or should I just try and find one in silver? I would love your input!

Hi Kathy! Great article. I love using metals and am still developing an eye for what clicks together. Question for you on mixing antique bronze and gold. Do you think of antique bronze like iron given the color? The finishes in our master bedroom are mostly antique bronze (curtain rod, headboard studs) but I found some awesome gold sconces. Do you think they’d go? Does the paint color in the room change your opinion?

Thanks for the article! In our new house we chose matte black for doorknobs and hardware. It’s all open concept so the whole house is visible from the main room. The ceiling fan we have is a dark bronze finish for the base and downrod.. will this look okay or should we get brushed nickel? I also can’t decide between black or nickel cabinet hardware (white cabinets, white quartz counter, white apron sink, chrome faucet and stainless steel appliances) And all the lighting (for the hanging lights above the island, kitchen sink, and dining room table) we like is either bronze or ORB! Should we be looking for something else or will this look ok?

Thanks for this article! We just bought a home and most of the lighting fixtures, hardware, doors etc. need to be replaced. I love the oil-rubbed bronze finish, but sometimes the lighting fixtures or whatever that i like only come in black. Do ORB and black clash? Thanks!

I love this article, mainly because my house has so many different metals around. When we bought the house last year, it has all mismatched ceiling fans and two bathrooms match but the third is all gold. It’s so embarrassing! If all my fixtures in the house are oil rubbed Bronze, i.e. Doorknobs, lights, fans, and the kitchen and baths are all silver, would it look ok as a design standpoint? Thanks!!!

Thank you so much for your helpful article! We have just purchased a home with a kitchen that has stainless steel appliances and a very warm orange-yellow Tuscan ceramic tile floor. We are planning to reface the oak cabinetry with dark wood for the island and a warm off-white for the cabinets. The two kitchen faucets are ORB and the doorknobs and hinges throughout the house are polished brass and I don’t feel like having to replace it all. I prefer brushed nickel for kitchen hardware but am okay with ORB and think it might go better with the brass and floors. Also wondering about doing ORB on the dark island with brushed nickel on the off-white cabinets but wonder if that is too much mixing. Would love your thoughts.

Hi Kathy,
We’re close to the end of a big main level remodel of an 80’s home that includes a new kitchen (opened up to the living room), a new 1/2 bath off the main hall, and a remodeled master bath. We’ve used mostly warm tones in finishes and paint colors, retaining the antique brass door knobs and hinges, but adding split-face marble deco trim in white (which came in with more gray than warm accents) above our tan powder room tile, calacutta gold marble (white with gray and tan accents) and warm cherry cabinetry in the master bath, and in the kitchen we’ve used chocolate-glazed cream cabinetry accented by two warm cherry pantry cabinets (flanking a glazed buffet), as well as a warm cherry island and stainless range and microwave (fridge and dishwasher are panel-ready and will be glazed). We want to re-use the antique bronze lights over the kitchen table and master bath sinks. Had planned to use ORB drawer pull/cabinet handles and plumbing fixtures throughout (except for in the powder bath–thinking brushed steel there), but think that brushed pewter handles would look gorgeous on the cherry cabinetry. What do you think? Is it okay to add brushed pewter into the mix in the kitchen and master bath? If we do, what about plumbing fixtures? Ideas?

Great article thanks! I am in a dilemma at the moment. My remodel is down to the studs and I have venetian bronze fixtures (multiple) in my shower. The long side of the shower and door (both all glass) will face the wall where the towel rack is. I have my heart set on a heated towel warmer but there are only very limited and expensive, with not great reviews, choices for venetian bronze versions. However have my eyes on a wonderful one but is brushed steel finish (will be on a slightly off white wall). I figure it will really be covered by the towel except for the sides most of the time. I’m putting so many $ in to this bathroom – do not want a towel rack to spoil aesthetics – which is my concern. Appreciate any thoughts. Thanks!

Hi Kathy. Love the article. I am finishing my master bath and purchased polished nickel faucets for the sinks and shower, knobs and sconces. I then fell in love with a black claw foot tub. I like the look of an aged/brushed brass faucet with the black tub. Is it ok to mix faucet finishes? Thanks for your help

What a great article. We are building and I am having trouble with finishes. We have white cabinets and stainless appliances (and grey toned walls). I was thinking of brushed nickel for the pulls and faucets. As I look at the light fixtures that I have picked, most of these are oil rubbed bronze. I am having trouble deciding if mixing the brushed nickel faucets and pulls throughout the house will go with oil rubbed bronze light fixtures? We haven’t even started thinking of the door knobs and door hardware throughout the house. Any suggestions on all this?

Hi Kathy, love this article. Would love your input in this though. We are currently in the process of building our dream home. Will be doing a white kitchen with marble like quartz ceasarstone for countertops. We fell in love with this line of kitchen fixtures that don’t come in vintage brass color… but I was set on using vintage brass drawer pulls and knobs with brass lantern island pendant lights… but now isn’t quite sure if we should just do all chrome drawer pulls to match the chrome kitchen fixtures or if I should still do vintage brass pulls and just have kitchen fixtures in chrome. Will that look odd?

I’m thinking of redoing my half bath / powder room. I would like to use gold or copper fixtures and hardware with with navy blue or gray cabinets and a white counter. However, the rest of the house has brushed nickel hardware. Is that ok?

Thank you so much for your article. We have recently moved to a condo from a home. I have a champagne colored chandelier in the living room and wondering if I can go with an aged brass co*cktail table and side table.

I am so glad I came across this article! We are building a home and I am struggling because I really want copper hardware for my kitchen cabinets, buy we have stainless appliances and sink. Our cabinets are a harvest brown with red undertones so I think that copper bar pulls would go beautifully, but I’m concerned the stainless will clash? What do you think?

Hello! I found your article while Googling “how to mix metals in your kitchen”. This was the best article I read! We are building a new home and the hardest part of picking the finishes is not being able to see it all in the space first. I was hoping you might help. We have white, shaker cabinets, medium grey subway tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances. We have two of these pendants ordered for over the kitchen island: http://www.hinkleylighting.com/product/interior-lighting/interior-hanging/aged-zinc-fulton-interior-hanging-3.aspx.
I haven’t picked the finishes for the door pulls or faucets yet. The two metals in the pendants is throwing me off. I’m probably over thinking it, but I can’t decide between chome or brushed nickel. Can you suggest a finish for the faucets and pulls/knobs? I would appreciate your opinion! Much thanks,
Heidi

Hi! We are completely remodeling our kitchen. I’m going for an all white farmhouse feel. We have stainless steel appliances, silver hardware, and a white farmhouse sink. Im buying light fixtures now and am wondering if I can use bronze lighting fixtures over the island and a black rod iron chandelier over the kitchen table without it looking like I have too many textures.

I LOVE this blog! My question remaining is – how does using black hardware and/or lighting fit into this equation? I am building a home and am having difficulty picking finishes. I have stainless steel appliances and have chosen a copper sink for a pop in our “farmhouse-y” kitchen. I have chosen a wood and oil rubbed bronze chandelier for the dining room. But since everything is all open, I don’t know what to do with my hardware. I would like to do all black hardware throughout the house and an oil rubbed bronze faucet. I chose black pendants over the kitchen island. However, now I am starting to doubt my choices – thinking the mix of black and orb may not go. Thanks in advance for your advice!

I am moving into a new townhome and have a bed with matte brass nailhead trim. The door handles in the bedroom and closet doors are all brushed nickel. The master bathroom is all brushed nickel. Will my bed clash??

What a wonderful compilation of inspiring ideas and links, thank you for sharing this resource!

My wife and I are in the middle of doing a full Kitchen replacement/upgrade. Our appliances are high end professional grade stainless steel, Our sink faucet is Oil Rubbed Bronze, Our island lights are industrial themed glass lights with oil rubbed bronze highlights, our cabinets are a take on Shaker design. My question: I want be bold and am thinking of going with a modern leaning, clean line, satin copper hardware or something similar… my wife thinks we should stay with the oil rubbed bronze so as not to have too many metals. Our cabinets are a rich walnut stain, the island is a darker antique dutch blue, tile back splash is a cream colored crackle subway tile. Thoughts?

I am finally replacing my builder bathroom light fixtures in 3 baths. I picked out vanity lights that I liked and are in my budget. All my fixtures are chrome, but these lights are a modern look with brushed nickel. I am now concerned that this will not look cohesive.

Thanks for the article. I also have a question about my remodel. We have white cabinets and stainless steel appliances. I bought a white range hood but we haven’t put it in and I’m more drawn to antique bronze finishes for the faucet and hardware. I need an experts opinion on whether or not that would clash or be too much. Thanks for the help.

Great article…but I have a question. In a kitchen that has stainless steel appliances, and the predominant metal (lighting, faucets, accent tile) is oil rubbed bronze, can I have champagne gold pulls? Or does the stainless steel count as the second metal?

I found your article at the PERFECT time – so great. Thank you! I am in the process of selecting finishes for a new home we are building. Lots of mixed metals – black steel windows with black touches in lighting fixtures, chrome and brass plumbing fixtures and lighting as well . A couple questions for you. The first is, if you’re mixing metals should you consistently mix them in each room or can you have an all brass (lighting, fixtures etc) powder room? Second question is would you be consistent and select a single finish with plumbing fixtures in a bathroom – chrome faucets with chrome shower system?

We are moving to a home that is open plan between the living room and kitchen. The kitchen hardware, faucet, and lights are all brushed nickel with stainless steel appliances. In the living room I have a round, marble coffee table with matte gold ornamental base. Would it be ok to do glass side tables in ORB or matte black? The TV stand also has some gold accents but they are not brushed. Wondering if this will be too much going on?

I love your article!! Great pictures!! I have a question I am renovating my master bathroom, we are doing a modern farmhouse theme. I am doing chrome light fixtures and faucets and ORB vanity pulls, but I am wanting a clawfoot tub. I have not purchased it because I am wanting brushed nickel feet on the tub. Is that too much contrast or should I stick with chrome?

Great article Kathy, I’d like to share this on my page. I’ve been researching great verbiage to help clients understand that mixing metals just makes everything more interesting. Congratulations on all of your success! Keep up the great work and inspiration!
all my best, Lisa

Thank you for posting this! I need your expert opinion – my kitchen has all stainless steel appliances and fixtures. However, I fell in love with a pendant light (long, wooden LED light; wood matches our hardwood floors) that has gold fixtures. The pendant will be placed above our kitchen island, which looks out into our living room. The living room furniture has gold finishes. Do you think that mixing these two would work?

Loved the article! We just bought a house that screams 1990s, so we’ve got a lot of updating to do to the door knobs, light fixtures, faucets. Currently we’re finishing up the half bath. I’m drawn to the pewter door knob finish for the house, but I’m having a difficult time deciding on a finish for the faucet and light fixture. Any suggestions??

My cottage bath faucets are both shiny silver (chrome) with shiny brass accent. Can I add brushed nickel light fixtures or must they contain the shine? Thanks much!

Thank you for the article! I had a question regarding mixing metals in a foyer. Our front foyer is 2 storeys with a wrought iron staircase with dark brown stain. We have double doors with smoked glass and wrought iron. I am looking for a large chandalier and fell in love with a chrome and crystal one. Is chrome/crystal chandalier okay with wrught iron staircase/door inserts?! If not, what metal should I select for the chandalier?
Thank you in advance!!

Hi! Need a little expert advice. Recently purchased a home that has a very open, slightly modern farmhouse feel. Every fixture in the house, including door handles, are chrome. My kitchen/living/eat in dining are all one big space. White kitchen, graphite subway tiles (almost mirrorish finish) and chrome fixtures. I have a beautiful gold mirror I’d like to hang in the eat in dining area. Would that mix well or stick out horribly? How do I make it cohesive? Thank you!

Hi
I enjoyed your article. I’m trying to figure this out because we are building a new home. We are building a very traditional new home modeled after a historic old home. My mixing metals question is deep:… some of our interior doors are going to be stained a medium walnut color. I was thinking of using oil rubbed bronze hinges and door hardware throughout the whole house… I think they should all match in a new construction…. but I am in love with mostly gold tone or brass light fixtures and sconces…. so I want to use those… but then I also like polished nickel or brushed nickel for sink in kitchen and bathroom hardware… that gives us oil rubbed bronze on doors / gold-ish lighting/ maybe mix in a silver/ and then some tone of silver for our faucets in kitchen and baths?? what are your thoughts.. is that too much? will it look good? i appreciate your help…

Hi Kathy! Thanks for this article – I found it while googling “kitchen mixed metals” and it’s helping to reinforce what I was already thinking. We are doing a kitchen remodel where we are keeping our darker wood cabinets with caesarstone london gray counters. We are installing a copper sink (i’m in love with it) but am struggling with cabinet hardware decisions. I’d like to do a bronze faucet, but am unsure as to whether i should use bronze, copper, or nickel cabinet hardware. I don’t want a tuscan look. The floors are reclaimed oak, and the knobs and light fixtures are nickel. Also contemplating a nickel faucet. Any thoughts/suggestions? Thanks!

Hi. I am doing a new kitchen in a very modern white Poliform Varenna model. I have a main Stainless sink with brushes stainless faucet. My Island is with a Cesare stone Calcutta top and has a small Stainless sink. Would like to do a brushed gold faucet there. The two faucets are in pretty close proximity to each other. What are your thoughts? Thanks!!

Hi Kathy,
Thanks so much for this fantastic post. I have small bathroom in all white subway tiles with grey grout. On my pedestal sink I used a masculine looking oil rubbed bronze faucet that reads as black. I am thinking of doing something different for the shower fixtures, maybe vibrant brushed brass/gold or polished nickel. I’m not sure if this will work and if I can find a way to balance all this. Do you have any suggestions?

Great and timely article. We are updating an overly done tuscan design. The house has a lot of oil rubbed bronze – some light fixtures, faucets and door handles. We want to brighten up the look. If we choose lights with a brushed nickel will that be ok? If not, another suggestion? Thanks in advance!!!

Hi there, thanks for answering ?’s about mixing metals for us! We are building a home using a kind of modern farmhouse look. I will have white walls and cabinets (kitchen and baths) and medium dark wood flooring We are also having black framed windows and black painted doors – exterior and interior. The hardware on the vanities and kitchen cabinets will be black. My lighting is more of a dark bronze so now I’m thinking it’s too matchy matchy and want to change it up on the faucets and decor. The appliances are white with brushed nickel hardware. HELP- what do you think? Thanks so much – this post is awesome!

Hello, thank you so much for the great ideas. I had a question. I have an open kitchen and living room floor plan. My kitchen cabinets are dark wood with chrome hardware and SS appliance. The backsplash and floor are a beige color, while the granite countertop is a mix of browns, greys, with hints of silver and gold hues (sorry about not explaining that well). The living room floors are medium color hardwood floors. I was wondering if it would be okay to have brass accents within the living room with a kitchen that is all chrome. I was thinking of getting a desk for the home office with that space that is marble and brass. But I’m a little worried because of the chrome throughout the kitchen. Any advice would be really appreciated!

Thank you so much for your article. You give some great advice. I’m decorating my home office (12′ x 12′ with vaulted ceilings up to 13′). The wainscoting is white and all walls above the wainscoting are painted in burnt orange. I have a brushed nickel dual head fan with medium (oak) wood blades. I’m looking for wall lamps to go over the antique oak desk and I’ve fallen in love with two brushed brass industrial swing arm sconces. Will the brass look good with the orange walls and nickel fan. I’d also like to find a floor or table lamp. What metal would you choose for those? Thanks so much!!

I am remodeling my master bathroom and would love to go for the mixed metals look. My cabinets are a medium to dark brown. My counter top is a light quartzite. My light fixtures and cabinet pulls are satin brass. In order of best to least best, what should I use for faucets; chrome, polished nickel, or brushed nickel? (I assume one of the nickels is the way to go, but would it be a big mistake to use chrome?)

Thanks so much for your article. Just what I needed! I am desperately trying to decide on the hardware finish for our new butler’s pantry. My kitchen currently has all cream cabinets with oil-rubbed bronze hardware, as well as all door knobs, faucets and light fixtures throughout the home in oil-rubbed bronze. I have accents of gold in frames, mirrors, curtain rods, hardware on antiques, etc. spread throughout the home. We are building a butler’s pantry visible from the dining room and front foyer with dark stained cabinets. Our floors are dark walnut. I have lots of silver trays, ice buckets, antique bowls on a buffet in the dining room in front of a huge gold framed mirror. Should I choose ORB or antique gold (german bronze-Top knobs) for my butler pantry hardware? The butler’s pantry is set back in it’s own space, but is in a pass through between our laundry room and kitchen, all with the ORB hardware. Thanks so much for your opinion!

Hello. I am redoing my bathroom using redwood linen cabinet, redwood slab countertop, and redwood floating sink cabinet, a hand hammered bright nickel vessel sink, chrome faucets, towel hooks, bars, robe hooks, etc. Floor tile is drab olive. I want to do a redwood framed mirror with small copper tiles nailed to the face. My question is will bright copper be compatible with the chrome and redwood? Thanks.

I like the designs ideas in this article. My problem is not so much the items in the room but the room itself. My home has a black wrought iron staircase and I absolutely love it. Some of the lighting fixtures also have black wrought iron. As I look to change the lighting, particularly in my kitchen, I wasn’t sure if I have to stick with black or if I can use the browns/oiled bronze look and still keep a consistent feel with the staircase.

Hi, this is a great article and so educational. I feel like I am in a rut…not sure what to do? I have a light grey sofa with walnut retro legs and I have paired it with a black Barcelona chair with an Eileen grey side table. I would like to add a coffee table but was hoping to add another metal element. I was thinking gold, bronze or dark metal. Then I would perhaps incorporate a floor lamp or large mirror in a similar metal. This sitting room in on my kitchen which is primarily white, grey and chrome. Any advice you can offer would be really appreciated! Sorry for all the questions but you are an awesome designer! Hoping to add some pizaz to the sitting area!

Hi there! I’m in love with your article!! I am currently building another home and would love to mix metals especially in my kitchen. The question is if I chose a brass lighting with an all white kitchen what other metals should I mix as far as the hardware? Thanks so much for your input!

What a wonderful article and your written tone is so sweet and encouraging. My question is this….I am remodeling my master bath. It is going to have a slight rustic look with a clay colored floor and light walnut stained vanities. I am using Rohl Tuscan Brass for the lav faucets and shower fixtures. I am also installing a claw foot tub. Unfortunately, the metal choices in faucets is limited for these tubs. After your article, I am daring to choose a brushed nickel tub filler with porcelain handles which is one of the limited choices. What do you think? Can I pull it off?

Inspiring article! We’re in the midst of a kitchen remodel and the doubt surrounding hardware and fixtures is creeping in. As of yet, we’re installing traditional cream color cabinets along with SS appliances and sink in an otherwise poorly lit kitchen. The wood floors have a ‘mushroom’ color stain. I’d like to paint the island a different color than the surrounding cabinets but haven’t settled on the color. The countertops (yet to be installed) are Perla Venata quartzite giving me additional versatility in tones. I’d like to find the right backsplash that includes mainly mother of pearl so it’s bright and reflective. The window treatments have to $tay… they’re a warm shade of brown with dark brown streaks and gold flecking. My house was previously brown. Different shades of brown, with a little rust and gold to accent. Then too, I froze and think I played it too safe… totally hated it. Felt like entered someone’s colon every time I walked in the door.
Now I’m brightening up the kitchen. I’m drawn to a neutral palette and like the few decisions I’ve made in cabinet, countertop and floor color so far, but how should I tastefully incorporate the hardware?
I’m drawn to a faucet in particular that is brushed bronze (I have the window treatments to consider too) I also love the look of antique copper in slightly more modern hardware design. I’m not tied to colors but how would you suggest I incorporate the hardware without making it too matchy? Keep in mind, 1/3 of the wall in my L shaped kitchen are pantry cabinets… 2 sets of double doors on top and bottom. Still haven’t decided on island lighting (3 pendants) either. Sorry for the windedness. My brain is fried! I’d appreciate any advice at this point. Thanks

Thank you! Your article was very helpful. I am changing my kitchen hardware to brushed bronze and want to replace my sink with an aproned farm sink. I didn’t want to go dark on my kitchen faucet. The photo of the kitchen is exactly what I am going for! Now I know it can be done.

Hello! Love the article and the photos you’ve used to illustrate. I have my eye on a gorgeous brass shelves/bookcase but I have copper lights table and standing lights in my living room and can’t decide whether that will work. The rest of the room is light wood floorboards with a mid-dark wood piano and dark purple sofas. The room is very light and we are yet to choose a colour to paint it. Any thoughts welcome. I notice you didn’t mention combining copper and brass in the article, save perhaps with kitchenware. Help!

I am so happy I found this blog! I am currently updating an old farmhouse. I have a brushed nickel kitchen faucet with brushed nickel cabinet hardware. Then wood/black lighting in the kitchen and dining room. The bathroom I was thinking of putting bronze light fixtures and brushed nickel sink faucet/bathtub faucet. I’m wondering if that will be ok? I still need to figure out what to use for my towel rack and toilet paper holder. Throughout the rest of the house I have brushed nickel lighting and was thinking of doing bronze door handles on our new white doors throughout the house. Will all of this mix well?

Love the photos and all the tips using metals. I do have a specific question. We have brass door handles throughout our home that need updating. We have stainless faucets throughout the home also. I wanted to update the door handles to polished bronze but am concerned about mixing the two. Any adivice? Thanks.

Hi Kathy,
I love this article and knowing that it is okay to mix metals. My living room and kitchen are farmhouse style now with greys and iron mainly. I am looking to warm it up a bit with either gold or silver and phase out the farmhouse look into a more glamorous chic look. I love neutrals, but now feel the space looks a little drab and cold. Any ideas on how i can warm it up a bit and mix with iron?? Thanks!!

Hi am in the process of remodeling/updating my house and this was my exact problem how to combine metals and if it was ok to do. My entrance and living/dining room are warm cream walls and other parts of my house are grey/black and cool. Do you guys ever do consults?

Great article! What are your thoughts on mixing a chrome crystal chandelier over the dining room table when you have an acrylic curtain rod with brass hardware? Is that going to be too much conflicting metal?

In regards to the whole house…We are building our home and I’m wondering if every room needs to be the same when it comes to metal choices in hardware (faucets, drawer pulls, towel bars, hinges), lighting,etc. My kitchen will have stainless appliances, then could I do brushed nickel in our guest bath and oil rubbed bronze in our master bath?

I don’t know what finish to choose for my kitchen faucet. It is in an island directly across from an enamel grey/blue Lacanche range with brass and stainless hardware. The hood will have a stainless trim and there will be 2 sconces ( finish also tbd) flanking the range. I have not chosen cabinet hardware either. Other appliances are all integrated with white cabinetry. Should I stick with brass and stainless everywhere or can I add polished nickel for faucet and sconces and do brass for cabinets? There are no pendants over the island. Thanks

I’m building kitchen and I have used black and white tile 18×18 and cabinets are white… I have not purchase drawer pulls just yet nor have I decided what other colors to use… But sink is chrome n appliances are stainless steel. I was wondering about adding gold metal with the silver or if another option would be better?

Great article! Thank you for breaking it down simplistically.

Love the advice. I am looking to replace lighting over dining room table. Traditional decor, with reddish oak finish on handcrafted furniture ( by my talented dad!). Open to kitchen that has chrome sink fixture and antique brass hardware. I am definitely one of those that has acquired different finishes over the years! Any thought on finish for the dining room?

Hello! I am going to be repainting my vaulted ceiling living room in silver drop grey (from behr.) I have a gold chenille sofa set that I am obviously stuck with until I can either get a new one or get this one reupholstered. However, since my sofa is in the primary metallic that I would like to use, am I going to have to ease up on the other gold accents that I would like to use in the picture frames or accent tables? I don’t want it to appear too gaudy. I am going for a rustic glam look….please help

Fantastic blog & VERY helpful. I’m currently decorating my office at work. I inherited an existing glass & matt chrome desk, plus coffee table and wanted to introduce some copper/rose gold for warmth & femine touch but was alittle nervous that it wouldn’t work. Your advice has given me the confidence & guidelines to continue with my instincts. Thanks heaps for the help 👍🏼