We do have ORB in the rental we are temporarily in, the building is only a couple years old and on the mostly used door handles the finish is coming off. Making them more orangey then the original dark browny bronze.

Are you speaking of the real ORB living finish or the faux painted version that is used often?

Thanks xc60 that's what I was afraid of..

Millworkman I thought all ORB finish was the same. So I'm guessing the ORB finish you would purchase in a big Box store no matter price would be painted?? How can you tell the difference? Sorry for the dumb questions.

Thanks again xc60 and millworkman

I have heard of difficulties with ORB on faucets, and doorknobs every once and a while. I was planning on this finish for my doorknobs, but I am definitely concerned about the quality of the finish. There isn't a lot of information out there on the different brands so I'm not quite sure what to do yet.

I have ORB Moen fixtures, as well as hinges and knobs on doors. I think ORB is a finish that has been done on brass. The 'finish' probably is some sort of painting technique, not just a simple spray out of a can. Mine have been in for 6 years with no wear.

We have some ORB cabinet knobs from Restoration Hardware that are about 5 years old and are showing wear and metal underneath. It's copper-colored, though, which is odd, I'm sure it isn't copper. It doesn't bug me that much, but kobs are a lot cheaper to replace than some other hardware.

Bronze is mostly copper. A true ORB is a living finish and will show the wear points by wearing through the patina to the natural brighter coppery metal tht is below. There are some brands that clearcoat the patina, but that will fail over time. And there are some some companies that do a paint finish instead of the real much more expensive finish. They developed the fake because too many people thought that the natural behavior of the material was some sort of defect. It isn't. It shows that you have the real thing and not the painted imitation.

Here are the door handles in our rental. Not sure what type of ORB finished is used. Most likely not very expensive as the whole large apartment building has them in the units.

Barely used handle:

Frequently used handle:

Oh WOW thanks for posting xc60!! Now I'm not sure what finish I like to go with??

Deb

How can you tell if the finish will last? I don't know. We have Top Knobs ORB finish on all our kitchen pulls, installed in 2005. I recall this was referred to as a "living finish". This is a heavily used kitchen 3 times a day or more. There are NO shiny/coppery areas anywhere on them. Wish I could help you with plumbing fixtures, but we have KWS brushed nickel in our kitchen and Grohe chrome in our bathrooms.

-Babka

ORB is a soft finish even with the coating on it. If you plan on having hard water touch the ORB it will wear down the color faster when you try to get the water marks off. In order to get water marks off you would use an aggressive cleanser which might even bring the finish back to brass. In my opinion out of all finishes, ORB, Chrome, Polished Nickel, Brass Nickel, etc Chrome is the best looking after years of use.