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| I am making a white kitchen with 2 inch carrera counters and walnut butcher block( this will be the end piece on my peninsula that people gather around so they will pour their drink on it instead of the marble).. I was set on polished nickel hardware. I hired an interior designer for 1 hour and she really pushed me to reconsider not getting polished nickel. I have 4 kids.. YOUNG messy boys and I am already pushing it with white cabs and white marble.. she felt polished nickel hardware and faucets would be a big mistake..So i was talked out of it and now plan to use satin nickel... will I regret this or be happy??? How different will the end results be in the look. I have a brick fireplace in my kitchen with a long farm table. She thinks the satin nickel will blend better.. but I cant picture the end result in satin. I see some SN looks greyish to me.. where as the PN looks creamy and warm.. is that the brands and how they vary? Any photos of white with SN and insight or thoughts are appreciated. Oh ..she also wanted me to consider a different marble from carrara but he others will break my budget |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by circuspeanut (My Page) on Mon, Jan 25, 10 at 8:21
| What is your current faucet finish? I have polished nickel and don't find it harder to take care of than the previous polished chrome. Personally I much prefer polished nickel to satin, because of the warmth issue you mention. I adore mine, it's my favorite finish. I'd go with what you originally planned and what you love -- those boys have a way of getting bigger and more trainable. ;-) |
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- Posted by beekeeperswife (My Page) on Mon, Jan 25, 10 at 9:21
| I say get what you want. I knew that polished nickel would have looked better in our kitchen, but since the appliances were ss, my dh voted for the brushed nickel. I asked friends for their opinions, they voted for the brushed too. I have crystal knobs for my cabinets, and I really wanted the polished pulls.... In hindsight--I'm still wiping the brushed handles down a lot anyway, if something splatters on them, they do show it. But it's not a big deal to tape a microfiber towel and wipe them off. I look at my situation this way--I didn't spend too much on those handles, and they can be replaced at some point if they still bug me! (As far as my faucet goes though--I'm very happy with having chosen stainless. ) |
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| circuspeanut and beekeeperswife do either of you have any photos up of your kitchens? |
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- Posted by rococogurl (My Page) on Mon, Jan 25, 10 at 10:11
| I have brushed nickel faucet and also high arc spayer in my kitchen as those go with my ss counters. It's been great and doesn't show very much at all. Surprising how little attention it needs. But some of this depends on which faucet and whether the surface is integral or not. Have polished nickel faucets (Rohl) in the master bath. Those need to be, well, polished or they start to look like tarnished silver which is characteristic of integral polished nickel faucets (Rohl). And they do actually tarnish. So in addition to wiping it down, it needs to be gone over with Flitz, a mild metal polish, about once every 6-8 weeks. It also shows water spots. Both are beautiful. IME (5 years now) one is more work than the other. |
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| I don't know about you, but if it's something I love, I don't mind the extra work. If it's something someone else picked out or gave me as a gift that I don't really like, I curse everytime I have to clean it. You know yourself better than anyone else - what will you put up with to have something you love? |
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- Posted by redheadcurlyq (My Page) on Mon, Jan 25, 10 at 11:57
| Your taste. Your house. Stick to your guns. |
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- Posted by athensmomof3 (My Page) on Mon, Jan 25, 10 at 12:09
| Stick to your guns. I bet if you asked another kitchen designer you would get a different answer. They all have biases. A friends interior designer insisted she get chrome faucets and handles, saying they were more current than brushed nickel. Get what YOU love - boys do get bigger (not sure if they get neater though but that is what I am hoping for since I have 3 little ones and a big one!) Your kitchen sounds beautiful. Designers are great but you have to know your own taste as well and TRUST it. I would be a little wary of something I actually had to polish, but if all it needs is wiping down like a chrome faucet, then that takes a second a day. |
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- Posted by beekeeperswife (My Page) on Mon, Jan 25, 10 at 16:06
| ajard, I wasn't sure what kind of picture you wanted, but I'm assuming something about the handles..... So here are a couple of pictures (remember it's a work in progress), tell me if you wanted a more "overall" picture: as a sidenote, check out the chicken in the oven.... against my dark cherry cabinets, see how it matches the microwave handle? on the white cabinets: just for fun and because I love 'em: top of handle--see what's waiting for me tonight at the dinner cleanup? I'm sure it's just water, but stuff shows. |
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| We got polished nickel in our bath remodel. It's beautiful, but we have very hard water and water spots show--and are difficult to remove. I'm sort of wishing I had gone with SN since the kids use this bath. But PN is gorgeous! |
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| DH and I both preferred brushed/satin nickel for our fixtures when we renovated our kitchen and bathroom 1 1/2 years ago. (yes, occasionally I still visit GH because I love looking at the kitchen photos:) SN in my opinion looks better with SS appliances, and I am amazed at how easier it is to maintain compared to PN because there seem to be less smudges and water spots. Having said that, I agree with the other posters - you are the client - so while you are paying your designer for his/her opinions and advice, ultimately you need to be comfortable with YOUR decision for YOUR home! Good luck! |
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| I really wanted to be talked out of PN and I dont want to be a slave to my faucet and hardware. this was great! I am talked out of it. yesterday I visited a showroom that had a white kitchen I saw a while back that I loved before I knew about the hardware finishes.. when I went back it was SN.. so I am good.. THank you soo much! |
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| OMG.. I took my sample door, marble and wood to a fixture store today and I LOVE PN....so much more then SN for what I am doing... so I am back to square one and need to be talked into it but I see so many bad reviews of choosing PN.. |
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| I have polished chrome and a 23 month old who gets into everything. It's really not that bad. The handle on the dishwasher gets a tad grungy but really...get what you want. You won't find polished to be a hassle at all. That said, brushed would look almost as good and unless you're trying for a vintage look, you don't need polished. |
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- Posted by dotcomgone (My Page) on Wed, Feb 24, 10 at 19:14
I think if it looks best with the materials you are using and you love it, you wont mind the little extra effort to wipe down. Frankly, i'm not sure what all the fuss is about. I have polished nickel in kitchen and all baths and every few weeks give them a wipe down with a special polishing cloth. That's all. No biggie. Here's a photo of white cabinets/white marble/ polished nickel. Go for it!  |
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| exactly dotcomgone. Maintaining polished nickel is really not that big a deal. And nothing compares to it, nothing. If what you really love is polished nickel, you won't be happy with anything else. No matter how pretty or low maintenance it is. I know I wouldn't be. |
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| Thanks pirula and dot... I really needed the support on my decision... so many people telling me so many things when I go to the stores! Thanks fori..polished chrome is supposedly easier to maintain and get water spots off then polished nickel. I would not hesitate on the chrome, I have it in my bathrooms.. but for my kitchen I want the softer less blue tone of the pn |
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- Posted by momof3kids_pa (My Page) on Fri, Feb 26, 10 at 8:42
| i have polished chrome pulls, and 3 very messy kids (4 if you count DH). like beekeeperswife said, really ANY finish you're going to have to wipe if it gets dirty. PLEASE get what you love, I'm a firm believer in that. I also have polished nickel pendants. They make me glad I have polished chrome handles. Again, as rocogurl said, they do look a bit tarnishy -- not that I've polished them yet, but I think maybe I should?! But I don't think there is a big difference between the polished nickel/chrome... more of a difference between polished and satin. OH, and I also have brick in my kitchen and the shiny chrome looks great with it.
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| I don't think you can go wrong either way. That said, I went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth... for several months on this very same decision. I remember fondly some of the debates between me, my husband, our GC, and our carpenter. None of these guys could discern any difference whatsoever between PN and Chrome, mind you, they all saw the distinction as shiny vs. dull. "Shiny looks cheap, brushed is the way to go. No, Shiny looks clean and neat, brushed blends in with everything else too much. Brushed matches the range hood and the microwave, but shiny matches the faucets. I dunno, which is cheaper? What's in stock?" So I ended up buying samples of the pulls, knobs, and latches in both PN and SN to help everyone visualize. Well that just confused the issue even more. FWIW, we ended up going with PN, mainly because I loved the softness of the color and how clean and bright the pulls appeared against the cabinet paint. Sadly, we went with Hamilton-Sinkler and PN is a special order finish. 8 weeks later and we're still waiting for the pulls to arrive from the manufacturing plant in India! SN was in stock at the warehouse, go figure. |
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| mereanne.. thank you for that story... that is all that I am going through.... making myself nuts!At least I know I am not the only one that is going through all these steps and thoughts to make this decision.... I think I am just going to go all PN and be done with it!... On Monday I have my final meeting with my KD so she can process my order and all I have to do i commit to the pn exposed hinges and I am on my way |
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