This may not be a long enough trial for you, but I replaced our pulls with some inexpensive ones from either HD or Lowe's (can't remember now) a year and a half ago and they look exactly as they did when I installed them. No problems.

I've bought all of our faucets so far from a plumbing supply company (Ferguson) and have been very happy with the quality. They are a couple sets of Moens and a Kohler. The Moens in our MBR are going on 14 years old and are in perfect condition, never needed repairs. People have said on this forum, and my plumber has also told me, that the faucets sold at the big box stores are made more cheaply than the ones sold in kitchen/bath showrooms, even if they are the same brand and maybe even if they are the same product name. Apparently they have plastic innards instead of metal.

I take one thing back -- our 14-yr-old Moen handheld shower head started peeling a few years ago. Apparently the coating on the handheld heads is plastic, not metal, and that is the one part not covered by their warranty. I keep forgetting to get a new one.

I've heard the same regarding faucets. Spend the extra money for the better quality from the plumbing stores. IMHO, when it comes to hardware, you can easily replace it and you very well may as styles change. If you want to save a few bucks, I'd do so with the hardware.

We use cabinet pulls from HD and Lowes (although mostly Menards, which you may not have where you live). They are usually not any problem at all and last as long as any other. The prices are usually all right. But....

1. Some cabinet hardware is now being tapped for metric screws (5mm, I think) and not the standard 8/32" machine screw used in the U.S. This is no problem unless you need to buy longer screws. Drawer pulls, for example usually require a 1-5/8" or 1-3/4" screw. The 1" screws that come with the pull are too short. To see whether the pull is metric, stop by the hardware section and borrow an 8/32" machine screw. If it will fit the tapped hole in the pull, then the pull has a standard tap. The other option is to make sure you have a source for 1-5/8" and 1-3/4" 5mm metric screws.

2. A larger than average number of big box store pulls have a defective tap so the screws do not go all the way in. Just test to make sure they do.

Good luck with your project.

replaced my brass hardware with Amerock through Home Depot.... Item # Amerock BP76295-HB...."... .hammered finish...love it!!!!..... also got my drawer pulls through Home Depot....thought they were Martha Stewart...but cant find the link...they look great together and I'm very pleased !

Faucets... I wondered about the possibility of cheap innards. Thanks NC and dellen. We definitely don't want to skimp on quality here.

Thanks xoldtimecarpenter: Never would have occurred to us to think metric!

Amerock is one of the best brands I've ever used. I'm not a big shopper, so I prefer to do my shopping online (that way I don't have to lug things around or lose my hair trying to find parking!) We have Vigo faucets, and we've been very happy with their performance, especially when it comes to cleaning my countertops (not to mention they look great!) Good luck with your revamp and good for you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Cabinet Hardware

I've heard the same thing about big box stores, but I have no personal experience with them. For our current house and the new house, we bought fixtures through our local plumbing store. We currently have a Moen pull out kitchen faucet and after about 5 years the button broke so now the stream of water is half spray, half stream. Other than that all of our other Moen faucets have held up nicely. In the new house we purchased Delta Leland for the kitchen and some bathrooms, Moen Monticello for 1 bathroom (also have this in the current house and have seen the same style JW Marriott hotels), and Delta Victorian for the powder room. I did buy one faucet for the outdoor kitchen from dealyard.com. I also bought our garbage disposals from faucetdepot.com.

Saw a commercial for a touch faucet, looks awesome! Don't know anything about pricing/quality though.

For cabinet knobs/pulls: for the current house, we bought our ORB knobs and bin pulls from Ebay - excellent quality, great price. Just did the same for the new house - very inexpensive (around $1 per knob, $1.49 per bin pull), no tax, and free shipping if you buy 25+ items. Can't beat that! The ebay store is called The Knob Shop. From their description: "We have a large variety of Cabinet Hardware available: Amerock, Allison, Avante, Belwith, Hickory Hardware, Century, Liberty, Laurey, Knob Hill, Signature Brass, Carol Beach, JVJ, Gainsborough, Gatco, Ultra, Sierra Designs, so feel free to ask about any hardware you are interested in!"

HTH, Good luck!

I think it's important to actually touch and feel cabinet hardware before you commit to an entire kitchen's worth. If you see (and feel) what you like at the Big Box, then fine. We went to a big hardware store in San Diego to look at knobs and pulls because they must have one of everything ever made. When we found what we liked, it was Amerock and no more expensive than hardware at the Big Box, and we weren't even choosing by the price tag. The one disadvantage was that you need to order the goods and they're not returnable, nor can you pop down to the store to pick up one more.

Faucets - I made my decision based on things I read here and then bought it from Ferguson's. Our last faucet was from a Big Box somewhere and it lasted for 35+ years before it developed a little hole in top of the spout. Can hardly complain about that! Of course, I think quality at BB has declined in the last 35 years too, hence the buying at Ferguson's.

Thanks all. Always good info!!

i heard the same info regarding the differences in faucets, some of which seemed pretty reliable.
i emailed Delta and they said that it was all exactly the same. i ended up buying the Leland at home depot, i guess time will tell.

We bought our Delta touch faucet at Lowes over a year and a half ago and have had no issues with it. It works great. We love the touch feature.