Post 11: Brass, gold, and everything in between

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Betting on brass

Honestly, the aspect of my kitchen renovation I struggled the most with was finding the perfect cabinet hardware. When I created my design vision board, I had 2 looks: one with brass fixtures, one with black fixtures. When I pivoted to the two-tone white and navy cabinets, I decided to go with the brass fixtures (hardware, lighting, faucet). I was a little on the fence and had to quiet the voice in my head saying, “you may regret this decision in a few years”, but when I placed the brass samples next to my navy cabinet swatch, I instantly loved the look.

Samples, samples, samples

I went through many samples…many, before I landed on the perfect choice for my kitchen. The main struggle I had was every sample I got was a different tone. The word “gold” meant something different to each retailer. I did a little research and found out that brass, gold, champagne, and bronze, are all slightly different versions of the idea I had in my head. Spoiler alert, I didn’t go with any of the samples in this picture.

In living colour

It was really hard to shop online without seeing and touching the handles. I started out with some handles I found in Home Depot from Richelieu, none of these complimented my faucet or pendant lights. Then I moved onto ordering from Wayfair and Amazon, and each one was vastly different than its picture when it arrived. Some had an orange hue, some were satin brass, some were champagne bronze. When I put the samples with the lighting and faucet options nothing went together.

Globally sourced, locally purchased

In need of a brick-and-mortar retail experience, I searched online for stores that carried cabinet hardware and found a local shop in Oakville called Handstyle. I fell in love with a handle from a company called Top Knobs that I found there. Handstyle didn’t have samples on hand to borrow, and I wasn’t sure if the brass colour would match the rest of my design pieces, so I decided not to purchase from them. I came home and did some more online searching and found the same Top Knobs handle I liked on both Amazon and Wayfair. I placed an online order for a few different sized samples on Wayfair; that unfortunately was going to take two weeks to arrive. I am not a very patient person, and my cabinets were scheduled to be installed in about 3 weeks, but I decided I could wait it out to get my first choice. A few days later, I got a message that my order had been cancelled as the items were not available. Disappointing to say the least. After more research, I was able to get a few of the samples from Amazon (but in the US). I knew I didn’t want the headache of ordering over 40 handles from Amazon or Wayfair, given my history with shortages and mix ups, so I went to the Top Knobs site and found a local distributor. I visited The Affordable Kitchen Company and they had my handles, so I immediately placed an order with them which reduced the stress of me sourcing the in-demand handles online.

The hostages are released!

The handles took a bit longer to arrive than planned. The order got held hostage at the Ambassador Bridge during the trucker convey protests over COVID-19 vaccine mandates when Omicron was at its peak height in January. The handles through the Affordable Kitchen Company came in one order and were only 5 minutes from my house so I picked them up myself. Due to the order delay, my cabinets were installed without handles, and it was a few weeks before the cabinet hardware could be installed. In the meantime, I couldn’t really use my kitchen. My construction team said I was opposite of everyone they had worked with who wanted to move back into their kitchen as soon as it was installed. I still didn’t have water or power for my microwave, so I decided to wait before moving into my new cabinets.

Honey bronzed glow

The brass colour I landed on is called honey bronze. It is more champagne than gold and I absolutely love the colour. My handles are from Top Knobs from the Ellis collection, Davenport line. I confess, I spent a “bit” more on my cabinet hardware than planned, but once I saw these, nothing else came close to measuring up in my mind and I scoured the internet to find them nearby.

I have 3 sizes of cabinet pulls and one knob for the little drawer next to my wine fridge. I was a little worried it might be too many sizes, but they all suit the size of cabinet they are on. The guidance around hardware styles, sizing and placement is all over the map. Basically, anything goes. I found this quite frustrating.

I decided on the following sizes:

8” for my drawers and pantry cabinets (except the small uppers)
6” for my uppers (except the small cabinets above the fridge and stove)
5″ for my lowers and upper pantry cabinets, garbage pull out drawer, and cabinets above my fridge and stove
1 knob for my small drawer in my island, next to the wine fridge

Rookie Tip: Cabinet hardware should match the look and feel of your kitchen, but it should also be comfortable in the palm of your hands. You will need to decide if you’d like to use all knobs, all pulls, or a combo of both. When you’re determining whether to use a knob or a pull, think about your personal preference, obtain samples to make sure your favourites look and feel good, and use painters tape to help determine size and placement.

A touch of glam

When the handles got installed, even my construction crews said how unique they were and how great they looked. I took that as a compliment as they see a lot of kitchens. 😉 The handles I went with have a little bit of “flair” which I thought was a unique shape that I didn’t see in the other samples I tried. I absolutely love the cabinet hardware. It looks great with the navy and the white cabinets. The handles are heavy, but still comfortable to hold as they are slightly rounded and are high quality. Check out Top Knobs if you are looking for new cabinet hardware. They have some unique and beautiful handles.