Picking Out the Best Hardware for Your PA Kitchen and Bathroom Remodel

All those little bits and pieces - like handles, fittings, and fixtures - are as important to your overall remodel as your selection of tiles or what color you paint your walls, yet these are often overlooked. Pairing low quality hardware with a fancy new remodel is a little bit like ruining a good steak with ketchup. To avoid this trap, here are some tips on how you can pick hardware that will add to the new look of your kitchen or bathroom and not detract from it.

Getting the perfect match with everything else in your kitchen.

Most experts recommend matching non-permanent fittings and fixtures with permanent features. The color of your walls, for example, or the style of your sink, countertops or bath should be taken into consideration. Uniformity should also exist between different types of hardware. In your bathroom, for example, your towel rails, soap holders, and drawer or cabinet handles should match the style, color and finish of your faucets. It may help, rather than trying to find matching subsets of hardware, to begin with a style theme in mind and make your selections based on what conforms to this theme as way of narrowing your options.  

Mix it up.. but keep the whole picture in mind.

Certain styles, such as those in the cottage style subcategories embrace a more varied, eclectic look. For these, feel free to hand-select each fitting individually. In these styles, you’ll seldom find a tendency towards mixing traditional designs with more modern ones, so focus more on putting together a selection of second hand, antique or antique-styled fittings than simply grabbing whatever you can find and throwing them together. Even when mixing colors and styles, be sure to maintain a theme that holds it all together.

Find complementary colors for reflective surfaces.

To really get those fittings popping, choose colors and finishes that stand out against the backdrop of your kitchen or bathroom. Contrasting colors are one thing, but what complements the sheen of chrome or the sparkle of polished brass? Reflective surfaces such as metals often represent a spectrum of colors. To match or contrast these, it might help to place a sample into the light and color environment of the room and make your selection according to the colors most reflected.

Ensure your hardware is high quality.

Make sure you get the best possible hardware for your kitchen and bathroom remodel by ensuring that the material from which the hardware is manufactured is of the highest quality, that you buy from only reputable companies and suppliers, and that your purchases are under warrant in the event of faults being discovered post-installation.

Choose bathroom/kitchen hardware that really works for you.

Everybody has their own peculiar habits when it comes to kitchens and bathrooms. Only you know the dynamics of your interactions with the hardware. If you have a tendency to splash while washing your hands, for example, a faucet with a slow, gentle stream would be a better option than one with a focused nozzle with a high pressure aerated jet. The same applies to cabinet handles and towel rails. Are you hard on handles? Something inlaid or with two points of contact will be hardier than drawer knobs with large grips and only one point of attachment. Do you tug on your towels in a rush to get ready, or are you a methodical and gentle towel user? Bolted plates with a firmly secured towel ring may be better suited to you than an ornate, but delicate vintage bar rail. Embrace your habits!