Do you love the rich and warm chocolatey color of oil rubbed bronze home hardware? There are a few things you should know about this beautiful finish that can have quite a bit of variety.
Q: I used to have some oil rubbed bronze sink faucets and knobs in my old house and I loved them. I recently started shopping for some oil rubbed bronze home hardware, and some of it looks so much different than the ones I had before. Are there different kinds of oil rubbed bronze?
A: The look of certain finishes can be very different from one brand to another. Oil rubbed bronze is a great example of this, especially because there are several different methods for achieving the look of oil rubbed bronze. Most oil rubbed bronze pieces you find today are made simply by coating the outer surface with a rich, dark brown paint. A manufacturer might also used a chemical to darken the outermost layer of hardware.
If the house you lived in before was old, it might be that the oil rubbed bronze there was also old, and achieved the aged or worn look in some spots naturally, over time. This look is very hard to replicate, and it's true that oil rubbed bronze will look a little different from piece to piece, even if they're all from the same brand!
Natural or authentic oil rubbed bronze, also referred to as a "living" finish, is slowly and constantly being changed with use and wear. The more it's touched over the years, the more it will achieve the lighter, rubbed off spots to show the copper underneath. Most manufacturers use a non-living finish to get the oil rubbed bronze look, which means it won't rub off with time, or there are spots that are already worn to make it look as if the door knob or faucet knob has been used for many years.
My advice is to stick with the oil rubbed bronze home hardware from one brand. If you are using oil rubbed bronze cabinet knobs from RKI and you want to use backplates with them, you will need to use the oil rubbed bronze back plates from RKI If you don't, you could risk the backplates being a much darker or lighter shade, and it won't look right at all.
The same goes if you're trying to match the oil rubbed bronze faucets and knobs with the cabinet hardware and towel bars. You should definitely purchase them from the same brand. The brands Hickory Hardware, RKI and Amerock are just a few of them many brands that have extensive oil rubbed bronze collections.
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