Create an ideabook for your next remodeling project!
Browse more than 1,000,000 photos from top designers and save your favorites
Classic Finish: Once and Always Chrome
Other kitchen and bath finishes come and go (remember antique brass?), but chrome never goes out of style. Chrome remains my go-to finish when I want a design to come across as clean, bright and tailored.
Chrome is one of the more common elements on the earth. Chromium ore, also known as chromite, comes from a few sites around the world and is an important resource in South Africa, Turkey, Russia and India. Most people know chrome from its distinctive shine, but chrome almost never occurs in nature that way. Rather, it's combined with other elements to form compounds that do everything from give rubies their red color to allow human beings to metabolize sugar.
Chrome was an important pigment long before it became a faucet finish. Here's a fun chrome fact: The yellow color of a school bus is actually chrome yellow, a paint derived from chromium ore.
It wasn't until the early 1920s that somebody figured out how to electroplate base metals with chrome. It was in that same period that the chrome faucet made its debut. The corrosion-resistance and luster of chrome plating made it an instant hit. It's been the most common faucet finish sold ever since.
These days, chrome competes for attention against brushed nickel, oil-rubbed bronze and others. Something tells me, though, that it's chrome that will have the staying power. What about you?
Chrome is one of the more common elements on the earth. Chromium ore, also known as chromite, comes from a few sites around the world and is an important resource in South Africa, Turkey, Russia and India. Most people know chrome from its distinctive shine, but chrome almost never occurs in nature that way. Rather, it's combined with other elements to form compounds that do everything from give rubies their red color to allow human beings to metabolize sugar.
Chrome was an important pigment long before it became a faucet finish. Here's a fun chrome fact: The yellow color of a school bus is actually chrome yellow, a paint derived from chromium ore.
It wasn't until the early 1920s that somebody figured out how to electroplate base metals with chrome. It was in that same period that the chrome faucet made its debut. The corrosion-resistance and luster of chrome plating made it an instant hit. It's been the most common faucet finish sold ever since.
These days, chrome competes for attention against brushed nickel, oil-rubbed bronze and others. Something tells me, though, that it's chrome that will have the staying power. What about you?
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| The combination of a chrome bridge faucet, a chrome sprayer and glass knobs on the cabinetry take the shine of the stainless steel refrigerator and spread it throughout this whole kitchen, though with an appealing subtlety. |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
A vanity such as this one is what I meant when I described chrome as "tailored." The chrome wall-mounted faucet, chrome sconces and chrome hardware on the vanity itself are as pulled together as a Chanel suit.
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| The chrome faucets, nickel cabinet handles, stainless steel sinks and red enamel Aga range combine to make an even and pleasant range of metal finishes in this kitchen. |
|
by Amoroso Design
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| A chrome knob, a chrome escutcheon and a white cabinet door is an enduring classic that comes as close to being "timeless" as anything I can imagine. |
|
by Axis Mundi
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| The mirror-like shine of chrome hardware makes a brilliant counterpoint to the honed marble and dark cabinetry in this bathroom. |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
This bath design takes a page from the tail end of the Arts and Crafts movement, and its chrome fixtures are period-perfect. Despite the modern flourish of the frameless shower enclosure, this bathroom reads as if it were 90 years old.
The chrome fixtures in this warm and spa-like bathroom show that shine needn't be cold.
|
by Palmer Todd
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| The chrome pendant lights over this island take this kitchen's Rule of Three symmetry into the stratosphere. |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| The chrome faucets, galvanized steel bar stools, black enamel lights, chrome strap hinges and stainless steel refrigerator add up to a cornucopia of metal finishes. This combination shows once again that purposefully mismatched metals can be a winning approach to the design in any room. |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
This kitchen's complex design is masquerading as simplicity, and the chrome flourishes are an important part of the act. The twinkle of chrome lifts the eye up and draws attention to the handsome shapes of the windows.
| The warmth is in the wood int his kitchen. It's in the wood and only the wood. The chrome legs on the stools combine with the shine on those counters, and together they make the walnut cabinetry appear to be even softer than it would otherwise.
Does chrome hold an appeal to you? |
Ideabook updated on Nov. 28, 2010.
What are you working on?
News From Our Partners
Latest Ideabooks
People found the photos in this ideabook after searching for:
View over a million photos:
Jason: Thanks for including that photo, chrome can work anywhere.
DM: You are welcome. You use chrome finishes really beautifully and I'm a great admirer of your work.
Nbatash: There is no better or worse in most cases. Decisions like that are based on what you like and what you're trying to accomplish in your renovation. Sorry to be so vague but I like to say that finishes pick themselves.
Craftmark: Thanks for weighing in.
Nlanteri: Thanks for posting those photos, good job on that bathroom! You hit on an important point, in fixture land chrome's usually the least expensive finish.
It helps to make up a set of rules like "white cabinets get black handles, black cabinets get chrome handles, door knobs are chrome, light fixtures are black, etc.) and then just let it flow from there. You're well on your way and be sure you post your photos here when everything's done. OK?
Venglade: The only rule is that you pick finishes with a purpose, make what ever you do look intentional.