I'd say if you're starting from scratch, make them the same as the side they show on. But if everything is ORB now, I'd be tempted to just replace the knob on one side. But I'm cheap. Didn't help you much did I?

I'm so glad you asked this because we are also replacing hinges and all doorknobs. Until architect told me, I had no idea people did split finish knob. I just looked at my doors and my inclination would be to get the ORB hinge - or the hinge finish that faces out to the "public."

Do you know if doing split finish is the norm or does it depend on how close the door knob finish is to the other items. So if you have polished nickel in bath, but doing ORB that would make sense to me to split it, but what if you were doing satin nickel knobs, would you bother?

We are deciding between ORB and antique distressed nickel.

I did what you said. The bathroom door with the hinge pin on the inside got chrome.

Most doors are prehung with a standard stamped brass hinge so many people don't have or exercise the option (or don't notice). One reason I opted for chrome is that the original brass ones were very corroded from the steam.

I never knew there was such a thing as a split finish hinge! Does anyone know who makes them or where to find them? It'll probably be more money than I'm willing to spend on a small detail like this, but how many times have I said that before? ;) If I could find a hinge which is brushed nickel on the leaves and oil-rubbed bronze on the knuckle/pin, it would resolve the conundrum of whether to have the hinge match the hardware on the other doors nearby in the same hallway or match the hardware in the bathroom when the door is closed.

-- Eric

Schlage makes split finish door hardware, and its relatively inexpensive. You can't get it off the shelf at Home Depot--I ordered it online and it took me a while to find a site that sold split finish.

In my own place, I have Emtek knobs and Emtek hinges, also split for the bathroom. I used Emtek hinges which are quite a bit more than a run of the mill brass butt hinge but --since people actually comment on how nicely the doors swing (!), and I only had five doors to do, it was worth it.

I don't know if I should put my 2 cents in, but here goes. My DD has the split levers, and I find it looks odd. Can't you use one or the other? I think it cheapens the fixtures, even it you're upgrading. There's something to be said for continuity. ;o)

Palimpsest, thanks for the lead on Schlage and Emtek. I've just been looking for Schlage split finish hinges, and I'm not finding any matches. Do you recall what web site you found them at? Even the Schlage web site doesn't seem to mention this. And when I look for Emtek hinges, I'm also not seeing anyone offering a split finish hinge. Where did you order yours?

Pattycakes, I'm definitely open to different opinions on this. Here's my situation, and you tell me which you think is more odd...

At the top of my stairs, there's a hallway landing with four doors nearby: two bedrooms, the guest bathroom, and a hall linen closet. All the decor is going to be brushed nickel *except* the guest bathroom, with is being done in all oil-rubbed bronze. The door to that bathroom opens into the room, which means that when the door is open -- as it is 95% of the time, what you see in the hallway are the leaves of the hinges attached to the door and door frame. When you're *in* the bathroom, with the door closed, that's when you see the pin or "knuckle" of the hinge. So when you're in the bathroom with the door closed, it would be best to see an oil rubbed bronze hinge pin, to match the other fixtures in the room. When you're in the hallway and the door is open, if the hinge is oil rubbed bronze, then it will be the only one of the four doors in the area showing bronze instead of nickel. To me, that seems strange. I'd think that if, from the outside, it matches all the other doors, and from the inside, it matches the rest of the bathroom, that would be the most elegant solution. If you're picturing it differently, I'd welcome your thoughts -- and whether it should match the inside (bronze) or outside (nickel) finish.

-- Eric

Sorry for the confusion. I was talking about the knobs themselves. I have not seen split finish hinges.

It may be simplest to do the door hardware in the brushed nickel all around and have it not match the bath hardware.

You may have trouble getting that particular split, because in some senses it is 'backward': most splits would be ORB on the outside and chrome or nickel on the inside.

I think the bath hardware can vary from the door hardware in the same way that kitchen cabinet hardware can vary from the house hardware.

As for hinges...the vast majority of postwar houses in the US have stamped brass hinges that are not really polished or brushed and don't match the knobsets even if those are brass, and its one of the visual differences that most people edit out.

Can anyone advise - with the knobs spit finish, what finish goes in the door jamb? Same as the inside of the room? Or the outside of the room?