i don't think so.

im in the middle of this also - similar scenario.

cream cabinets, honed jet mist granite, ss appliances. only i decided on ORB cabinet hardware, ORB/glass light fixtures and polished nickel sink fixture.

so mixed.

Or you could get drawer and cab pulls that are made from your granite. I did this, and love it. They're round flat buttons on a stem, might not work in your kitchen.

You can absolutely mix metals and finishes.

Absolutely not! I hate matchy-matchy. Items should coordinate, not match exactly. Unless you want to be a JC Penney catalog ;-)

I don't think they have to "match", but they have to "go". I was looking at a photo of a kitchen, not sure where, and the kitchen was light and airy, ss (?) pulls, ss appliances, and light cabinets, but the only dark thing in the room were 2 big ORB lights. My eye immediately went to the lights. I'm not sure if it was a style thing or the color. But try to incorporate the orb in more than just one place, whether it's other hardware, like curtain rods, or maybe something in wrought iron on the counter (like a napkin holder) or some dark accessory on the table.

I guess my long winded point is that you just have to make it work and not have it look like this was "the only thing you could find". Does this make any sense?

What about the faucet and drawer pulls matching? I really like an ORB faucet but not sure I want to put ORB pulls on cabinets. Would it look funny to put brushed nickel on a vanilla glazed cabinets w/ ORB faucet?

So glad you posted this because I have been debating this for some time now. Colicky boy, I have the same situation as you and I think I'll go the same route. I love the brushed nickel for the cabinet hardware, but couldn't find lighting that suited me in the same finish, so I'm going with ORB.

Perfect timing on this post! I am in a similar situation. I will have Diamond toasted almond cabinets and now I need to choose hardware, lighting, and a ceiling fan. I want to have a cohesive look, but find it difficult to know whether I should try to match my lighting and fan finishes and how that plays in with cabinet hardware. Any ideas on integrating the ceiling fan finish? I saw one post that suggests trying to blend it in with the ceiling, but if I go with ORB pendants shouldn't I try to have all my ceiling finishes the same?

What your asking is exactly what I did.
Hardware is brushed nickel and pendants are oil rubbed bronze. Hope the visual helps!
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Those photos help a lot, rookie_2010! the dark counters seem to go well with the light fixtures (in my unprofessional opinion) even though the pulls don't match. what is the finish on your faucet?

beekeeperswife - would dark counters help to make things "go" as far as the pendants? do you have an opinion on the photos rookie_2010 posted?

marjoriest - i think the pendants and ceiling fan probably would look better if they match since you look up to see them both...but they don't have to match the cabinet hardware. but hopefully someone with more design sense than me can give you a better answer.

Typically, unless you're a big risk taker, it's best to relate them to something else in the room if they won't match the hardware. My faucets match the hardware, I'm not that brave!

I agree that in Rookie's photos the ORB light fixtures work so well because of the dark counters.

We also did a combination. Creamy white cabinets, soapstone counters ORB light fixtures with chrome hardware and chrome faucet. We also did some ORB hardware on our island, and our door hardware and window hardware is ORB. Plus our ovens have black, which helps tie in the black.

If a kitchen is all white, without dark counters and all of the hardware everywhere is chrome . . . then an ORB fixture will probably look out of place imo.

Be sure to check out the Finished Kitchens Blog for lots of inspiration pics. The link below is to the FKB home page, but you can also click on one of the side links to look at kitchens grouped by various categories.

Here is a link that might be useful: Finished Kitchens Blog (FKB)

I love Rookie's kitchen. I think you are right that the dark counters are what tie the elements together. I never thought about "why they work", but I always have loved every photo she puts up and they just appear to the eye to work.

Aww, thanks BeeKeeperswife!
It was from reading Maria Killam's blog, ColourMeHappy, that I learned the concept of "relating" things to something else in a room. It's easier to reserve the pops of color that deviate from that concept to the accents you can pick up and move, paint over, etc. The way it's described on that blog, I was able to understand (doesn't happen often!).