Our previous kitchen remodel was in the mid 90s with a light oak cabinet. We chose to go colorful and used pulls that matched our formica and Kohler sink... a medium jade I believe. Was a great look that helped to break up that oak wall of cabinets.

I replaced brass pulls and knobs at my weekend lake place with something very close to black - it's pretty much black but with a little silvery/pewter in it. I really like the black. Someone had posted photos here of new black hardware on oak and that inspired me to do the same. Here are a couple photos.

I really like the black, it looks great. I also think oil rubbed bronze looks good with oak. I have nickel with oak in my bathrooms and like it, but it isn't as big an area as a kitchen.

The last house we owned was built in the 90's by the previous owners and was very "oak" heavy. That reddish gold oak to be exact. Oak cabinets, oak flooring, oak trim, very large oak trimmed fluorescent light fixture over the island, and to top it off they had an oak dining table in the kitchen! Gold fruity hardware throughout.

Anyways, we purchased new SS appliances with our wedding money and changed the hardware to Oil Rubbed Bronze which looked SO much better with the cabinets. The cabinets were beautifully done with a wonderful crown molding but unfortunately with the oak explosion in the kitchen they really went unappreciated.

That being said, my vote is for ORB or black:)

I don't know what ORB looks like, but I love the black on gibby3000's cabinets. I will be making the same decision about hardware to go with oak cabinets.

Thanks again everyone for the help! I haven't been on here too long, but I'm so appreciative of this site and all the helpful people!

earthpal - that's an interesting idea. Since I think I'm now planning to do a black laminate counter, I think black handles would probably work well.

gibby - thanks for the pics. Really helpful!

happyladi - would you happen to have a pic of your bathroom?

tinycastles - I was wondering how ORB would look w/ my stainless appliances. You wouldn't happen to have a picture, would you?

Thanks again for the help!

my sister has silver tone pulls on hers (pewterish maybe) and it looks great in her kitchen with SS etc.

I'm planning on the same cabs (so far) and will use ORB (oil rubbed bronze).

Here is a link that might be useful: