It's your money. For my budget, I'd go with the Kwikset and if desired, change out to Emtek over time.

How about putting the pricey hardware in the main public areas of the house, and the less expensive in the bedrooms and bathrooms.

so, these (Emtek)

build.com has the Emser for $107. (the one above) and these are $91 (below)

Emtek 505HLO (if you call them when ordering, you may be able to get a discount for all 18. It's worth a shot to ask)

Kwikset?

both styles are fine. very minimum difference. I've had both brands and haven't had issues w/either

I used Emtek in my whole house door lever replacement. Since you touch them every day, it's nice to have something you love. Mine came from Simpsons Hardware. They sell the lever you like for $107. Also great customer service. But that is a lot of $$.

I have the enter in my whole house and love them. They feel solid and function well. I installed them five years ago and would do so again.

On a tight budget, we bought the cheapest ORB handles we could find ($15) and they look fine, but the poor quality is noticable as soon as you grasp and turn. I have a couple of $35 handles and they feel much nicer. Does quality really improve past the $40/50 mark? After that, maybe its more about small differences in appearance?

I think it depends upon how much that extra (roughly $2k) means to you & how important door handles are to you. For some people it's negligible. For myself, I would rather spend the extra $ on a piece of art or a really nice few days at one of my favorite vacation spots ...

Kwikset is a decent quality product that will allow you to open and close the doors for years to come. Just think of this as jewelry for the home...are you into nice looking costume jewelry or do you wear only real gold?

I always spend money on entry doors, but inside I think you really have to love the more expensive one to be worth 3-4x the price. Maybe figure out which three doors you actually handle the most and put one there (MBR? master bath?) and forget the rest. I have used some great $7 handles for lower end homes with no guilt, and when I went to $30 it was for style and solidity of feel in a higher-end home; I don't have any $100 interior knobs anywhere in my own house, but if it's something you really love, then spend the money! I do think that the Kwikset set(s) should come with screws in the matching finish, though -- hope that photo above is not accurate there!

One thing to consider some emtek hardware has what they call a living finish meaning it will change with use. For our handle this has been a bit of rub off of color / finish. It is beautiful hardware, but not loving the finish wear