Bump. I just watched an episode of Dream Home Makeover and Shay added black handles....I kept thinking "How are they not scratched??!"

If the doors are new and hung correctly you won't see that scrape on the face plate. You can try to recess the fitting on the jamb to avoid the scrape. A few of mine look like that but then my house is old and has had foundation issues.

I'm seeing that some people have black door hardware that doesn't show wear. Can you recommend a different brand? I see that Kwikset comes in an iron black finish in some products, so wondering if that's different than the matte black I have.

I opened the box with a Schlage matte black lever and pulled the handle out and something on my hands made a mark. I thought I had read that the Schlage back had a better warranty on the finish. I have kids and was planning on starting to switch out in the highest traffic area of my home first, now I’m nervous to install it at all. We have black hardware in our kitchen with no scratches or issues but the finish is not as matte. Did you decide to stick with your black knobs?

I’m researching this topic also. What did you end up doing? Can you see fingerprints on the matte black door knobs? We were trying to choose at Lowe’s and one of the examples had oily handprints all over it, so I picked oil rubbed bronze through Schlage. They work, but do have more “bronze” than I was looking for. Trying to decide on the rest of the knobs for the house now. Any input would be great.

The Schlage knobs are called Aged Bronze, and not ORB. Therefore they are more of a brown color. Almost black. They are certainly different than our ORB knobs in a previous home. I hope that they do not scratch like the black because we will have a house full when our house is finished!

I haven’t had mine very long. I’m going to live with them before I do the upstairs. I was already thinking about using the same lever in polished nickel upstairs, so I’ll give it until next summer to decide. One of the handles has scuffs, it sort of reminds me of a scuff mark on a wall. They aren’t visible unless I’m at eye level cleaning it. Regular fingerprints don’t show but slightly dirty hand marks are more visible than they were with the nickel knobs I replaced. It’s on the powder room lever where I send my kids to wash their hands. The finish cleans up easily with water. I clean that particular one more often, usually when I clean the bathroom, but the rest don’t seem to need any more attention than the previous knobs. I can’t compare to ORB.

I was conflicted about whether to use Emtek or Baldwin/Schlage. I have ended up using a mix of 2 different levels of Schlage,(for some reason it’s the same lever), Baldwin locks, and Emtek knobs that are intentionally mismatched for my pantry and certain closets. I ordered them myself so I couldn’t figure out the difference between the two Schlage levers and ordered both. One is slightly smaller, lighter, and significantly cheaper feeling but was only about $10 less, and I think it’s the version they sell through big box stores. The one I bought from a specialty store online was much better quality, and I think it’s the higher Schlage range, in the same lever style. The finishes look exactly the same, but the difference in the levers is significant enough I wouldn’t trust it on the cheaper version. It feels too lightweight. I think the higher end Schlage line is a really good value, as long as the black finish I chose doesn’t become a problem. So far it doesn’t seem to be as bad as it seemed when I took it out of the box. It’s almost like the finish does maybe mar a little more easily but it also hides the marks better.

We went with the Egg knob with the Wakefield trim and they are very heavy! Purchased them directly from Schlage.