I had the same dilemma. I went with black door hardware. A designer told me the oil rubbed bronze can turn orangish over time. The black looks good on the white doors and our soft grey walls and chocolate wood floors. Good luck! :)

I purchase all of my hardware at Build.com. Best prices I could find and excellent customer service.

I have been thinking the same as you! I like oil rubbed bronze sometimes..but I feel like silver is always going to look good. are you going to change out the hinges too?

Christine R - We are planning to also change out the hinges; but what a project! I do feel like it will make a big difference though. A few friends of mine have changed their knobs to silver and didn't change out the hinges. I guess if you're not "looking" you wouldn't ever notice. I only notice because I'm looking to change ours :)

lindymeranto - I want black, but everywhere I look is oil rubbed bronze....so I assumed black was oil rubbed bronze :) I'm going to check out build.com, thank you!

We changed out our hinges as well. It's not as hard as it seems. Take off 1 hinge at a time and replace with the new one. That way the door stays in place. :) if you go with black, get the Emtek hinges. They are a matte black that matches any black door hardware. Some black hinges are glossy and look cheap and mismatched to the door hardware. Online is the only place I could find black. I absolutely love it :). Build.com has live chat with experts that can answer all of your technical questions.

You can find black door knobs at Home Depot and Amazon.com. Here's a link to some on Amazon...
http://www.amazon.com/Copper-Creek-CK2020BC-Colonial-Passage/dp/B003F3D4CU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393805357&sr=8-1&keywords=door+knobs%2C+black

I haven't looked at the links, but you did ask about the knobs vs. levers. Being a care giver, I can tell you that levers are important to anyone with joint issues in their hands, arms, even back. Its something you might really want to consider.

I just switched out all of our brass knobs and hinges to oil rubbed bronze levers. Love these instant updates, made a great impact and though a little tedious, not hard at all! Definitely do the hinges.

There are a lot of websites where you can bulk order and get great prices. I shop around looking for the site that has the best prices and use coupon codes offered by that specific site or obtain some from retailmenot.com.

Oh wow good tip Lindy, I was wondering how I was going to do that.

I am doing brushed nickel levers to replace my brass ball knobs.

Overstock.com also has knobs at a great price.

Also look at the hardware hut online. They have a huge selection, periodic coupons, bulk discounts over the phone, etc. They are also a brick and mortar store out of Spokane, WA. That's where I bought my door hardware, cabinet knobs, door bell, house numbers, door stops, hinges, etc. I changed everything from 80s brass to a mix of polished chrome, and polished stainless. Once you start changing things, you start seeing more and more things that are the wrong metal finish.

I purchased my hinges on houzz.com because they had the best prices!

They are Matt black I forgot to add!