9 Cabinet Hardware Pieces To Be Thankful For This Thanksgiving

What would Thanksgiving be if it weren’t for Plymouth Rock, football, and the Macy’s Parade? Probably just a bunch of overfed relatives and corduroy skirts that do nothing for your figure. Oh, and editorial lists reminding you what you have to be thankful for this year.

Hey, just because I blog for a reproduction cabinet hardware company doesn’t mean I can’t get in on the “to be thankful for…” editorial fun. In fact, I’ve come up with a list of almost 10 pieces of Horton Brasses cabinet hardware that will inspire you to pause and be grateful for all that Horton Brasses has added to your Thanksgiving celebration.

1) The Beehive Knob

You will be happy you kept a few extra on hand for family gatherings such as this. The grooved surface provides and improved grip over traditional smooth knobs. Is your 12 year old nephew looking to show off his juggling skills? Forget the tennis balls he brought with him. Now’s the time to recognize his impending manhood and allow him to use the heavy artillery. Just be sure to push the glass coffee table out of the room.

Need to prove your entertaining chops to your mother-in-law, Ms. Wanna-Be Martha Stewart herself? Screw The Beehive Knob onto the end of an unsharpened pencil (I recommend using a #2) and impress everyone with your craftiness. You’ve just fashioned a honey dipper. Can you say “upcycled?”

2) Polished Nickel Latches

Remember when you were a teenager and your aunt would hold an entire conversation with you with spinach stuck in her teeth and you were horrified that she had spinach stuck in her teeth because how could she not know she had spinach stuck in her teeth? Or maybe it wasn’t spinach. Maybe it was a big glob of lipstick on her tooth. I still don’t understand that one. But seriously, as I near forty, I have become the aunt with spinach stuck in her teeth.  Like, all the time. Even when I haven’t eaten spinach!

And let me tell you, my husband is no helper. Either he doesn’t notice the spinach stuck in my teeth or he thinks it’s supposed to be there because he doesn’t say anything to me.

Thankfully, you don’t need a husband because you have the polished nickel cabinet latch. This latch will tell you if you have spinach stuck in your teeth so shiny you can use it as a mirror. Do so. In between dinner and dessert, before you serve the coffee and laugh gratuitously at your Uncle Donny’s jokes.

3) Queslett Appliance Pull

Isn’t Thanksgiving great because you get to get dressed in all sorts of autumny clothes. Cable knit sweaters and corduroy skirts and textured tights and turtleneck cashmere. Oh no! You wore all that together? And your sister just bought a new DSLR and thinks she is going to photograph every family moment of coziness? Does this outfit make my butt look big?

Yes, it does. But fear not. The Queslett appliance pull does quite the opposite. It’s hefty brawn is the appliance handle equivalent of dating a line backer. Stand next to it in the family photo and look miniature by comparison.

4) The Bakes Pull

Tired of all the meaningless small talk at Thanksgiving? Want to stir up some meaty political debate at the holiday table but having trouble diverting the discussion from Demi and Ashton’s divorce?

The Bakes Pull allows you to easily segue into a relevant political debate without interrupting the flow of conversation traffic. Just put on your best British accent and say, “Excuse me Goody Amber, but have you noticed this kitchen hardware from Goodman Bakes?” At this point Amber, being only 11 and thus having never read The Crucible, will be rendered speechless by your affect and the adults can then regain control of the dinner conversation.

5) Crescent Pull

No calories, unlike those crescent rolls that went straight to your hips (see #3).

6) Antique Brass Pulls

Is that patina on that bin pull or did your daughter-in-law just all together give up cleaning? This intentionally aged looking hardware finish will send your mother-in-law into a housecleaning tizzy. Enjoy a hard drink while she coyly tries to snoop through your cabinets for the brass polish.

7) Ring Pulls

Who formally entertains these days? Hardly anyone, thus the disappearance of the formal dining room. But you’ve worked so hard on the Thanksgiving meal. Do it full justice and honor your guests with cloth napkins. Pull it together last minute with this cabinet hardware that will do double duty as napkin rings.

8) Forged Iron Knobs

Vegetarians coming to dinner and don’t know what to feed them? Me neither! Fortify their meal with iron and avoid the pasty pallor of malnourished pilgrims at your table.

9) Extra Hardware

Did you order two or three extra knobs and pulls when you did your remodel? Yeah, so did I. What a waste of money since this stuff is solid brass and won’t break. Re-purpose those leftover pieces by creating a centerpiece even Wanna-Be Martha Stewart (see #1) wouldn’t think of.

Fill hurricane glass with the leftover hardware and set it in groupings of three on your dining table. Basically, anything shoved into hurricane glass and grouped in threes equals “décor.”

Disguising Modern Amenities in a Victorian Remodel

Victorian Bin Pull in polished nickel

Any Canadians in the house? May 23rd marked Victoria Day for our neighbors to the north. To celebrate, Corey at Design Kula commemorated the day with a post on Victorian sculleries. I love the picture he posted of the dish drying rack over the huge sink! His post inspired the Victorian snoop in me and I started searching other images of authentic Victorian kitchens, keeping an eye on the hardware, of course.

I stopped my scroll down dead in my tracking pad when I came across this remarkable period restoration of a Victorian kitchen in Portland. Posted on Old House Online last year, the article documents the pains Kim and Roy Fox took to get their museum-like kitchen right. Even though the hardware source is not mentioned, I knew the maker right away–Horton Brasses!

If it wasn’t for the homeowner’s desire to hide the electronic advances of their new kitchen, the hardware may not have been showcased in the photo gallery. This particular shot shows off a clever design solution. The pull hides the dishwasher’s cycle display.

Kim & Roy Fox went for period accuracy when they remodeled their Portland Victorian home. That’s why they chose Horton Brasses hardware—known for its period accuracy.

I personally have this pull in my kitchen in two different finishes—antique brass and polished nickel. It is also on the Horton Brasses website in dark antique and light antique brass. So I’ve seen this Victorian inspired pull in 4 out of 7 available finishes.

Well, now make that five.

Dark antique, light antique and polished nickel finishes. Is it just me or does the finish really transform the mood of these pulls? The dark antique looks staid, conservative and simple. Even though it is a decorative pull, I could see it in a Shaker or Mission style kitchen. Light antique is putting off a strong Victorian vibe to me. And the polished nickel is making me feel very 30’s, 40’s, 50’s; very glam Hollywood Regency.

My kitchen, my pull. Antique brass subdues the decoration, making this ornate pull an unexpected detail in an otherwise simple kitchen.

I am not sure what finish the Fox family used, but my guess is bright brass. Orion, you want to weigh in on this? What’s interesting to me is that look of the pull really varies depending on the finish.

Because of the sand cast relief design, the finish of the bright brass and polished nickel is quite dramatic. Only the raised areas are polished, so the recessed sections remain darker and non-reflective.