Top Bronze Hardware Finishes and Key Differences

Clockwise from upper left: Euro-Contemporary | Knob in Oil-Rubbed Bronze Highlighted, Williamsburg | Knob in Vintage Bronze, Studio | Knob in Veneti Bronze, Refined Rustic | Knob in Rustic Iron

Choosing the right finish on hardware for your space can be overwhelming with the wide array of choices we have available. With this educational blog series, I’m setting out to cover our bestselling Hickory Hardware finishes while explaining the differences so you can make a more informed decision. We always encourage our customers to take advantage of our Sample Program to try before you buy!

A fair disclaimer: finishes can vary widely by brand, manufacturer, and supplier. These blog posts will strictly be focusing on Hickory Hardware finishes and their respective names.

Today we’ll be covering our top Bronze finishes which share the least amount of similarities amongst the family of finishes we’ve discussed thus far.

Veneti Bronze

Clockwise from upper left: Skylight | Knob in Elusive Golden Nickel, Skylight | Knob in Brushed Golden Brass, Studio | Knob in Veneti Bronze, Belwith Keeler Sandrine | Knob in Champagne Bronze

Veneti Bronze is an even golden brown tone with no brushing and a satin sheen. The color is very similar to our sister brand, Belwith Keeler’s Champagne Bronze finish. In comparison, Veneti bronze is much more matte, thus catching less light and appearing darker than Champagne Bronze, though the base color on both is extremely similar in real life. Because Champagne Bronze is glossier, it catches more light, thus appearing lighter in color.

In the above photo, I brought in a couple other finishes including Brushed Golden Brass as a warm baseline gold for comparison alongside a cool toned gold like Elusive Golden Nickel. For more information on our gold finishes visit this post. A couple collections that are available in Veneti Bronze include our top performing Studio and a few Conquest pieces.

Veneti Bronze would look great over rustic and farmhouse themed kitchens that have a warmer color palette such as cream, warm wood grains and brown. It would look equally great on warm leaning colors such as muted forest greens and olives, and rustic warm muted blues.

Vintage Bronze

Left to right: Williamsburg | Knob in Vintage Bronze, Williamsburg | Knob in Oil-Rubbed Bronze

Vintage Bronze is a deep warm black finish with brush marks that subtly reveal a warm copper color and has a matte protective coating. No two pieces are exactly the same as the brush pattern is unique to every individual part, adding an element of depth and character.

The base color in Vintage Bronze is very similar to Oil-Rubbed Bronze except the latter is a touch more brown, however this is virtually impossible to discern photographically and very hard to discern in real life.

We categorize Oil-Rubbed Bronze under black finishes while Vintage Bronze is more in the brown/bronze category due to the copper brushing. To learn more about our black finishes, stay tuned for a future blog post covering it!

A few top collections that are available in Vintage Bronze include: American Diner, Cottage, French Country, and Williamsburg.

Vintage Bronze hardware would look great with colors that will complement warm black and copper colors such as mid-tone wood grain cabinets that lean brown to red for a rustic or industrial appearance. Vintage Bronze hardware would look stunning next to copper sinks, fixtures and pipes. Modern terracotta colors will also work wonderfully with this finish.

Oil-Rubbed Bronze Highlighted

Clockwise from left: Euro-Contemporary | Knob in Oil-Rubbed Bronze Highlighted, Williamsburg | Knob in Black Mist, Williamsburg | Knob in Vintage Bronze

Oil-Rubbed Bronze Highlighted has a deep gray pewter base color that is similar to Black Mist, see comparison photo above. It features noticeable copper highlights typically around the edges and has a satin sheen and is glossier in appearance than Vintage Bronze.

Top collections that have Oil-Rubbed Bronze Highlighted include: Bridges, Bungalow, Euro-Contemporary, Studio and these cool lip pulls from the Rockford collection.

Oil-Rubbed Bronze Highlighted hardware would complement black, brown and warm gray kitchens as well as copper fixtures and sinks.

Rustic Iron

Refined Rustic | Knob in Rustic Iron

Rustic Iron features a warm matte black base color with accents of a rusty red tone in the recesses of the piece to lend a time-worn appearance. The weathered black base color in Rustic Iron is warmer than Vintage Bronze and Oil-Rubbed Bronze. This finish pairs well with other dark weathered finishes and fixtures and would compliment rustic themed colors and kitchens that lean warm.

A few of our craftsman style hardware collections are available in Rustic Iron including: Charleston Blacksmith, Manchester and Refined Rustic.

That’s it for our top bronze finishes! To recap:

Veneti Bronze is an even golden brown color with a satin sheen, very similar to Belwith Keeler’s Champagne Bronze but less shiny and without brushing.
Vintage Bronze is a deep warm black finish with brushing that reveals a copper color and has a matte protective coating.
Oil-Rubbed Bronze Highlighted features a dark pewter base color with noticeable copper highlights around the edges.
Rustic Iron is a warm weathered black color with accents of a rusty red tone in the recesses.

To learn more, check out our other posts by finish color families: