Giving cabinets a facelift No comments yet

Changing cabinet hardware is an easy way to give a tired or outdated kitchen a fresh new look. Cliffside Industries offers a wide variety of products to give you the most options when trying to replace your hardware. According to Kitchen and Bath Design News‘ (KBDN) June 2011 issue, major remodeling projects are out. More and more consumers “are choosing to perform ‘room lifts’ — small upgrades to personalize a room” (p. 11); this is a perfect example of how just a small change like cabinet hardware can update an entire space.

Shaping your ideas

The octagonal shape of the 147 is one of Cliffside's most unique.

For the client looking for new and unique shapes, Cliffside offers a variety of round, square, oblong, and rectangular knobs with a traditional flair. For even more selection, we offer a wide range of novelty products, from nautical to natural and everything in between.

Finishing the job

With ten signature finishes to choose from, Cliffside has a color to suit any need. From a variety of brass-toned hues to a selection of chrome and nickel finishes and multiple oil-rubbed bronze selections, Cliffside captures the imagination with a large selection throughout our solid brass line. For a more rustic look, three finishes are available in our rustic Sedona series.

Compare and contrast

When choosing a color for hardware, consider the color of your cabinets. Many customers, when choosing hardware, will bring a wood sample along so they can evaluate how the colors will coordinate. With medium-toned woods, getting a close color match is sometimes preferred, while with dark or light stains, contrast makes a bold statement — consider, for example, the warm, shiny tones of polished nickel against an elegant dark walnut cabinet.

Sparkle and shine

The M30AB and M35AB crystals incorporate a distinctive prismatic effect.

KBDN indicates that a new focus in decorative hardware are pieces with “more sparkle than seen in recent years” (p. 60). Cliffside Industries accommodates everyone’s need to shine with our line of refined European lead crystal. Designed and shaped by Old World artisans and assembled in the U.S.A., these pieces are elegant and sophisticated, lending a classic new look to any kitchen or bath.

What’s the difference: part 3 of 3 No comments yet

In our final installment on comparing Cliffside’s finishes, we will be examining several of our line’s darker finishes — coppers and bronzes. Because Cliffside offers multiple finishes that fall into the “oil-rubbed bronze” category, this part of our line often needs clarification. In this blog, you will read about the old antique, Venetian bronze, old copper, and oil-rubbed bronze finishes. Here now, the definitive guide!

What’s the difference between…

…oil-rubbed bronze and old antique?

Cliffside’s finish named “oil-rubbed bronze” is only available on steel hardware. The knob currently offered in that finish is the S1204 series. The old antique, however, is a very popular finish which is part of our signature line; it is available on all of our solid brass hardware suites, which encompasses a large quantity of items.

The “oil-rubbed bronze” knob available on steel is a very dark finish, nearly a wrought-iron color. Our old antique, by contrast, is a rich brown color, popular throughout the industry. Below, you can make the comparison for yourself:

B600-OA on the left; S1204-ORB on the right

…old antique and Venetian bronze?

As shown above, the old antique is a solid brown representation of oil-rubbed bronze. Our Venetian bronze, the most recent finish added to the Cliffside line, is also oil-rubbed bronze, but it contains a light wash of copper. On pieces with more detailing or raised edges, the copper is more prominent. It also shows dramatically on our cup pulls, which bear a distinctive “thumbprint” of copper which sets the finish apart from the old antique.

Both the old antique (OA) and the Venetian bronze (VB) are available as part of the Cliffside hardware suites; any of our five solid brass hardware collections are available in those finishes.

For your reference, we’ve provided several different comparisons between OA and VB. First, on a simple 100 series knob:

At left, 100-OA; on the right, 100-VB

Next, on the more complex Ice Box Cupboard Latches:

IBCL in OA (left) and VB (right)

Finally, the thumbprinted cup pulls:

K4235-OA (above) and K4235-VB (below)

…Venetian bronze and old copper?

Because both finishes contain a copper color, many customers have asked about the difference between these two finishes since we added Venetian bronze to our line. In the Venetian bronze finish, the dark bronze is the primary color tone, while in the old copper, the copper itself is primary and the dark color comes from the antiquing process.

Both the VB and the OC are signature finishes, so you can get suite hardware in either color. It depends on which look you are trying to match: oil-rubbed bronze or antique copper.

Below, compare an item where the OC and VB finishes look similar…

K344-3-OC (top) and the same item in VB (bottom)

…and another item where they are very distinct and separate.

Solid brass cupboard latch (SBCL) in OC and VB

Cabinetmakers’ bonus!

What’s the difference between OA hinges and AB hinges?

A bonus for our manufacturing friends at the end of this series!

Our antique brass (AB) and old antique (OA) hinge finishes are very similar in color tone. The OA hinges are the same matte brown color as our hardware, but, as noted in our last edition, the AB hinges are also a very dark brown shade. The two major differences are this: the AB finish has a burnished golden undertone, where the OA is a simple brown; and the antique brass hinges have a high-polish lacquer, whereas the old antique hinges sport a flat finish.

See the difference for yourself:

3-8-OFFSET hinge in AB, on the left; and OA, to the right

That’s all for this series; check back next week for the start of a new set of weekly blogs!

What’s the difference: part 2 of 3 1 comment

In continuing our series on finish comparison, Cliffside proceeds from the gray to the gold, delving into the land of brasses. While much of Cliffside’s hardware is “solid brass”, only a few of those pieces are designated with “brass”-named finishes, like antique brass or polished brass, so it’s easy to get the two confused. Here are some other questions that our customer representatives field often:

What’s the difference between…

…polished brass and antique brass?

Cliffside’s polished brass finish has been around since the beginning. It, like the polished chrome and nickel focused on in our last edition, has a high-polish lacquer applied to it, which protects the finish and gives it that lustrous shine that is Cliffside’s signature color.

Antique brass, on the other hand, has a richer, more accented look while still maintaining a glossy sheen that is similar to the silver satin. Pieces with high levels of detailing, like Cliffside’s Rope and Criss-Cross Suites, make especially good use of the antique brass lacquer, as its dark elements linger in the ornamentation and elevate accented designs to a new plane.

The two finishes can be seen below, side-by-side on the same solid brass knobs:

At left: 110-PB (top) and K580-PB; at right: the same knobs in antique brass

…antique brass and antique english?

Cliffside’s suppliers are located worldwide in a variety of locations, and so their interpretations of finishes occasionally vary. In particular, Cliffside’s solid brass hinges are manufactured in Europe, so the antique brass finish that is applied to them is quite different from the rest of our hardware.

Compare, in this picture, an antique brass (AB) hinge alongside an antique brass (AB) pull:

K344-3-AB at left, as compared to BH3A-AB on the right

You can clearly see that the European-made antique brass hinge is much darker; its color, in fact, is comparable to the dark lacquer present on the foot of the pull shown at left. Cliffside’s customers were seeking an alternative antique brass hinge to match more closely with our AB hardware, so Cliffside developed the antique english finish.

View now the same image, but with an antique english hinge replacing the antique brass:

K344-3-AB at left, as compared to BH3A-AE on the right

These two colors are a better match when the hardware with a lot of open golden space, but the AB hinges are still available for those customers who prefer a darker finish, or for those who are using darker, more detail-oriented hardware, such as Cliffside’s Criss-Cross Suite.

Below, see the same hinge in both the AB and AE finishes:

BH2A-NM hinges in AB (left) and AE (right)

What’s the difference: part 1 of 3 No comments yet

Cliffside’s customer service representatives field hundreds of questions a day. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most common, and an overwhelming majority related to comparisons of Cliffside’s finishes. In this three-part series, we’ll examine some of the finishes that Cliffside offers as part of its signature line and clarify the similarities and differences between them.

What’s the difference between…

…polished chrome and polished nickel?

Cliffside’s polished chrome, or PC, finish is similar to the color of chrome you would find on a car. It’s a classic finish with a variety of uses, from traditional to contemporary. It has a high-polish lacquer on it to maintain that timeless reflective shine.

Polished nickel (PN) is also a high-polish gray finish, like PC. However, the major difference comes from the color tone. Where polished chrome tends slightly more toward colder, bluer tones, polished nickel is more warm and yellow-hued. Designers who have compared the two say that the polished nickel is slightly darker.

Below, you can compare the finishes for yourself on a solid brass knob:

161 knob, shown in PC (left) and PN (right)

Polished chrome is also available on zinc die-cast hardware; with a different base material, PC looks nearly identical. Polished nickel is a premium finish only available on solid brass hardware.

…polished nickel and silver satin?

Above, you can see that polished nickel has a high-gloss lacquer. Silver satin, or SS, also has a lacquer, but it is a clear lacquer with much less sheen. The color of “silver satin” is actually a brushed nickel finish, and is comparable to much of the brushed stainless steel that you will find on the market today.

Silver satin and polished nickel (along with polished chrome, above) are part of Cliffside’s ten signature finishes, which means that they are available on all of the pieces shown in the Cliffside solid brass hardware suites. When viewed next to one another, you can see that SS is merely a brushed version of PN.

See the similarities below:

K341 cup pull, shown in PN (above) and SS (below)

…silver satin, brushed nickel, and stainless steel?

These three finishes are all very similar in the Cliffside line. Silver satin is available on both solid brass and zinc die-cast hardware. It is similar to brushed nickel, but items like K-514 will be slightly different due to their underlying material and finish process. All Cliffside stainless steel is brushed, not polished, so its color tone is also very like the SS.

Compare the three side-by-side:

At left: solid brass items #100 and #SP-3; center: zinc die-cast items #K-514 and #P-195; at right: stainless steel items #T565-30 and #T366-96