Have been slowly replacing all the 80s brass features from my home. It’s fairly large, so to replace all the door knobs seemed like a financially daunting task. Does anyone know of any inexpensive online sources? Looking for a dark metallic finish (rubbed bronze or something similar).
When we built a house we spent a long time looking for door hardware–this place was a great source. It’s not really cheap, but the quality is very good.
http://baldwinbrasshardware.com/index.cfm?page=products&action=list&linkID=3142
Try Costco online. They partner with a hardware seller, so I can’t link to it. Google “Costco door hardware” and then keep clicking on links until you see items and prices.
And one word of advice - don’t get knobs if you plan on staying in the house. Get lever handles. They are more expensive but so much easier to use for people with weak or arthritic hands.
We replaced old door knobs in our old house with ones from [historic house parts in Rochester, NY](http://www.historichouseparts.com/pdshop/shop/custom.aspx?recid=14). The prices, I have to note, used to be lower but they have a very wide variety of pretty much every kind of doorknob. Note also these aren’t actually old.
I replaced all doorknobs a couple of years ago. Be sure you can get the same ones in the future. I wanted exterior as well as interior so the locking mechanism mattered to me. Not being able to lock ourselves out, ie being unable to open a locked door counted for us. Consider the strength of the bolt- there are different classes. Schlage and Kwikset are two major companies with reliable pieces. Locally my available stores were Lowes and Home Depot but then I got better prices on Amazon. All sorts of finishes and styles are available. Read up on features for these two companies and any others to optimize what is important to you. So much easier now with internet info than back when we built a house.
We used www.knobs4less.com for some European style hardware and were quite pleased with both quality and price. If I remember correctly, they let me order 1 or 2 pieces to preview.
We used a place called E builder direct (<= all one word) dotcom. Their warehouse is not far from us, so we actually drove over there to pick up our order, but I think they do most of their business online. They have very low overhead and what appears to be a direct channel to Chinese manufacturers. Looks like a family business. Probably the same stuff you get at Lowes or Home Depot but quite a bit cheaper. We were very happy - replaced most of the door hardware (knobs - levers actually, no more knobs, and hinges) in our house.
One neat thing I learned; There is no right hand or left hand door lever. You just assemble it differently to work one way or the other. Very cool design.