The Land of the (Hardware) Gods
Imagine, if you would, that you could memorialize in metal whatever you liked. Perhaps it’s a dog or cat or other pet from your past. Or, maybe, you’d like to remember that old hat you lost at the beach, or the first car you ever owned.
Well, I’m not suggesting that a harware manufacturer suddenly begin accepting pictures from customers and rendering them in metal. (BTW, manufacturers, here’s an idea that you CAN do with the right 3D modeling software and wax apparatus - any takers? I understand it’s expensive, but you may be able to make a killing!) 
But, you will find objects that resemble memorabilia from your past from current offerings.
Well, all this goes to say that we mere mortals don’t usually have the means to melt and pour metal into molds to commemorate things from our past. Instead, we have to look to manufacturers like Dalka Designs to decorate our living spaces - our cabinets and drawers.
Find these and more at Knobs, Hinges and More.
Add comment May 30th, 2007
It’s that time of year again. Games are well underway. It’s too early in the season to tell who’s going to be in the playoffs. So, there’s still plenty of room for excitement. Well, there’s a rather unconventional way you can do your part.
While cabinet knobs are usually intended for use in the interior of the home, consider what an impact you could have placing these 
As a hood ornament on your vehicle (?!), d) As the handle on the clipboard you take to the game. All these applications are supported simply by a screw that fastens the sports logo knob to whatever you’re using. That it’s attached by a screw gives you other options for places that may be more difficult to fasten to. At $5 apiece, you can really go nuts with these, if you want to make a lasting impression!
DISCLAIMER: This website is based on Long Island, so I had to favor New York teams. Please don’t belittle or beat up on me. Rest assured that all the other teams are also represented at 
All you veterinarians and animal lovers - this one’s for you! Populate your pet care drawers with these friendly and even amusing animal knobs, hooks and pulls. 
African animals, dogs, cats, birds, farm animals and even people can catch attention as your visitors pass by. 
When I mentioned veterinarians, you can see the immediate application in a busy practice - giving visual cues to drawer and cabinet contents. Pet owners will know that your practice is someplace special when they see these renderings of dogs and cats. 
Consider the shorthair, terrier, labrador retriever, weiner and, yes, even the mutt. Just look at the samples here and have a good time imagining where they might humorously appear! Some of them are just simply adorable!
I’ve found a new line (to me) of cabinet knobs at 
These natural renderings include themes from the plant world, objects found in the ocean and common, lowly pieces of everyday hardware rendered as cabinet knobs. For instance, in the latter category, you can find faucet handles, rope, cleats, shackles, spikes, valve handles and wing nuts - all rendered in cast metal. 
In the ocean category, you’ll find the starfish, sand dollar, whelk, scallop, sundial, urchin, snail, razor clam and seahorse. Finally, somewhat closer to home, you can find twigs, branches, twisted vines, birch, sumac, stone, driftwood, cottonwood, bamboo, a sea grape, palm, pine cone, wheat buttermold, rose buttermold, tree bark, tree leaves and jasmine. 
Leaves include oak, birch, maple, rhododendron, aspen, hydrangea, fiddlehead, viburnum, bishops cap and asparagus!
It seems you can’t find a thematic excuse at 
OK, now that Mother’s Day is over, let’s refocus on some important ‘guy’ things, such as how the man of the house would want living space hardware to appear. Let’s see, should it be sports? Fishing? The great outdoors?
You probably wouldn’t believe all the options available at and for your fingertips. See some of them here. Somehow, if there is a significant woman in your life, I don’t think she’ll approve of your taste. Well, at least on this page, you can dream about what it would look like. On the other hand, if you have a cabin “out there,” then, of course, you can furnish it to your liking. 
Umm . . ., favorite professional sports team on your dressers, lobster or putter door knocker, pine cone door stop, steelhead cabinet knob, etc. Use your imagination!
Browse the following collections to find your statement: 
There are many alloys of copper. Bronze is comprised of copper (60%) and tin (40%). If you add about 10% zinc to copper, though, you get something rather unique called brass. 
What makes it unique, among other characteristics, is its resistence to salt water corrosion. This, in addition to its strength, is why most faucets in the home have brass underneath. (If you don’t believe me, take a discarded faucet to the grinding wheel and see what’s underneath, even if it is silver in color.) 
In fact, taking a silver-colored faucet to a wire wheel will remove any electroplating and reveal, often, a beautiful brass underneath. We did this to a piece we obtained from an antique house and found ourselves a gem that now adorns our bathroom.
Isn’t it interesting that many fixtures aboard old wind-blown vessels were made of brass? Now we know the reason. We can also be grateful for its beautiful color, reminiscent of the sun that makes it glow brighter than surrounding objects because it reflects strongly in the sun’s spectrum of colors.
For this latter reason, raw or polished brass is a good choice in a home or room that does not use fluorescent lights. So called “natural” lighting, or incandescent lighting, gives off a spectrum of color that more closely matches what brass naturally reflects.
If you’re thinking along these lines, be sure to browse the brass options available at 
You didn’t pick your color hair, your color eyes, your complexion, your height, your sex, etc., etc. Just as there are things about you that you didn’t choose, you probably didn’t choose items in your bedroom at an early age, either. 
As you browse some of the pictures on this page, perhaps a drawer pull you see will jangle a few memories in your mind.
I found a wide collection of antique-style drawer pulls, of all things, in the collection offered by 
from bird cages to “victrola” cabinet handles to cup pulls to knobs to twists and simple forms. You can find these items in copper, pewter, black iron, polished and satin nickel, antiqued and polished brass, etc. Find the complete collection at 
In a non-elective course I took at the university, I was taught that glass is a fluid! Huh?! Yup. That stuff that’s made into windshields and windows is actually a “supercooled fluid,” according to the professor. “It just takes a while for it to flow,” he said. Yet, in almost the same breath, he said that glass has a very high hardness, measured in millions of pounds per square inch. Well, I finally believed him when I saw an antique car in the junk yard. 
This car was at least a generation old and its windows looked entirely like they were just melting down, not at all retaining their shape. I can imagine that the heat inside the car with closed windows, aged over decades, brought it to its abnormally early demise, because we don’t see glass doing this normally. 
OK, professor - I’m a believer now. But, even though some cabinet hardware is beautifully made out of glass, we don’t have to worry about it because cabinet knobs are not usually subjected to the same harsh treatment seen in a junk yard. Even coke bottles buried for decades retain their original shape.
It’s no wonder, then, that some hardware manufacturers, such as 
Is there a reason why many manufacturers of kitchen faucets choose this basic shape?
Well, of course. It is primarily a matter of sanitation. Without the downward pointing end of the tube, debris from the air would likely fall into the end of the tube, mix with the water, and then what would you get when you turned the water on to get a drink? 
One other perhaps more practical reason is that you would not want the water to be spraying uncontrollably upward and make a mess.
When the water is turned off, what remains in the end of the tube flows downward into the sink, being discarded through the drain. 
