Brass Hardware for a Whole House, Room by Room

Specifying brass hardware for a whole house starts with a count, not a colour. A 2,500 square foot American house typically needs between 80 and 160 switch gangs and plates, two to four pieces of door hardware per door, and two to five pulls per cabinet run. Get the counts right and the finish decision becomes simple.

In short

• Count positions first: switch gangs, receptacles, doors, then cabinet fronts. Dollars follow counts.
• One whole-house order we built in September 2026 came to 88 plates and 154 gangs across fourteen zones, listed at $13,815.
• Our widest plate is 5 gangs. Screws are two per gang, so a 5-gang plate takes ten.
• Four parts of the catalogue use four different finish vocabularies. Only black crosses all of them.
• Order spares in the same order. Real whole-house orders include them, and a late single piece is the expensive piece.

Count positions before you count dollars

The only reliable way to budget a whole house is to count every position on a drawing, because price follows position count almost linearly. Walk the plan and mark four things in order: every switch location with its gang count, every receptacle, every door leaf, and every cabinet or drawer front. Everything else is a consequence of those four numbers. A mood board tells you which finish; only the count tells you whether the project is a $3,000 job or a $14,000 one.

What a real whole-house order actually contained

A solid brass order we built in September 2026 covered fourteen named zones of one house and came to 88 plates and 154 gangs, listed at $13,815 before any trade discount and shipped in six packages. Of the 154 gangs, 97 carried a Studio Timeless control and 57 were empty decorator openings for devices supplied on site. The control mix was 52 single-pole rotary dimmers, 17 three-way rotary dimmers, 22 single-pole or three-way knurled toggles, 4 four-way toggles and 2 fan speed controls.

Two patterns in that table are worth copying. The bedroom and living room dominate, not the kitchen, because receptacle positions outnumber control positions nearly everywhere except the kitchen and the bar. And the dense control zones, the bathroom and the bar, are dense because of lighting scenes rather than floor area.

The catalogue, by category and current price

Pricing a whole house is a matter of multiplying counts by a short list of unit prices. Everything below is current catalogue list in the lacquered stock finishes, read from the catalogue today.

Entry, hallways and stairs

Hallways consume more gangs than their floor area suggests, because every three-way and four-way circuit puts a control at both ends of the run. In the order above, the entry and the three hall zones together took 21 plates and 32 gangs. Specify the wiring function with the gang count: our knurled toggles are ordered as single pole or three-way universal, or as four-way, and a stairwell with three control points needs one four-way between two three-ways. The wiring guide sets out the circuits, and two-wire versus three-wire cable explains what your walls will allow before you order.

Kitchen and pantry

A kitchen concentrates controls on one or two wide plates and scatters receptacles along the backsplash. Eight gangs on two plates, as in the order above, is a realistic kitchen. Countertop receptacles are driven by code rather than by taste, and GFCI protection is required at them; our GFCI guide covers where. Budget one Brass GFCI Electrical Outlet per protected run, and remember that only one TRIAC dimmer belongs on a given circuit, with any second location taken by a three-way toggle. Under-cabinet tape lighting needs a low voltage controller, which never interrupts the 120V line and therefore always needs a separate switch.

Bathrooms and powder rooms

Bathrooms are the densest control zones in a house per square foot, because mirror, ceiling, shower and fan each want their own position. The master bathroom above took 16 controls on 7 plates. Count the fan separately: a fan motor never connects to a lighting dimmer, and a variable-speed paddle fan needs the fan speed control, not a dimmer. This is also the room where the knurled bathroom accessories set earns its place: the towel bar runs 11.02 in, the pull bars 19.68 in and 23.62 in, the paper holder 6.29 in and the wall hook 1.92 in, in brass or black.

Bedrooms and closets

Bedrooms are receptacle-heavy and control-light, which is why they produce the largest plate counts in a whole-house order. The master bedroom above took 15 plates for only 12 controls; thirteen of its gangs were receptacle positions. Two bedside positions, two or three on the perimeter walls, a three-way pair at the door and the bed, and a single control in each closet is the pattern we see most. Bedside dual USB-C outlets are the one receptacle worth upgrading individually.

Living and dining rooms

Living and dining rooms are where dimming earns its money, so plan the scene before the plate. A dining room needs one dimmer on the pendant and one on any wall washers; a living room usually needs three or four zones. In the order above the living room took 20 gangs and the dining room 8. Our rotary dimmer guide covers which loads dim cleanly; ELV and trailing-edge fixtures are not compatible with forward-phase TRIAC dimmers, and that is a fixture decision to settle before the switches are ordered.

Doors: hinges, stoppers and pulls

Budget three hinges and one stopper per interior door, and add a pull only where the door is a feature. A 7-foot interior door normally takes three hinges; count four on a tall or heavy leaf. Our hinge sizing guide gives the selection method and the weight calculation, and the door stopper guide covers floor, wall and freestanding mounting. At twelve doors, hinges alone are 36 pieces, which is where a whole-house count stops being intuitive. Entry and closet door pull bars are in the hardware collection. One limit stated plainly: we make no fire-rated claim and claim no ANSI/BHMA grade on any piece.

Cabinetry: knobs, pulls and edge pulls

Count cabinet hardware by front, not by run: one knob or pull per door, one or two per drawer depending on width. A typical kitchen of 30 fronts needs 30 to 40 pieces. Centre-to-centre spacing and the one-third-of-width convention are in our sizing and spacing guide, and the method for drilling them straight is in how to install cabinet knobs and pulls. For a handleless kitchen use edge pulls; for integrated fridges and ovens, appliance pulls and extra long pulls run to 1,000 mm. We do not confirm compatibility with a specific appliance door without written confirmation from the appliance manufacturer.

Making four finish vocabularies agree

The finish names are not shared across the catalogue, and this is the single most common surprise in a whole-house order. Switches and plates carry eight finish names. Hinges carry four, none of which is a brass name used on the electrical side. Stoppers carry four others. Bathroom accessories carry two.

The practical rule: match within a single sight line and allow variation from room to room, and never commit a whole house on screen. Order the Finish Sample Set at $50 and judge in hand. The full comparison is in all eight finishes side by side. If you want the living finish, read unlacquered brass first: it is made to order, carries a longer lead time, and is not returnable. On a whole house that is a decision you make once.

Brass is a copper alloy, and the way each finish ages depends on its surface treatment rather than on the metal underneath; the Copper Development Association is the reference for that chemistry.

Spares, and what to order together

Order spares in the same order as the house, and expect to need them. The order above carried a dedicated spares line of six pieces, four decorator plates and two controls, which is roughly 7 percent of the plate count. That is not waste; it is what covers a cracked plate on installation day and a box that turns out to be a different gang count than the drawing said. Ordering one piece later means one package for one plate.

Order everything in one go for a second reason: the lacquered finishes are held in stock and Unlacquered is made to the order, so a split order splits the finish batch too, and brass lots vary. Our Custom Configurator handles bespoke gang counts and engraving, and the method is explained in how the configurator works. Designers and builders specifying repeatedly should apply to the trade program.

Before you send the list

Send your electrician the gang count, the wiring function and the opening type for every position, because that is what determines both the box and the plate. Reach ranges matter too: the ADA Standards put operable parts between 15 in and 48 in above the floor, and section 309.4 asks for one-handed operation under 5 pounds of force. Work to the edition of the National Electrical Code published as NFPA 70 that is adopted where you live, confirmed with your local authority having jurisdiction, and remember that device dimensions follow NEMA wiring device standards. Before touching any device, switch off the breaker and verify the absence of voltage with a tester proved on a known live circuit. A licensed electrician and a permit are generally required for new or relocated boxes, new circuits, panel work, and work in kitchens and bathrooms in many jurisdictions. Our installation and compatibility page is the reference, and we do not confirm a wiring compatibility without written confirmation from the manufacturer.

Frequently asked questions

How many light switches does a whole house need?

Count gangs, not switches. A fourteen-zone house we supplied in September 2026 needed 154 gangs across 88 plates. A smaller house commonly lands between 80 and 120 gangs.

How much does brass hardware for a whole house cost?

The electrical side of one fourteen-zone house listed at $13,815 before any trade discount. Doors and cabinetry are added on top, at $37 to $45 per hinge, $29.90 to $40.90 per stopper and $13.90 to $128.90 per cabinet piece.

Should switch plates match door hardware?

Match within a sight line and allow variation between rooms. Exact matching across the whole house is not achievable here anyway, because the electrical, hinge, stopper and bathroom ranges use four different finish vocabularies.

Do you sell plates and switches separately?

Not in the toggle and rotary formats. Those are single machined units with the control built into the solid brass plate. Decorator plates are the exception: they are supplied as a plate with empty openings and no mechanism.

What is the largest plate you make?

Five gangs. Beyond that a wall takes two plates side by side. Screws are two per gang, so a 5-gang plate takes ten screws.

How many hinges does a door need?

Three on a normal 7-foot interior door, four on a tall or heavy leaf. The selection method and the weight calculation are in our hinge sizing guide.

How many cabinet pulls will a kitchen need?

Count fronts: one piece per door, one or two per drawer depending on width. A 30-front kitchen usually needs 30 to 40 pieces.

Can I order the whole house at once?

Yes, and it is the better way to do it. One order keeps the finish batch together, and brass lots vary between batches.

How many spares should I order?

Around 7 percent of the plate count is what a real whole-house order carried. Spares cover a cracked plate on installation day and a box that turns out to be a different gang count than the drawing.

Is unlacquered brass a good choice for a whole house?

Only if you want the finish to change. It is made to order, carries a longer lead time, and is not returnable, so decide it once with a sample in hand rather than room by room.

Do the Retro Toggle switches fit standard American boxes?

They mount in a standard box but need a 12 mm round plate opening, which is a different cut from the standard American rectangular cutout used by the knurled range. A dimmer opening cannot be converted to a toggle opening.

What do I give the electrician?

One line per plate: room, gang count, and for each position the control type and wiring function. Without that mapping the modules have to be swapped on site to match each circuit.

Where to start

Count the positions, settle the finish with a sample, then order the house in one go. Start from switches and outlets for the electrical side and hardware for doors and cabinetry, and send a drawing through contact if you would rather we count it with you.

Last updated: October 3, 2026