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Brushed chrome versus brushed nickel finishes on kitchen faucets  

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I'm looking at getting a new kitchen faucet and was wondering what the difference was in maintenance and longevity between brushed nickel and brushed chrome finishes.

Malte Simmer
Home owner - Haiku, HI

All decorative chrome finishes have nickel plating under them. Theoretically then, a brushed nickel finish would be nickel plating only and a brushed chrome finish would be nickel plating followed by chrome plating. And if that were actually the case, I'd say the chrome would be bluer and would stay untarnished whereas the nickel would be more yellow and would grow duller with time as it tarnished. But there is a lot of the colloquial in such terms and I'm not confident that the "brushed nickel" is not also actually chrome plated.

Go by your confidence in the brand, as there is little a consumer can really do or judge about plating quality.

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, New Jersey