Plating

You can select various painted or plated finishes, or a combination of the two. People who want plating commonly chose between brass, nickel, and 24K gold. The brass or nickel can be done in polished; light, medium, or dark antiqued; or brushed, which is lightest. 24K gold is useful for those who want a bright yellow finish because gold will not tarnish and the polished brass will. Antiqued brass or nickel is already pretarnished so it is easiest to care for.

Painting

The entire unit, both doors frames and the main frame, can be painted with high heat paint, or, what people frequently do if they want plating is they will get the doors plated and the mainframe painted. The mainframe can be painted in either a complimentary or a contrasting color. The main frame is often partially or almost fully hidden behind the doors so painting it saves some money and can lend the look of a nice border which enhances the plating on the doors.

There are many paint colors available. The paint used is the Stove Bright brand, which is the highest quality woodstove paint available. It will withstand 1200 degrees F and is extremely rust resistant.

If you are trying to decide between different colors I can paint some steel bars with those colors for you and you can set them up in front of your fireplace and contemplate them for a few weeks before deciding which you prefer. You can decide on the color after you order your doors because painting them is one of the last steps in the fabrication process.

Charcoal looks a lot like Metalic Black but it has a softer look, it's not as harsh as black so it is a popular color. Charcoal and Metalic Black look pretty similar and it can be difficult to be sure which one you are looking at unless they are placed side by side. The metalic colors have a little more variability in the way they look, which depends on how the light is hitting them. Charcoal is also a metalic color. Metalic means it has metalic dust particles in the paint.

Metalic Black and Charcoal provide a nice contrasting framed look to gold and bright yellow or antiqued brass. The blue colors provide a beautiful contrast to bright polished brass, and particularly to the slightly reddish yellow of 24K gold. The Blue Metalic doesn't really show up that well in this online color chart, it is similar to charcoal but a little lighter, and of course, bluer.

Metalic Brown is one of the more popular colors as it is mild looking, it has a silvery look in some lighting situations and it blends well with sandstone, rock, and the lighter brick colors. Metalic Brown blends in well with brass or gold and particularly antiqued brass. Metalic Brown does not go well with polished nickel.

Goldenfire Brown is a dark metalic brown which looks nice and rich if you like a dark brown color and it also can provide an excellent border for brass and gold, being dark in contrast but having similar color 'temperature'. Honeyglow Brown is another metalic color which is a brighter yellowish brown but it is darker than the silvery Metalic Brown

Mojave Red and Redwood, neither of which are metalic, can be tricky. Some people have ordered them and been disappointed. Although Redwood can look good on a little color chip, when it is painted on a large surface like a fireplace doorset it makes people think it is red ship bottom paint, just too much. On the other hand Mojave Red has been used on a doorset for a red marble fireplace. The mainframe had brass doors in front of it, and it looked good. Similarly, Mauve can be tricky. Sometimes it looks good but sometimes on a large object it can be just too much pink.

In any case, if you end up not liking a color that you ordered the doors can be repainted without too much trouble.

The colors Almond and gold are not used. In a woodburning environment the almond gets dirty instantly and is impossible to clean, it is also quite fragile and chips easily. The gold paint is not high heat resistant, only medium heat resistant, and it looks cheap compared to real gold or brass. Sand is not recommended because it is similar to, but not as bad as, the almond color.