Door handles (again)

I'm pretty sure we've been here before...
I'm having a hard time finding entry door hardware that looks cool and doesn't cost a fortune.
I like the Schlage Century exterior handleset and it's about the only thing I've found that has the look I'm going for, but the options for the interior side all kind of suck.
http://www.kwiklocks.com/schlage/s-handlesets_century.html

Are door knobs interchangable between brands, so that I could put a cooler looking interior knob on another brand of mechanism?
Am I missing something good/reasonably priced or do I just need to have lame office-looking knobs inside?
I was planning on using the handleset above only on the front door so I'll have two other exterior entry doors plus the door from the garage into the house that need something else.
Ideas?

In general, no, they're not interchangeable, but a particular manufacturer (especially one of the smaller, specialty vendors) may make something that's compatible with a Schlage lockset.

I wholeheartedly agree that the choices available from the mainstream vendors seem to fall into either fussy/frilly or institutional categories, without much in between.

I seem to recall an ad in Dwell from a year or so ago that had some nice looking lever handles. I don't remember the specifics, and I'm not sure that they would satisfy your doesn't cost a fortune requirement.

-Steve

Omnia Industries makes some real nice stuff. They have a stainless line that looks just like the levers that come on the neoporte doors for a alot less altough still expensive (interior privacy set are like $65). Good luck in your search.

I second the suggestion to consider Omnia stainless. That's what I ended up using for the crazy rounded entry door I made. I used a deadbolt and a passage lever. I was impressed with the heft and quality of the parts. I found the best price at handlesets.com; they screwed up my order the first time around (wrong backset/door thickness for the lever) but made it right quickly and at no extra charge.

http://www.omniaindustries.com/
http://www.handlesets.com/

THANK YOU! That's more like it. Those are beautiful and I think I'll go with the 032. I'm not thrilled with the idea of not having locking knobs + deadbolt, but I think I can live with the latchset/deadbolt combination.

I just wanted to pipe in and say those are the exact handles that we're using for our house! I love them and I also think that they'll be very ergonomic.

When I was looking for simple lever handles I found that Valli Valli and Omnia are the only manufacturers of nice modern lever doorknobs in America.

We're finishing off our doors with lip floor door stops instead of the regular ol' wall door stops.



This is definitely the fun part of building a house!

Sara

Ours weren't necessarily inexpensive (though to be honest after spending so so so much $$$ to build our house I don't remember exact prices) but we got our lever handles/mortise locks from FSB. (http://www.fsbusa.com/levers) They're stunning. We splurged on stainless 1076's, but they also do aluminum.