1

Stainless steel is reflective so it helps to distribute light around a room. It's also a cold, colourless material, but its mirror-like quality can be used to pick up the hues around it making it compatible with any colour combination.

2

It works very well next to warm materials such as wood or certain paint colours. A room full of stainless steel can look too clinical - the interplay between different surfaces works better in most homes unless the fundamentalist industrial look appeals to you.

3

Commercial kitchens use stainless steel for functional reasons - it doesn't absorb bacteria, is hardwearing, heatproof and doesn't corrode. In a domestic kitchens steel is usually more successfully used sparingly, as a splash back, sandwiched between a wooden worktop and painted cupboards for instance.

4

When using expanses of stainless steel in this way it is worth taking advantage of the fact that this material is used in construction, on roofs for instance. You can contact industrial outlets (look under Roofing or Stainless Steel in the Golden Pages, although not all companies will do domestic work) who can supply sheets of steel cut to your specifications - this will, in most cases, be cheaper than buying a worktop or splash back from a kitchen company. Edgeline, based in Lisburn, Co Antrim, make kitchen worktops, splash backs, kickboards and hand rails to order.

5

Options include having the worktop running up the wall, as a splash back, to the tiling line - this costs around £100 stg a linear metre. Worktops can include holes for self-rimming sinks which sit into the surface in the same way a hob does or, a more expensive option, the sink can be welded into the worktop with a hidden seam.

6

Steel worktops are made by bonding the metal (typically 1.2mm thick) onto plywood or, even cheaper and a great way of sprucing up a tatty old worktop, by adhering the steel onto an existing surface. Doors and even walls can be covered in stainless steel as well.

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The metal comes with different finishes - possibilities include polished stainless steel or satin brushed, the latter is the better option on worktops because any scratches won't be so obvious.

8

Another way of acquiring stainless steel kitchen ware cheaply is to look-out for sales and auctions of second-hand catering equipment. One couple who wanted a stainless steel basin, but couldn't find what they wanted, bought a steel mixing bowl, drilled the base to make a plug hole and then fitted it into their worktop. Stand-alone, rather than fitted, kitchens made by the likes of Bulthaup (from Kitchen Haus in Temple Bar) allow you to slowly build up what is quite an expensive kitchen as and when you can afford the pieces. It will also enable you to have certain stainless steel products in among other elements.

9

We're used to seeing stainless steel bannister rails in contemporary restaurants and offices and these are now being used in homes. Stainless steel hands rails with stainless steel cable infilling below give a feeling of space. This type of bannister looks good against a light wooden staircase - although you can also have steel staircases made as well, spiral or straight. Again, such rails can be ordered from commercial companies such as Edgeline

10

Stainless steel works really well in details such as door handles - lots of architects use handles in polished or brushed stainless by d-line - for good reason, heavily decorated brass handles now look dated. Steel sockets and light switches look more classy than plastic ones.

11

As in commercial kitchens, stainless steel is also heavily used in industrial bathrooms, notably in hospitals and prisons, where their hygienic and hardwearing properties are essential. Now domestic bathware companies, such as CP Hart (stockists include Ideal Bathrooms in Dublin) and Sottini (from outlets nationwide, like Absolute Bathrooms, make steel basins and baths. But for the true industrial look at a lower price, look in the commercial catalogue of companies such as Armitage Shanks

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While stainless steel can be a serious design statement it can also be humorous - a prison toilet and a small metal basin with two arms coming out of the centre, known as an eye-wash basin will certainly give visitors something to talk about. stainless steel should be used sparingly. One metal basin will stand out as a centre-piece in a sparsely decorated bathroom.