Gate Sets

Gate sets: cabinet hardware's outdoor, bronze-cast cousin

Gate hardware trades the zinc most interior pulls are die-cast from for solid bronze, since a garden gate lives outside year-round and takes rain, salt air, and freeze-thaw swings a kitchen drawer never will. This group opens with the Rectangular Keyed Gate Hardware, offered in two sizes, 2 1/2" x 13" and 3 1/2" x 13", and a plain Rectangular Gate Hardware set carrying no lock whatsoever for anyone who just needs a latch. Oval, Metro, and Ellis versions repeat both mechanisms across different backplate shapes. Every piece here is cast with real heft, enough weight to feel solid in a gloved hand, not the thin stamped metal typical of hardware-store gate latches.

Keyed or thumblatch: two different jobs

A keyed set, like the Metro Keyed Gate Hardware or Ellis Keyed Gate Hardware, turns a key to retract the bolt, the same logic as a front door lock. Pick one for a gate guarding a pool, a side yard, or anything you want off-limits without a spare key floating around. A thumblatch set skips the cylinder entirely: press the lever, the latch drops. Nothing to lose track of, nothing to rekey if a key goes missing, and a quicker motion for a gate that opens and closes many times over an ordinary day, a dog run or a garden path getting foot traffic.

Picking a backplate that matches the house

Maddox and Metro Gate Hardware Door Sets pick up the same design names Rocky Mountain Hardware uses on its entry door line, so a side gate can echo the entry hardware nearby, not just stand apart from it. Backplates run oval or rectangular, mostly 2 1/2" to 3 1/2" wide by around 13" tall, generous enough to grip fully even with a gloved hand in winter. Check whatever backplate shape sits on the property already before ordering a second one; pairing an oval plate with a rectangular one along one run of fencing tends to look unplanned rather than deliberate, even when both pieces are well made individually.