One other very important setting with reflecting objects is the Gloss amount. It basically determines how soft/blurry the reflections are. If you use a high value (very close to 1 --- the default), then you get very metallic looking objects. As you use lower values, it becomes less metallic and more glass-like...as if the surface of the object is softening the reflections. It really makes a big difference in the perceived hardness of the surface of the reflecting object. [With lower Gloss values, increase the number of samples so that it looks smooth instead of overly-pixelated. Note: Increasing Samples value also increases rendering times...]
See the examples below (full-size) to really see what I mean...
(Gloss = 1.0)
(Gloss = 0.98)
(Gloss = 0.96)
(Gloss = 0.90)
(Gloss = 0.80)
(Gloss = 0.70)
Like many things in Blender, it might just be one setting, but it has a lot of effect!
Happy Reflecting!
James
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