Where to Put Handles for Flawless Kitchen Cabinets
When renovating or building a new kitchen, carefully considering where to place hardware on cabinets and drawers is one of the most important details. Proper handle and knob placement serves both form and function, ensuring your kitchen is as beautiful as it is practical.
Follow these placement tips and tricks for flawless kitchen cabinets guaranteed to impress.
Handle Placement Guidelines by Cabinet Type
Not all cabinets are created equal, so handle placement can vary depending on whether you're dealing with wall cabinets, base cabinets, or drawers:
Wall Cabinets
For overhead kitchen wall cabinets with doors, install handles approximately 2-1/2" to 3" from the bottom corner of the door, opposite the hinges. This allows for comfortable grip and plenty of clearance to open the door fully when contents are accessed or removed.
If your wall cabinets feature prominent decorative moldings or trim, adjust handles slightly inward for better grip and visibility. Always double check that installed handles on adjacent cabinets align horizontally for symmetry and visual balance.
Base Cabinets
On kitchen base cabinets situated at countertop level, place handles 2-1/2" to 3" down from the top door corner, opposite the hinges. As with wall units, maintaining consistent handle heights gives base cabinets a cohesive, seamless look.
For especially deep base cabinets, consider handles sized appropriately forcomfortable grip when opened fully. Pull handles allow for extra clearance compared to smaller knobs.
Drawers
Kitchen drawers have some unique handle considerations. Drawers less than 24" wide only require one centered handle placed horizontally. Wider drawers benefit from two handles installed in line with one another for symmetrical balance.
Second handles on very wide drawers can also improve leverage when fully extending heavy, well-loaded drawers during use.
Getting the Right Handle Position for Your Space
Along with lining up handles based on adjacent cabinet and drawer fronts, a few other functional factors impact proper placement in your kitchen:
Door Clearances
Consider door and hinge style to ensure handles won't cause interference when opening and closing. For example, certain types of rigid hinges require more clearance than others. And knobs installed too close to prominent door trim moldings can make access tricky.
Frequently Accessed Cabinets
Make a note of corner cabinets and low drawers you access most often. Tailor handle placement on these fronts for maximum ease of use based on your typical motion patterns during food prep, cooking, and clean up.
Don't forget those hard to reach top shelves either! Adjusting handle placement may make fully extending contents easier if you need step stool access.
Design Elements and Decor
While functional access takes priority, also consider handle placement's impact on your overall kitchen decor. For example, lining up knobs and pulls with the height of other existing backsplash or wall-mounted hardware can make them pop as part of the design.
Likewise, finished handle placement should always complement your color scheme. Contrasting hardware delivers dramatic flair.
Achieving Cabinet and Drawer Functionality
Proper handle placement goes beyond just looks--it's also central to usability and effortless access:
Open and Shut Ease
Align hardware exactly opposite hinges for most natural, ergonomic grip when opening and closing doors and drawers.
Mounted at the right height based on your stance, contents can be smoothly accessed without uncomfortable bending, stretching, or accidental knuckle banging!
Kitchen Work Triangles
Always factor your typical kitchen work patterns into final handle placement as well. Your unique workflow moving between countertops, appliances, the table, and cabinets impacts where accessible hardware has the biggest benefit.
Tailor placement to avoid crosses, backtracks, and dead-ends during meal prep and clean-up tasks for maximum efficiency.
Visually Pleasing and Practical Handle Arrangements
With great handle placement, form meets function by being both practical for use and adding visual design flair. A few optional finishing touches complete your flawless look:
Centered and Aligned
Maintaining precision handle spacing and horizontal alignment across split drawers and stacked cabinets keeps things orderly and polished.
Visual symmetry and consistency also helps kitchens feel expansive rather than choppy and disjointed.
Polished Yet Functional
While flawlessly aligned handles look fantastic, don't sacrifice comfort accessing frequently used cabinets and drawers.
Allow enough clearance between decor elements, while still drawing pleasing attention to your hardware style with proper placement.
Keys to Ideal Handle Placement and Installation
To achieve cabinet handle nirvana, accurate measurement, precise installation, and attention to detail are musts for decorator-worthy results:
Measuring Guidelines
Carefully mark exact handle placement spots based on proper measurements for your cabinet door style using guides or templates.
Double check recommended vertical distances from upper and lower door corners so spacing looks and functions flawlessly.
Methodical Installation
Allow no sloppiness by carefully drilling each handle hole one-by-one based on marks. Rushing through by eyeballing positions won't cut it!
Meticulously installed handles lined up evenly down to the millimeter complete the seamless, decorative look.
With these comprehensive cabinet handle placement tips for functionality and aesthetics covered, you have all the know-how for stunning results.
Carefully planning and executing ideal placement using measurements based on your cabinet configuration is crucial for opening and accessing contents easily while simultaneously elevating your kitchen's decorative flair.
For flawless cabinets guaranteed to bring friends and family into the kitchen, apply these placement guidelines and tricks next time you install handles and knobs.