So you’ve chosen your cabinets, they’re installed, and now there is one more decision … where is the best cabinet hardware placement? In other words, where should you hang cabinet knobs and pulls on your cabinet doors?
It’s actually quite simple! I’ll give you some guidelines (and share helpful diagrams) below re: the best place to hang your hardware. We’ll focus solely on the two most common types of hardware: knobs and pulls.
WHAT ARE CABINET STILES AND RAILS?
Before getting into our discussion of where to place cabinet hardware, you first need to understand the parts of the cabinet door that I’ll be referring to. The diagram below illustrates where the cabinet stiles (vertical parts), rails (horizontal parts), and panel are. This will be helpful as you read about placement below.
WHERE SHOULD CABINET KNOBS BE PLACED?
Knobs should be centered horizontally on the door stile on the side opposite the hinge … this goes for both upper and lower cabinetry. The typical height to place knobs is 2.5” – 3” from the bottom of the door (on upper cabinets) or from the top of the door (on lower cabinets). FYI: we used the 2.5” measurement on all of our cabinets.
Just to clarify … the knob HOLE should be 2.5” – 3” from the top or bottom of cabinet door; your actual knob will hang lower than 2.5”- 3”.
Cabinets that pull out (e.g. trash cabinet) have a different guideline. In this case, knobs are typically centered on the cabinet’s top rail. FYI: we have knobs on all cabinets EXCEPT our pull out garbage cabinet … we used a pull and centered it on the top rail.
My Kitchen Cabinet Hardware Placement
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WHERE SHOULD CABINET PULLS BE PLACED?
The guideline for hanging cabinet pulls is the same as hanging knobs (i.e. 2.5” – 3” from top or bottom). However, there is one slight difference. Cabinet pulls have two screws as opposed to only one screw with a knob. On upper cabinets, the bottom screw hole should be placed 2.5” – 3” above the bottom of the door. On lower cabinets, the top screw hole should be placed 2.5” -3” below the top of the door.
Just like knobs, pulls are typically centered horizontally on the door stile opposite the side of the door hinge. See the diagram below to illustrate this concept.
Image via TAYLOR CRAFT DOOR
Shop for hardware in my CABINET HARDWARE BOUTIQUE
WHERE TO PLACE DRAWER HARDWARE
I know this post focuses primarily on CABINET hardware placement … however, you’re probably also wondering where is the best hardware placement on drawers!
The majority of people choose to center their drawer knobs and/or pulls in the center of the middle panel. Others choose to center their drawer knobs and/or pulls in the center of the top rail. I personally prefer hardware to be centered in the middle panel (as opposed to on the top rail).
As far as the number of pulls or knobs, you do have a choice. If your drawers are 24” or wider, you can place either one pull (or one knob) in the middle of the drawer OR two pulls (or two knobs) on either side of the drawer. See the image below.
I chose to use one pull on ALL drawers regardless of the width of the drawer. Either way (one pull vs. two pulls) looks great so it’s simply a matter of personal preference!
Image via STUDIO MCGEE
CONCLUSION
In this post, we covered the guidelines and best practices for cabinet hardware placement of both knobs and pulls. I also gave you a brief overview of where to place hardware on your drawers. I hope you now see how simple it is to find the ideal spot to hang your hardware!
Now that you know where to place your hardware, it’s time to find the perfect knobs and pulls for your new home! Visit my CABINET HARDWARE BOUTIQUE to see products that I’ve curated for YOU!
