The Ultimate Guide for Cabinet Hardware Placement and Sizing

This guide will give you advice on when to select cabinet knobs vs. cabinet pulls, sizing knobs and pulls correctly, and where to position cabinet hardware to complement your kitchen cabinets! You’ll also find helpful visual examples of cabinet hardware styles, cabinet hardware colors, cabinet hardware types, cabinet hardware sizes, and cabinet hardware placement options.

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One of the most satisfying parts of a kitchen refresh or full kitchen remodel is installing kitchen cabinet hardware! It’s usually the final step and it’s a great way to add your personal touch to kitchen cabinets.

Before installing your new cabinet hardware, there are a few things to consider:

• Style: The first step in selecting new cabinet hardware is narrowing down the cabinet hardware styles and cabinet hardware colors for your kitchen. What kitchen design are you ultimately trying to achieve? You want to make sure your new cabinet hardware fits your kitchen design style, whether that’s a farmhouse, cottage, coastal, traditional, transitional, contemporary, modern, rustic or industrial kitchen design.

• Color: There are a lot of cabinet hardware color options that will impact your kitchen design. Note that some metals come in different finishes like polished vs. satin brass that can significantly impact the look and feel of your kitchen!

• Type: There are a few different options to choose from based on personal preference. Do you want to add cabinet knobs, pulls, latches or a mix of these cabinet hardware options?

• Sizing: Depending on your cabinet door style and cabinet door size, the recommended cabinet hardware size will vary. Oversized cabinet doors and drawer fronts will require larger cabinet hardware than standard doors and drawers.

• Placement: There are different cabinet hardware placement options based on the look you’re going for in your kitchen and the functionality.

I’ll walk you through these important things to keep in mind as you decide on the perfect cabinet hardware placement for your space!

Cabinet hardware style

What cabinet hardware styles are there? There are lots of different cabinet hardware styles that can help complement your kitchen design. Whether you’re going for a farmhouse kitchen, a cottage kitchen, coastal vibes, a traditional, transitional, contemporary, modern or industrial kitchen design.

Here are some examples of different cabinet hardware styles:

• Farmhouse knob
• Cottage knob
• Coastal knob
• Traditional knob
• Transitional knob
• Contemporary knob
• Modern knob
• Industrial knob
• Rustic knob

Cabinet hardware color

There are a lot of cabinet hardware color options and finishes that will impact your kitchen design. Here are the most popular cabinet hardware colors:

• Polished brass
• Brushed brass
• Satin brass
• Gold
• Brushed nickel
• Polished nickel
• Chrome
• Black
• Oil-rubbed bronze
• Venetian bronze
• Stainless steel
• Champagne bronze

I have a detailed overview of different metal types and finishes on my blog here.

Do cabinet knobs have to match hinges? Yes, cabinet knobs should match your hinges if your hinges are visible. However, if your hinges are not visible while the cabinet doors are closed, then your knobs don’t have to match your hinges.

At the California Cottage, we had overlay hinges in our kitchen that were visible so I made sure they matched the new cabinet hardware:

The nickel hinges were not visible at the Hills House kitchen, so I was able to install satin brass knobs there as part of our kitchen renovation:

At our new house, the Roofline Residence, the hinges were also not visible and I installed new black cabinet hardware even though we had nickel hinges:

You may also want to consider the color of your appliance pulls and handles when deciding on the right cabinet hardware color for your kitchen!

Cabinet hardware type

Should you use knobs or pulls on cabinets? Knobs are typically used for cabinet doors, while pulls are used for both drawers and doors.

You may have also seen cabinet latches lately, these can be a perfect alternative to cabinet knobs!

Here are some examples of beautiful knobs, pulls and latches:

• Cabinet knob (ceramic)
• Cabinet knob (satin nickel)
• Cabinet knob (polished brass)
• Cabinet pull (satin brass)
• Cabinet pull (golden champagne)
• Cabinet pull (brushed gold)
• Cabinet latch (polished brass)
• Cabinet latch (oil rubbed bronze)
• Cabinet latch (brushed satin nickel)

There are different options on how to use cabinet knobs and cabinet pulls. For example, you could opt to use only pulls or only knobs. However, using a combination of cabinet pulls and knobs is also a very popular option (and my personal preference).

Here are examples to help you visualize what each of these cabinet hardware combinations could look like:

Cabinet hardware sizing

You may be wondering what size cabinet hardware will look best in your kitchen. If you plan on using cabinet pulls/handles, the key question is: How do you pick a handle size for kitchen cabinets?

A popular way to determine the ideal cabinet pull size is the rule of thirds. To apply the rule of thirds, all you have to do is measure your drawer and divide that number by 3. This will be the ideal width for your drawer pulls in relation to your drawers.

Here is an example on how to pick a handle size for kitchen cabinets using the rule of thirds:

Cabinet hardware placement

Where should hardware be placed on cabinets? Where you put knobs and handles on kitchen cabinets largely depends on your cabinetry style and the design you’re aiming for in your kitchen.

Here are a few different cabinet hardware placement options:

• Traditional cabinet hardware placement: center the knobs on the rail and place pulls close to the bottom of the rail on cabinet doors, center the cabinet hardware within the recessed panel on drawers
• Classic cabinet hardware placement: center the knobs on the transition between the rail and the recessed panel and align the pulls with the transition on cabinet doors, center the cabinet hardware within the recessed panel on drawers
• Modern cabinet hardware placement: align the knobs with the transition between the rail and the recessed panel and place pulls horizontally on cabinet doors, place the cabinet hardware within the top rail on drawers (this typically makes it easier to pull and it’s a great option for pull out trash cans or appliances)

As you can see in the picture above, knob placement and handle placement can have a big impact on the final look in your home! I recommend mocking it up before committing to drilling holes for your new cabinet hardware.

I hope you found this guide helpful and got some inspiration on when to select cabinet knobs vs. cabinet pulls, sizing knobs and pulls correctly, and where to position cabinet hardware to complement your kitchen cabinets in your home!

As always, feel free to reach out with any questions.

Tina