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kelvar

Cabinet Pulls - Do you mix sizes and styles?

kelvar
14 years ago

The vast majority of our lower cabinets will be drawers of various sizes...15", 18", 21", 30" and 36". How do you choose pulls that look proportionately correct? Do you get smaller size cup pulls for the smaller cabinets and a larger pull for the large drawers? That would seem "off" to me. Or do you get a middle of the road size and that should be sufficient to look good on all the drawer sizes? Or do you do a mix of large cup pulls for the big drawers and regular handle pulls for the smaller drawer cabinets?

At what size cabinet do you move from one cup pull to two?

On top of it, all the cup pulls that DH has seen are the small standard sized ones at the big box stores. He doesn't like them because his hands don't feel comfortable in them. I'd have to get a larger cup pull and I'm not sure how that would look on the smaller bank of drawers.

Comments (11)

  • iambpt
    14 years ago

    we are using a variety of size pulls from restoration hardware. The larger ones are only available online. Our hardware taste tends to run toward the BIG side, but here's what we're doing: two 12" pulls on each 36" drawer, one 12" pull on 24" drawer, one 10" on all the smaller drawers.

    Here is a link that might be useful: our pulls from RH

  • eastcoastmom
    14 years ago

    It's really just personal preference, no right or wrong. I'm mixing sizes on my traditional cabinets. I'm doing 4 1/2 total length on drawers under 24" , 5 3/4 on my desk and other drawers over 24" and 9 5/8" pulls on the very large, 39+ inch column of drawers. My appliances are getting 8" CC (over 9" total) for dishwasher and 12" CC for the refrigerator panels.

    I've seen this done numerous times in magazine photos and have also seen cup pulls mixed with drawer pulls on occasion. Generally, I've see two pulls or cup pulls on drawers over about 30" or so.

    I think I just recently saw a photo of a kitchen that used a couple of different sizes of cup pulls - probably here.

  • elizpiz
    14 years ago

    Hi sleevepresto - echoing what others have (although there are a few KDs on this site who might have general "rules" for you). Our cabs have mixed knobs and handles, not even from the same company. Some are vintage salvage, some are hand forged wrought iron and my favourite is on the fridge, another antique handle that's very cool. We have a mix of cup pulls, knobs and handles, ranging from 15" handles on the pot and pan drawer under the cooktop to 6" handles and 4" cup pulls.

    I really like the way they mix together and because they are all dark, they all work together. Definitely two size cup pulls wouldn't bother me, and I think would add interest.

    Eliz

  • kelvar
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thank you to all of you for your responses. I really appreciate the help.

    smarge - got to ask...your backsplash looks so pretty. Can you post another picture of it? Did you design the pattern?

  • peggross1
    14 years ago

    Thanks for the compliment sleevepresto, and I'm happy to share!

    I hired a mosaic artist who I found online. We knew we wanted a large Tree of Life that was inspired by Marc Chagall, an artist we love.

    From emails and phone conversations (I'm in NJ, she's in MA) she came up with drawings that captured what we wanted. She sent photos of the mosaic in progress and I made some comments and requests, which she incorporated into the design which came primarily from her own imagination. Then we agonized over the second mosaic to tie it in with the very fanciful/surreal tree without being too similar and came up with a vase with sunflowers, inspired strongly by an actual Chagall painting.

    The white & pale gray background was completely her doing and we loved it!

    Here are pictures.

    a bit closer

    Over our main sink

    I posted a link to the artist's website below. Check it out and you'll see why I hired her. (My backsplash is at the very bottom of this linked page.)

    Here is a link that might be useful: Big Bang Mosaics website (Cynthia Fisher)

  • lizbeth-gardener
    14 years ago

    Smarge

    Love your kitchen. Can you tell me what the style name of your RH pulls are and what knobs you used. I really like the clean lines.

    TIA

  • Buehl
    14 years ago

    Definitely personal preference.

    In our case, we used the same size pulls on all drawers (4"). We used one pull on drawers = 30". We have 18", 24", 27", 30", 31", 31.5", 33", and 36" drawers and, like you, the vast majority of our bases are drawer bases. The only exceptions are the sink bases and the 6" pullouts flanking the cooktop.

    Cup pulls vs "regular" pulls...originally I wanted cup pulls, but then when we realized that to open the bottom drawers you have to reach under to get your hand in the pull that it would be more difficult than just reaching down from the top, we went w/the "regular". In the end, I'm glad we did as I like our pulls better than the cup pulls for our cabinets & kitchen style.

    The issue of being able to fit my DH's bigger hands was a concern for us as well when we were considering the cup pulls; since you're also concerned, I'd buy a couple of the larger pulls and try them out. We bought several different pulls & knobs and tried them on our old cabinets to get a feel for what they would be like using them as well as to get a general idea of what they would look like.

    24" Drawer, 1 pull/drawer:

    27" Drawer, 1 pull/drawer:

    33" Drawer, 2 pulls/drawer and 18" Drawer, 1 pull/drawer & trash pullout:

    36" Drawer, 2 pulls/drawer:

  • peggross1
    14 years ago

    lizbeth-gardener

    My RH hardware was satin nickel. The knobs we used are "Gilmore" & the pulls are "Ephram"

    Count twice, order more than you need, and keep them under lock and key (my hardware kept having various pieces go missing mysteriously)! RH has an excellent return policy; even if you don't have your receipt, although you'll get store credit.

  • lmoses124
    2 years ago

    Does anyone know if you need an appliance handle for a panel ready dishwasher? They are expensive and bigger than I would like and there are less choices if you want handles to match. Someone I called said it is needed. I haven’t been able to confirm. It is a 24inch dishwasher

  • Carole Lee
    last year

    I used the same pull as my other cabinets, only a little larger, 6" Looks great