Sane shopping plan for cabinet pulls?

10 years ago

We moved into a very old house with sleek modern cabinet pulls in the kitchen that look quite out of place. We want to replace them with something more rustic and vintage. Here are my dilemmas:

The size pulls the holes are drilled for are 3 3/4" center to center (96mm). I was hoping to make life easy and purchase from Restoration Hardware but they only carry 3" or 4".

How does one shop for nice looking cabinet pulls? I want to be able to bring some samples into my kitchen to look at actual colors and shapes. I have looked at these mega online stores and sorted by size, but they have horrible return and restocking fees. The ones that don't charge for restocking gouge you by charging $7.95 for each different manufacturer you order a sample from.

How do I get samples in my house of this odd size pull without waiting weeks or months for each sample and then having to pay a huge return fee?

Oy, how I wish the former owners did not drill for pulls in every single cabinet and just had knobs instead. Our kitchen is small and needs 13 pulls - it is a lot of look in this size space and I want to be really mindful of what a buy so it doesn't overwhelm the kitchen!

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Comments (3)

palimpsest
10 years ago
Look at Hardware Hut and do a search by center-to-center at 3-3/4" /96mm, then limit by finish and style, and sort by price.

You can also sort by material so if you want brass rather than zinc as the base material you can do that.

You really should be able to eliminate most of them by looking at the picture. The appearance isn't going to change that drastically in real life. The only thing you will need to do is "feel" some of them, and you may be able to eliminate some of these without ordering by selecting the base material you want.

Order limited actual samples and expect to eat all or most of the cost of the ones you don't use. Then order the number of the ones you need.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hardware Hut
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
10 years ago
I had that problem when I wanted to replace the ugly handles that came with the ugly cabinets when I bought the house. At that time long ago I could not find any that fit the holes (they probably were 96 mm), only shorter, 3" ones..

What I was able to do was buy handles of a design that had a foot that extended on either side and covered the old holes. Yes, I did have to make new holes..

Now there are plenty of options in the 96mm size.
Why don't you go to your local hardware store or big box store, find some that you like, (they usually have them mounted so that you can tests out the grip and feel) and buy one of each to try at home? These samples actually don't need to be the exact size because you are just trying them for style and color. This way you can decide what basic style and metal you want. When you return them, there will be no restocking fee.If you are lucky you will find just what you want there, too.
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Mags438
10 years ago
I've eaten so many knobs and handles, I have quite a collection. This last time around, I wasn't sure which size knob I wanted to order from RH, so I did exactly what raee said, went to big box store and bought the cheapest knobs in the 2 sizes to see which I liked better. I'm sorry to say, I have yet to return them, but at least it's not much of a financial loss.