"What Were They Thinking Thursday!!?? - Kitchen Cabinet Hardware

Cabinet hardware is like the jewelry you put on your kitchen. It can be really fabulous and add to the overall look and feel or feel truly horrendous. 

This kitchen is in major need of some jewelry!

Cabinet hardware is also one of the easiest things you can do to update your kitchen or just get a fresh new look. 

Who has a kitchen with these 70's pulls? 

Not only is updating your hardware important but also having them in the right location. There is basically three types of hardware.

 knobs

pulls 

 

cup pulls

Each one has it's place on the cabinet and in the kitchen. I personally like it when you mix it up in a kitchen. You don't have to have all knobs or all pulls and should definitely not have all cup pulls. That would just overwhelm a kitchen and the cup pulls really need to stay on the drawers, not the cabinets. 

I love this mix of hardware! They have all three types!

This kitchen is really pretty but I don't like all the tiny knobs. I would've liked to see some pulls and I think the knobs are under-scaled for the space. 

A good mix and good hardware placement.

Love this!!!

Again, all knobs! It doesn't look bad but it just doesn't look it's best. 

This hardware just looks bad. The hanging pulls are overwhelming the kitchen. They are hanging too low on those drawers. I also don't like the painted wood knobs mixed with those pulls. I don't think the two go together. 

Another thing to try to stay away from in the kitchen is themed hardware. These look better in a small bathroom or on a piece of furniture, not over your entire kitchen!  Just a few can make a statement.

Just a bit too much

And finally, where to place the hardware on the cabinet can be tricky. Function is very important. When placing a hardware on a cabinet, the farther away from the hinge the easier it will be to open because it creates more leverage. In other words, don't put a knob or pull in the center of the cabinet door. 

There are always exceptions and this are pull out drawers not cabinets.

Here is an example of good hardware placement. The knobs on the upper cabinets are easy to reach and look good. The drawer pulls are also in a functional spot. However the pulls on the lower drawer really should be mounted on the stile instead of the middle.  This way you don't have to bend down so far.s

These pulls look a little low on this cabinet. If you have a pull on the lower cabinets, you should put it a little higher so it's easier to reach. 

Again, I think these knobs need to move up on the cabinet. Not to mention they are ugly and this kitchen needs to be dressed up with some better looking hardware!

This hardware is way to big for these small drawers!  but what a cool way to use the corner!

Why are those knobs in the center of the cabinet! Hard to reach and not good for opening and closing the cabinet!

Great looking hardware!

A minimalist approach, not every kitchen needs to be dressed up with some jewelry.

Really pretty kitchen and breaking the hardware rules with those pulls on the middle of the upper cabinets. Very cool looking but not as functional as placing in the corner. I love it though!

One of my biggest pet peeves with kitchen cabinets are the corners! I went and looked at house for sale a while back and they had drawers in the lower corner. Well, that is a big no no. You can't open the drawer because the hardware of the perpendicular drawer is sticking out. So these people had just decided to cut that knob off! What were they thinking!!! Or more importantly, what was the builder thinking!!!! Function function function, that is what we get paid for!

Here are some corner cabinet alternatives:

This is a cool idea when done right, but when not it ends up looking like this:

 

 And finally, let's end with just some pretty kitchens with fabulous hardware:

~Jessica