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If you’ve found yourself wondering, Where should I put my cabinet handles? Or what about my drawer handle placement? Then you’re in the right place. Adding or changing out hardware can be a subtle yet impactful upgrade. Not only is it impactful, but also very affordable.
But if done incorrectly it can really negatively impact the look of your project. So let’s go over everything you need to know to successfully install hardware on your cabinets.
Cabinet Door Handle Placement
What you’ll find in this post:
- Cabinet Door Handle Placement
- Placement of Handles on Drawers
- Tips for Installing Cabinet Hardware
- Some of Our Favorite Hardware Options
Cabinet Door Handle Placement
Each cabinet door and handle are going to look a little different. But here are a few rules of thumb to follow for your cabinet door handle placement:
- Your handle goes on the opposite side of the hinge.
- If you have a face frame, your handle should be centered on the vertical face frame.
- The edge of your handle should match the inside line of your face frame. See the picture below for a visual example of what I’m saying here:
- If you don’t have a face frame on your cabinets, an ideal spacing would be 2 1/2″ from the horizontal edge and 1/2″-3/4″ from the vertical edge.
Placement of Handles on Drawers
When it comes to the placement of handles on drawers, you have three good options.
The first option is the centered look. Measure the center point horizontally and vertically.
The next option is to match the top-down distance. Center the hardware on the smaller drawers, and then for the larger drawers, you place it the same distance from the top down as the centered ones.
And the last option is to do a raised look. This is when you put your drawer handles towards the top edge of your drawer face.
I went with the centered look for my shed cabinets.
Tips for Installing Cabinet Hardware
I have tried several different methods, but using painter’s tape has become one of my favorite hacks to install cabinet hardware.
I start by taking a strip of tape slightly larger than my hardware, and then I place it in the general area where my hardware will go. The tape allows me to make marks as I measure and it doesn’t mess with the surface of my cabinet.
I like to start by measuring the middle both horizontally and vertically. Then I measure the distance between the holes on my hardware. In this case it was 3″. So I measured out 1.5″ from my center point on both sides and used a level to make sure my marks were level.
If you look closely, you can see my pencil marks. Once you’ve drilled your holes, you remove the tape and attach your hardware.
Some of Our Favorite Hardware Options
These matte black cabinet pulls are so affordable but also incredible quality. I have used them several times and I love how they look! They have a fun modern vibe to them.
These half-moon cabinet pulls are gorgeous. They give a fun, unique but classy look.
These adjustable cabinet pulls are super cool. If you are replacing older hardware, these are adjustable, so it allows you to match the same holes you originally had. Which can save so much time and headache from patching the old holes and screwing new ones.
One of the best ways to put these skills to use is with flipping furniture! Check out this post to learn more about how to flip dressers:
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