Can you just leave off the washer?

-Babka

Yes, drill a larger hole in the drawer box.. Should not have to remove the drawer front if you are careful.

Even if I left the washer off it won't reach. The screw doesn't come out of the hole at all. But it's long enough to clear the drawer front. I'll try it on some scrap first to make sure I can be careful. My concern is that the drawer box was hard to drill through with a regular bit so I'm wondering if it will take considerable pressure on a spade bit and end up drilling too deep. I'll test it. If I have to take the fronts off it won't be a huge deal. There are only two drawers where I have to do this.

The knob/screw had to be assembled at some point. Are you sure you cannot remove the screw and put a longer shaft in there? Got a photo? I'd mess with the knob before I mess with the cabinets. You might be making more work for yourself should you decide to use different knobs in the future on those same cabinets.

-Babka

I'll have to check it. I bought the knobs at Hobby Lobby. They're in the new house and I'm in the old (no internet in the new one yet) so I'll look when I go back there. Good point about having an issue later if I change knobs.

The screw part appears to be glued in. I'll have to see if I can find regular knobs that I like or decide if I want to mess with these.

I would go with new knobs, the spade bit is too scary, never liked them. More than likely you will have to purchase longer screws, as the ones they give you with the knobs are too small.

I'm having same problem with knobs purchased at Hobby Lobby. I have purchased longer screws for some but on others, I can't get the screw to come out. For the ones that do work, Is there a cover I can put on screw so hands don't get hurt inside the cabinet/dwarer?

I ended up using different knobs for my bathroom cabinets. For longer screws that extend into the drawer too much, the only thing I can think of to do is cut them off with a hacksaw and use a sander or something to smooth it. The ones I have that do this (mainly in my craft room so not a huge deal) get in the way of things in the drawer, so I've stopped buying that type of knob.

"Is there a cover I can put on screw so hands don't get hurt inside the cabinet/dwarer?"

Go to a box store and look at the wire closet shelving. They usually have little bags of plastic caps that are intended to go over the ends of the wire if you have to cut the wire shelves to length. Might do the trick.

Something like these...

OR you can go to a hardware store with the knob and screw in your hand and ask for a shorter screw with the same thread size. You will probably have to buy a package of 6 or 8 of them, but these aren't a big ticket item.

-Babka

Good god man what a debacle of a thread

Thank you all for suggestions. All are very helpful. We're building a house and my knob count was over 115 and I was happy to find such pretty decorative knobs 50% off at Hobby Lobby. When the builder arrived to install and told me about the issues with screws too short, or that the longer ones might actually hurt a hand inside the drawer, I became very discouraged. It is helpful to know about the other options and other places to look in the hardware store to solve the problem. I do wish maker of knobs would not glue the screws in so that it is impossible to remove the screw and replace.

consider the source or point of sale. There is a myriad of quaility knobs on the market replete with good tapped thread and proper thread count screws.

I'm having a similar challenge. All of my drawer boxes are double reinforced, so I had to buy longer machine screws for all of my pulls. The problem is with my decorative knobs. I'm thinking about buying m6 anchors/rivet nuts to set inside the reinforced block, so that the screw can be received, despite it's length.

This is a really hard one, I have Massey pulls from Rejuvenation, the screw heads are chrome and are visible to front of pull. Believe it or not, they include 3 different screws in pack. Unfortunately none of them work. The best fitting ones are too short by 1/8" and too long by 1/4". The \screws are polished chrome and so going to hardware to find the exact size is out of the question as polished chrome is not an option. If I shorten the one too long, my experience is then the rough or bent threads will not enter the tee cap. The too short ones do not reach the tee cap. I believe my cabinet drawer fronts are very standard. The carpenter built the cabinet fronts to the same spec he does for all standard drawer fronts. If I had known this would be an issue I would not have gotten these. They are beautiful and were not cheap, but must be made for European standards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoR8Y86ULws same problem! Solution in video.