Cup pull placement - high or center?

16 years ago

It seems a very minor detail but as a die-hard TKO, I know it will really bother me if it doesn't look just right.

Are your cup pulls centered vertically on the drawer or are they just high of center? Could you please measure for me? I have all the pulls, and now finally the jig, and I can't make myself drill the first hole.

I did install cup pulls on my island previously (centered) and I feel like they're too low, but it may just be an optical illusion.

When I look at a photo posted by jsweenc, it seems hers are just a little higher than center. Where are everyone else's?

I know that I don't want them really high (like on the rail).

Help! I can't decide!

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jsweenc

16 years ago

Though I've had this open all evening, I just now noticed that you referenced one of my photos. I was measuring to respond and came back and saw that.

Just so you know, that was actually a mistake if it's the one I'm thinking of.

The photo you saw probably includes a tall stack with the one deep drawer we have. Most of my drawer stacks are 5" on top, 8.75" middle and bottom. I'm trying to remember how we determined placement. When he was asking me about it, I approved the placement for the typical stacks, but forgot about the one larger drawer, so I didn't specifically approve that.

On the 5" and 8.75" drawers, he centered the holes, which are ~1/4" from the bottom of the pull (pulls are ~1.75" high). IOW, the pull is 1 1/2" above center, and 1/4" below center on both those drawer depths. That puts the holes at 4 3/8".

On that one larger drawer (12.5") he went the same distance down, 4 3/8", without checking with me first. If he had, I would have asked for those to be lower, probably slightly above center, but I didn't notice until after he left. It bothered me, so next time he was out I asked him if there was any way to center them; he said not without leaving possibly noticeable holes in the drawer.

Now I don't notice them at all, but that's because I decided it wasn't worth the energy to be bothered by it. I think they would be a little better lower down. However, once the granite goes in, I won't care, I'll be so happy to be functional. (Cab;nets have been in 4 1/2 weeks and we just decided and committed to the granite today.)

I'll be happy to measure or take pictures of anything else if it will help.

I wonder if the principle palimpsest describes is the same as the one employed in the construction of Cinderella's Castle at the Disneys to make it look full-size. Bottom larger, top smaller but gives the illusion of proportion.

(BTW, your windows were one of my inspirations!)

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Comments (7)

forgottensong
16 years ago
jenswrens, The screw holes of our cup pulls are 3" from the tops of the drawers which makes the arch of the cup pull 3/4 of an inch above that. 3" is the center of my small drawers but with the arch at 2 and 1/4" from the top of the drawers, it looks like they are not centered. I think it depends on the style of the pull. The larger/deeper drawers have the same arrangement of 3". It looks nice. I just figured out that one of the cup pulls is at 3 and 1/4" and so they don't match but I couldn't tell unless I measured. I am that picky though so I will tell the contractor. We had 2 pulls put on drawers 24" and larger but then I thought 1 would have looked fine on the 24" drawers. The designer told us that should be the case but now I have no faith in him because he made so many mistakes in our kitchen it is costing us a bundle.
palimpsest
16 years ago
In a recent kitchen, we centered the one on the top, shallower drawer and placed the others that far down from the top on the lower deeper drawers.

I have also done them on an esthetically agreeable location above center on deeper drawers. It Is an optical illusion but centered pulls on deeper, lower, drawers do tend to look too low. You are looking at them from above, and I think gravity weighs them down a bit (not really, but it seems that way.)

This is off topic but the same principle: when I have matting and framing done, if the mat is exactly the same size on the bottom, it looks narrower, so I usually have them widen the bottom from anywhere 1/8" to 1/2" depending on size to make it "look" the same. If I want the bottom to be weightier, I may even do more.

Its the same principle with pulls, a little extra width on the bottom half looks a bit more "natural"--the Greeks, who were nuts on proportion often played tricks like this.
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jenswrens
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you so much, everyone. You have confirmed what my eye was seeing - just a little above center looks right (and looks centered to me, even though it is not).

And after experimenting (with clay to hold the pull on the drawer front) I found that, yes, centering the screw holes on the drawer causes the pull itself to sit a little proud of center, but makes it so easy to measure now. (Gee, before, with measuring the pull and dividing in half and factoring in the curves here and there, I was feeling like Pythagoras himself - leave it to me to overthink something!)

Interesting about the framing, palimpset. Now that I look, my most expensive framed art DOES have the mat heavier at the bottom - I never noticed before. Kudos to the Greeks! Must be why I love Greek architecture so much. Learn something new every day.

And thank you jsweenc for the kind words about my windows! :-)

Now, on to the drilling... Here goes nothing!
daisychain01
16 years ago
If you centre your pulls on drawers, it creates the optical illusion that they are off centre (too low). If you put them just above centre they look centred. Just cause you're looking down on them.

On our top small drawers, the pulls are centred. On the lower drawers, we actually have them 3/4 of the way up the drawer - just cause I prefer that look. I can post a pic if you want a look see. But I'd suggest looking in the fkb at a bunch and see what look you prefer.
jrueter
16 years ago
we put ours on the center panel, not the outer perimeter and higher than center - We used handitak to try different locations, and slightly above center seemed to look better, plus, when you think about the ergonomics of using a cup pull vs a handle, raising a cup pull slightly prevents you from having to bend lower. On two large pullout panels (trash and magic corner) we put the pulls the same distance from the top edge of the panel as on the drawers, even though the space below was much larger, primarily for ergonomic reasons, but it looks fine.
jsweenc
16 years ago
Glad you figured it out, jenswrens. I was so over worrying about those pulls and now I'm looking at that one drawer again thinking how unbalanced it looks... : ) I'll just keep telling myself what jrueter said: "At least I don't have to bend as far." I'll forget about it again in a few days.

I do love your w;ndows; I bought 3 double casements but ended up using only 2 in the k;tchen. It's much better than it was but I would have loved having 3 like you have!