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holly_kurtz

Hardware, beyond frustrated

13 years ago

I have been on the search for hardware for my cabinets for weeks. The price for any amerock knob or three inch cc pull is included in the price of the kitchen. There is nothing that I am just loving though I do like the revitalize pulls quite a bit. The problem is I think the burnished bronze will not be the right tone as not enough contrast to the wood and I think the oil rubbed bronze may be too dark. I also think the 3 inch pulls will look too small on many of the drawers. Because I haven't found anything that thrills me I have been looking on line for other options.

One that I like is Alno Fiore however I ordered a sample in the antique engish but when I received it and put it on my sample cabinet it just doesn't look good. There are a few other finishes but they are so hard to determine what they would look like IRL as the antique english was totally off in how it appeared on-line.

Could I please ask how the rest of you decided on what hardware to use? I guess there are just too many choices and DH says I need to pick one and get it over with. I know that hardware can be changed, however once hardware is installed I am locked into using the same cc measurement. I am sooooo frustrated!!!!!!!!

Comments (15)

  • 13 years ago

    I ordered several samples, and was glad I did. Some didn't feel right or the color wasn't what I was expecting. My lead contender did not have enough projection from the cabinet face and we really couldn't get our hands in it easily, so it was out. Nothing beats seeing it in person. Quite a few of the sites have special policies for sample hardware.

    Don't feel bad. I think a lot of us take a while to finally pick cabinet hardware.

  • 13 years ago

    What type of handles do your appliances have? I personally don't care for the look of mixed shapes on appliances and cabinets so I would use that to guide me on bow shape versus bar shape, etc... My kitchen has bar handles on the fridge, bow handle on the trash compactor and "flattened" bow handles on the oven and dishwasher. Drives me crazy! I never would have picked them but now have to live with them.

  • 13 years ago

    I went to a big box store and bought random samples to rule out black and ORB and to test polished chrome and nickel. In doing so, I also discovered that small pulls looked silly on my wide drawers and that two small pulls on a wide drawer was too busy to my eye. DH initially rejected my first choice of the RH Aubrey pulls in polished nickel because he thought they looked like they belonged in a garage workshop. I then ordered some samples of other polished nickel pulls online and purchased some RH pulls, including the Aubrey, in both polished nickel and polished chrome. Preferring the polished nickel and not falling in love with any of the other samples I'd ordered, I caught a RH sale and ordered enough of the Aubreys in a few sizes so that I could mix and match the sizes to compliment the differing drawer widths. I also used them on the uppers horizontally instead of knobs. Still very happy with my choice about a year and a half later.

  • 13 years ago

    I did buy two samples and definitely glad that I did. I still love the Alno Fiore but not the finish and the other one I didn't care for at all. I would like to go with all pulls and I know what you mean about a small pull looking silly on the bigger drawers. What I love about the Fiore is the beautiful curve that is easy to grasp. Unfortunately the handles on my appliances are the pro style, big and round but only on the ovens and fridge as the dw is covered with a custom front. I didn't want to do a custom front on the fridge because they are so repair prone.

    I saw some hardware at a local just cabinets that I was in with my daughter yesterday and they were really bad. I could not live with anything that cheap looking.

    My search continues.

  • 13 years ago

    holly-kay, I'm right there with you. My DH is just about fed up with the blue tape routine, but I cannot commit to a choice. How is it possible that I have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of samples and can't pick ONE? Well, I did pick one and loved the look as well as the feel of it, but the cc measurements were off on the samples I received and it scared me off.

  • 13 years ago

    I have the 5" Revitalize pull in ORB and they look nice on my 13"-30" drawers. It seems kind of silly that they're only giving you an allowance for 3" pulls!

    What color are your cabinets? I've seen dark hardware on stained cabinets in person and in photos and it looks really sophisticated.

  • 13 years ago

    You can probably ask the cabinet company to remove the cost of the pulls and then just buy what you want (online or otherwise). That's what I did. They included the price of the basic pulls, but I wanted something slightly different, so asked them to not include it in the order. It's probably not too late.

  • 13 years ago

    I wanted something easy to keep clean, so that took a lot out of the running! Then it had to have good lines and I wanted something a bit linear vs curves. I ended up with Amerock Westerly. I ordered one of those and a Revitalize from Amazon and could tell quickly that even though I liked the Revitalize on it's own, it wasn't the one for my kitchen.

    I'm using 128 mm on the drawers and 3 inch on the uppers. They just came in, haven't picked them up yet. They will be installed probably on the 14th.

  • 13 years ago

    May, I agree that it's silly to just give the 3 inch ones with no upcharge so I am looking on my own so I can get what I want. I have seen many that I like either in style or in finish but never both. It amazes me that lighting companies don't stay with the trend that hardware companies do because I can't find anyting I like in the way of lighting that has an oil rubbed bronze finish if this is the way I go.

    I liked the arched lines of Candler by amerock but I was hoping for something more elegant.

  • 13 years ago

    Ours was an easy choice. We have None, Zero, Zip, Nada!
    That's the way wife wanted it, She says knobs, pulls etc are
    "dust catchers" and she wanted none.

    All our doors, drawers, cabinets, were designed to be opened without hardware. After 7 years, We both still love It!!!

    Just a "different Perspective".

    Gary

  • 13 years ago

    Thanks Gary, I actually considered doing just that! I am soooo tired of looking at hardware!

  • 13 years ago

    As soon as I saw and felt this Rocky Mountain Hardware I knew it was perfect for our kitchen! Maybe a bit more than I would want to spend on pulls, but I have to touch it every day, and it will last forever...

  • 13 years ago

    I just had my kitchen cabinets installed on Thursday and hardware was the biggest difficulty I had as well. I ended up going with all pulls in 3 inch and 128mm (a little over 5 inch) from Richelieu. My hardware "allowance" was $10 a piece.

    I had a really hard time with design and sizing. I had initially picked out something different from something I saw on their display board. I wanted antique nickel and the knob I initially chose didn't come in that finished. When they emailed me letting me know this and suggested a few other knobs in the finish I wanted I was horrified with my first choice. I HATED it!! I looked through the online brochure and made a gusty move choosing the hardware with out actually seeing it! (I had cut out a black piece of paper in the various sizes trying to gage it though). I stressed the entire week before seeing the finished product a few days ago. So happy with my choices! I'm really glad it's over! Now all I have to worry about is the backsplash!

    Good luck!

  • 13 years ago

    I just ordered three pulls from top knobs, I am also going to have my kd order a sample of revitalize in burnished bronze and oil rubbed bronze. I am just tired of the whole process but I so want the pulls to finish off the cabinets beautifully and the one thing I do know is I don't want three inch pulls they are just too small!

  • 13 years ago

    Been there, done that - you will find the right jewelry for your cabinets :-)
    I ended up using a finish to match my faucet. It felt lonely...