Hardware for a stranded door....horizontal handle? Vertical?

15 years ago

We have one solitary door in our kitchen layout (okay, more doors in reality but one true "door" that is functioning like a door) and I'm really stuck on what kind of hardware to use for it.

Has anyone encountered this, and if so, what did you do? Pics? Here's our situation:

- Half of our kitchen (on a separate wall) is flush inset cabinetry, and those doors are on the uppers and all getting latches, so they're set.

- The other half of our kitchen is frameless cabinetry, so can't use latches since there's no frame or paired door to attach the other side to.

- We have three physical doors: two on the sink cabinet, and one right next to it on a blind corner unit. Here's the catch: one sink door and the blind corner unit are actually pullouts, though they look like doors. This leaves just one actual door, sandwiched in between the two (and half of the sink cabinet).

DH is a believer in function over form, and in general I agree. We both want the pullouts to have centered horizontal handles.

But...what do we do with that last door? Function says we put the handle on it vertically, and I would be okay with this if there were another door in the kitchen, and if it weren't half of a paired set. But I'm worried it's just going to look strange if it's the only door in the whole kitchen done this way! That leaves centering it horizontally like the pullout handles, but that's strange for opening it.

Is there another solution I'm missing? Anyone do this one way or another and like/dislike your decision? Thanks!

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Comments (6)

palimpsest
15 years ago
I have a finger pull mounted in the middle of the only two doors in my entire base cabinet set up and it is not that weird opening them. You get used to it immediately.
breezygirl
15 years ago
I'm probably mentally challenged tonight, but I can't picture your set-up with half a sink cab. Do you have a photo?

Are you storing something in there that you will accessed often? I remember reading a long time ago that some people put horizontal pulls on doors and said it wasn't awkward opening. I've never had mine that way, but I agree that it does sound strange for opening/closing. Maybe if you won't access it often, it wouldn't bother you.
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artemis78
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks! No photos yet sadly as cabinets aren't in quite yet, but if you imagine a normal-looking sink cabinet, the door on the left side has a pull-out trash can inside it, so inside there's a track for it (with concealed hinges on the right-hand door, so you can't tell that the functions on the two halves of the cabinet are different from the outside). I'm thinking the non-trash side will probably house cleaners and such (plus the plumbing's all on that side so there's not a huge amount of space left)---but dishwasher tablets would also live there, so daily use likely.

The more I think about it, the more I think they need to match, regardless of orientation. I'm thinking it will be easier to get used to a horizontal handle on a door than to a vertical handle on a pullout (though I remember a thread where people did that and thought it worked fine too....just seems odd!) Hmm....
breezygirl
15 years ago
Darn! I wanted photos! ;) I understand it now. I think you're right about what would be easier to get used to. I'm usually more function over form, but I would probably do horizontal also.

I'm curious about what Palimpsest mentioned.
artemis78
Original Author
15 years ago
Oh, believe me, I wanted photos too...our cabinet install was originally supposed to be today, but got bumped to Monday. *sigh* (Actually a good thing since we are way behind on painting and everything else in the DIY arena, so it meant we could finish the painting pre-cabinets---yay!---but still a little sad since I really want to SEE the cabinets already!)

We have everything but the kitchen sink now, though (I'm totally using that line for as long as I can, which is hopefully just until Monday afternoon, when the sink is supposedly getting delivered...) so the end is finally in sight. My neighbor asked how it was going this afternoon, though, and I excitedly told him we had the dishwasher at last, and he said "Oh, so it's all hooked up?" Err. C'mon, do you really have to rain on my parade?? :)
breezygirl
15 years ago
Having to wait until Monday must be torture! But you're so close! I love the kitchen sink line! I'm so going to steal it. We won't rain on your parade around here. Congrats on the DW.

So you HAVE to post pics on Monday. You must. You must!