Positioning and placement of two pulls on a drawer

11 years ago

We're putting two 8" pulls on a 39" drawer base. We have a 21" drawer base next to it with 8" single centered pulls. The drawers are shaker style with 3" wide side stiles.

Our KD suggested putting the pulls 7" in from the side of the drawer, but the installer made a mistake such that the pulls on the top two drawers are 6.5" in from the side but the pulls on the bottom drawer at 7.5" in from the side, and they don't line up vertically.

So now that we have to order a new drawer front (or three), we're trying to figure out where the two pulls should be placed on the drawer.

The pulls on the 21" drawer stack next to it are centered 6.5" from the side of the drawer. Should we place the pulls on the 39" drawer stack also 6.5" in from the side, leaving 10" between the two 8" pulls, to match the side reveal of the 21" drawer stack?

Should we place the pulls 7" in from the side as our KD originally suggested, leaving 9" between the two 8" pulls?

Should we place the pulls 7.5" in from side, leaving 8" between the two 8" pulls?

We would really appreciate your advice so that we can figure out where to place the pulls and figure out which drawers we need to replace. Thanks.

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Alexander Timofeyev
Original Author

11 years ago

Thanks for the advice so far!

I'm still getting used to the new site, and didn't realize that while I have notifications about new comments enabled, it doesn't actually do anything unless I also enable the settings under my profile.

This is how it looks with the hardware in the two spots (excuse the mess):

I tried dividing the drawer in half, centered on each half, but that's too far apart. And I tried centering the pulls over the 1/3 points, but that was way too close together.

If I exclude the stiles, and just focus on the 33" inset panel, dividing that in half and centering on each half places the edge of the pulls 4.25" in from the stile, or 7.25" from the edge of the drawer. That puts them a little wider apart than the 7.5" from the drawer edge placement on the bottom drawer, and certainly narrower than the 6.5" from the edge of the top two.

Our KD says she really likes the way the top two drawers look, and that she likes that they're consistent with the drawer stack to the left, and my wife agrees. I like how they match the drawers to the left too, but I'm concerned that the gap between the pulls is too large and looks off. Is that just me?

Am I completely over-thinking this? Don't think I don't hear you all nodding!

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Comments (12)

cookncarpenter
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
As a finish carpenter for over 40 years, and having drilled and installed thousands of cabinet knobs and pulls, my answer to all of your questions is ...whatever looks good to YOU!

In other words, in most cases there is no right or wrong. I suggest holding the pulls, or placing them with tape or sticky stuff in different locations and then deciding what suits your eye. Other than centered and level/plumb there are really no hard and fast rules as to placement of hardware.
dcward89
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
We have a 37" drawer stack with 2 pulls. We divided the drawer with in half and centered the pulls on each half...does that make sense? I'm sorry, it's too early right now to do the actual math on that!
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User
11 years ago
When using 2, divide the cabinet fronts into thirds, vertically and horizontally. Center the pulls over the 1/3 lines from side to side, and right at the 1/3 line from top to bottom.
annkh_nd
11 years ago
You have a perfect opportunity, with pulls spaced two different ways, to actually see which you like better. Pull out the odd drawer (or drawers), and see how it looks to you. Maybe both look off - in which case you get three new fronts.

Good luck!
dcward89
11 years ago
I think the top 2 drawers look better than the bottom drawer. Not sure which method used to install them but they def look better.
Alexander Timofeyev thanked dcward89
lawjedi
11 years ago
before I read your explanations, I was already liking the top 2 drawers more than the bottom one. If you ONLY used the bottom spacing, I'd probably think it's ok... but with the top spacing in evidence, I definitely prefer that. The bottom spacing looks too close in comparison.
Alexander Timofeyev thanked lawjedi
cookncarpenter
11 years ago
Agree, top drawers = better
Alexander Timofeyev thanked cookncarpenter
Alexander Timofeyev
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Thank you for the reassurance. I do like how they match the reveal on the drawer stack on the left.

My guess is that's what the installer was trying for on the top drawers, not realizing or forgetting that we had specified something different, and thus inadvertently did us a favor. Not sure what happened on the bottom drawer, but at least it's an easy fix.

We'll have them replace the bottom drawer and go with the same spacing as on the top two drawers.
annkh_nd
11 years ago
Now to the next question: do you center the pulls top to bottom, as it is now, or do you space them the same distance from the top stile?

I would do the latter, so I didn't have to lean over as far to open the drawer.
Alexander Timofeyev
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Oh, I didn't even think of that. We always assumed we would center them, like we did everywhere else. Granted this is the tallest drawer by far, but I think it may look too strange to have them off center vertically. I guess we can try it out, just to see how it looks.
Alexander Timofeyev
Original Author
11 years ago
Definitely centered between the top and bottom rails. We'll have to bend over an additional few inches, but it just looked wrong being off center.