We had two pulls on the drawers under our cooktop in the last house. These were builder grade cabinets and definitely not upgraded. No issues after 16 years and you are right we did usually only use one of the pulls. That said we do not have young kids in the house and are pretty gentle on things since we only cook on the cooktop three or four times each week.

I very much dislike the look of 3" pulls on wider drawers and taller cabinets -- they look out of proportion to me. I have 5" pulls on all my cabinets, not just because I liked the look, but also because they will be easier to use and clean.

It is really only the sizes bigger than 6" that get expensive. I like an extra large pull in some applications but for most styles, the 5-6" pulls will look just fine, whether you choose a modern look or something more traditional. Here is my single 5" pull on my 36" drawers -- I chose to use a single just because the space is small and I wanted less clutter visually.

The rule of thumb is the pulls should be 1/3 the width of the drawer. So a 36" drawer should have a 12" pull. I was surprised that you thought 5" pulls were "wide". 5" is small. I am using different sized pulls for different sized drawers, all with the 1/3 rule, and I think it looks proportional and nice. My kitchen is not contemporary, and my drawers are white Shaker like the photo.

A great way to judge a pull size is to take cardboard, cut in the shape and size of the pulls you are considering, wrap it in aluminum foil (to mimic metal pulls), and hold it up against your drawers. Works great! The visual is a huge help.

Great idea friedajune! We don't have time to go buy all different sizes to test, that seems like a great solution. 12" pulls are very expensive from what I see?

I have two 5" pulls on my drawers that are 30" or larger, including 36" drawers on the island in the second picture.

My 36" drawers have single 160mm (6.25"?) pulls. I think they look great. The 12" pulls would be too contemporary looking imo.

I also plan to use a single 160mm pull on my 36" drawers. I find 3" pulls too small for finger comfort and will only be using that size on a very small cabinet above my hood. I think we are mostly going to use 128mm and 160mm. The larger appliance pulls (12") were too thick and bulky.

My experience with using 2 pulls on a wide drawer has not been good. So for this kitchen I will only be using 1 pull per drawer. When you have 2 pulls on a drawer, it takes two hands and often you already have something in one hand. Or, if you just use one of the 2 pulls to open the drawer, it creates stress to the drawer on one side, and also the pull will loosen over time from being asked to pull the entire drawer open from one side.

As a result, I am using 1 pull for my drawers. I am using different sizes. Just my taste, but I don't like all one pull size for the entire kitchen. I have read about the 1/3 rule, and the pulls I am choosing, the Top Knobs Princetonians, have many sizes. When deciding between two sizes that both fit roughly the 1/3 rule, I get the smaller one.

The wider pulls are expensive, but as a percentage of the cost of my entire reno which is multi-thousands, I am spending about $450 for my pulls. The majority of mine are the 11-11/32" size which are about $13 each. I am getting 4 different sizes in all (includes 2 pulls that are 15" long hung vertically for pull-out pantries). I don't think it's that bad to spend a couple hundred more to get the size that looks good. The pulls really make a difference to how the entire kitchen looks.

Whatever you do - don't skimp out on the pulls. Once the holes are drilled, there is no going back. Delay and save up for the backsplash installation or vow to not eat out for a few months. Whatever - just don't skimp on the pulls.

339 12" pulls starting at just over $5:

http://www.handlesets.com/cabinet-pulls/c3442?f58489=12%20to%2012.5%20Inches&r=24&s=PRICE_LOW&categoryid=3442&p=1

I have 36" drawer stacks and chose to use a single pull on them as well for the same reasons M Miller posted above. I used Amerock Mulholland pulls, the 96mm on the upper doors and the pullouts, and the 128mm on all the wide drawers. This picture is from the day we got the new range, before the backsplash went in but it shows the scale of the pulls well. 128mm was the largest size available without going to appliance pulls, which I didn't want to do. I'm really happy with them.

I'm a believer that you should either put 2 pulls on a wide drawer, or one long pull. because the longer pulls are often MUCH more expensive, we usually go with two pulls on a wide drawer, and one pull of the same size on smaller. I hardly ever use pulls smaller than 6". 5" would be the smallest i'd suggest to you!

Rouken Glen II · More Info

My question is about finish colors! I purchased a beautiful Delta champagne bronze faucet for my island- then fell in love with Liberty modern gold Phoebe pulls ! All I’ve read says it’s okay to use these golden tones together - please comment to help out!