Low Profile Knobs vs Handleless?
You know how they say design is everything? It really is, and in this small kitchen I overlooked a detail. I failed to realize that I designed a low clearance for my dishwasher door to open. And then the cabinet builder installed the sink cabinet box a half inch to the right of where we agreed, further reducing clearance. If I get normal cabinet pulls or handles, the DW will no longer be able to open. There is also another low clearance place where one drawer that opens past another drawer will collide if I get normal pulls or handles.
In the picture, the cabinet drawer faces are not yet installed; this will further reduce clearance.
So, I have a decision to make: go handle-less or get low profile knobs/pulls? But I need to examine the following issues; if you have any experience with any of these I'd love to hear from you:
1. If I go handle-less, I'm concerned about the finish/paint of the cabinets wearing down over time. I would be going with a 45 degree angle incline on the top, which would simply be painted white with semi-gloss high quality paint. I am aware of other options that would protect the finish, such as metal or plastic overlays or insets, but I don't like the "office" look. It feels like a doctor's office or a corporate office. I am also aware of just cutting a hole or an inset, but I haven't seen a design using a hole or inset that I like yet. So if I did go with handle-less, the only design I liked so far was the 45 degree angle one. But how to protect the finish?
2. I know what you're thinking: go with recessed!!! Yes, that is what I thought too, but then I looked at recessed pulls, and I didn't like any that I saw so far. They all look too much like a doctor's office to me. I'm going for contemporary/modern. It will be a white kitchen.
3. What is the standard thickness for a Shaker style drawer face/cabinet door? I have seen 1", 3/4" and 7/8"? Does it matter? Can I get away with 3/4" without affecting anything negatively? We will be using plywood and paint with sprayer.
4. Are there cabinet pulls out there with a profile depth of less than 1"? So far, they seem hard to find.
5. Are cabinet pulls with such a low profile harder to use? Will I regret going with pulls or knobs if they are this short?
Any advice appreciated.
Comments (9)
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- 7 years ago
Perhaps the pulls I used in my bathroom would work for you. They are Hickory Hardware’s Streamline pull. The specs say that the projection is 3/4” but when I measured them with a metal tape measure and also a ruler they were 5/8”.
You can see in the photo below that they have a little lip on then which makes it easy to grasp them
My pulls are 128mm but they come in other sizes. I bought mine at a local big box store for approx. $7 each. They are available on Amazon and other internet sites. I have a different Hickory Hardware style in my kitchen and the finish is still perfect after almost 8 years.
I also measured my Amish made kitchen cabinet draw fronts and they are 3/4” thick. My name brand bathroom vanity cabinet drawer faces are also 3/4” thick. So that might be standard.
Hope you can solve your problem
- PRO7 years ago
Tab pull may work, like Jj suggested.
https://www.hardwareresources.com/edgefield-satin-nickel-a500-8sn.html
- PRO7 years ago
PRO
7 years ago- 7 years ago
I took some measurements last night. The total clearance before the DW door hits something is 1-3/8", but I prefer a more comfortable clearance than that. That includes space for the drawer face and any hardware. My preference is that the faces + hardware do not exceed 1-1/8". If the drawer faces are going to be 3/4" thick, this only leaves 3/8" for any hardware.
I don't know if I can comfortably grasp 3/8" of any hardware; my fingers are bigger than that.
Jj J, I don't think I would be able to get enough of my fingers underneath only 3/8" of that fingerpull to use the pull.
jdesign_gw , this is what I mean by 45 degree angle:
artistsharonva , we can't do that because the cabinet box you see in the picture containing the 3 drawers is actually a sliding box (I will call it the inner box) that slides in and out of its own box (which I will call the outer box). The outer box is sitting to the right of the dishwasher and is already pushed all the way up against the wall. We used this design so that we didn't have a bunch of unused dead space to the right of the dishwasher.
Flo Mangan, that sure does look like a good solution, but I wonder if it would be a good fit for my 3 drawers in the picture, as they do not slide easily. It requires force to get them to open and close. I am not sure why. The cabinet installer said it was because of how new the drawers and the pulls were, and that supposedly they would slide easier over time. I wonder if I could oil them a little. But with the drawers the way they are right now, if I had that hardware installed, I would imagine that the drawer would only open a half inch and I'd have to grasp the top to pull it the rest of the way. And then, it would beg the question from other handle-less designs: how will I protect the paint from deteriorating over time?
njay, I may have to do that. I may have to buy some pulls that look like they can be easily grasped at 3/8", and cut them to that profile.
LilliCraig, Yeah, like you said, the best solution for me might be to design my own pulls. Perhaps a combination of the 45 degree hardware-less pull, + the fingertip pull, which would be a 45 degree cut like in the picture, but overlaid with a strip of plastic or metal such that the strip is not visible but my fingers are touching the strip overlay piece instead of painted wood.
LilliCraig