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Cabinet pull placement on 30" Pantry cabinet doors

6 years ago

We are stumped on where to put the hardware on our pantry doors. We are doing knobs on all uppers and pulls on all drawers (which is most of the base cabinets). We only have two 18" base (door/drawer) and we decided to put knobs on those to match the upper doors.


Now to the pantry...We put knobs on the two upper doors and planned to put pulls on the bottom doors since they are so large. We wonder if that's the best thing.


What would you do?

Pull at the top of the door?

Pull at the middle of the door where the rail is? (this ends up at about 32" from the floor)

Knobs on the whole thing?


Installer will be back to finish up tomorrow morning. Thanks!











Comments (29)

  • PRO
    6 years ago

    Pulls on all. It’s more ergonomic for everyone.

    A T@Home thanked User
  • 6 years ago

    Thanks, @thecookskitchen. That may be, but we prefer the look of mixing pulls and knobs so ergonomics be damned. ;-)

  • 6 years ago

    I'd do the first option, just so you don't have to bend over to open the doors -- that feels like the right placement. If you don't like the knobs and pulls so closely juxtaposed, I'd just switch the bottom to knobs as well, since there's no real parallel to this placement elsewhere in the kitchen.

    A T@Home thanked acm
  • 6 years ago

    My mom has a mix of knobs and pulls. I like this look.




    A T@Home thanked 2pups4me
  • PRO
    6 years ago

    I have the same set up in my kitchen,, although I have knobs on both. Typically you would put a knob up higher than you have it on your uppers. Usually 2 - 2 1/2 inches from the where the inset meets the outer frame. On my bottom doors, my knobs are 11 inches from the same place. The first picture is the best, but I'd move the top of the handle down a few inches.

  • 6 years ago

    Thanks, @Design Girl. We had originally planned for the first option, but started having second thoughts.


    Most of what I read and saw seemed to have the upper knobs LOWER than what we did. Or for a more "modern" approach, placing them where we have them.

    https://www.studio-mcgee.com/studioblog/2017/1/26/hardware-placement-guide



  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    @2pups4me I see your mom has the pulls lower at the rail on her bottom pantry door. I've read that is where they are supposed to go on those type of doors (with the rail in the middle), but it feels a little low to me.

  • 6 years ago

    I don’t know if it matters, but when I reach for the pantry doors at my mom’s, my arms are about at waist height - very natural and comfortable. I wouldn’t want to reach up to open a full length cabinet.

    A T@Home thanked 2pups4me
  • 6 years ago

    Similar doors....we did a combination.....I’ll try to find a better pic

    1 - New Build in Process... · More Info


    A T@Home thanked User
  • 6 years ago

    Just wanted to add that the very top of the pull is at 40” off the floor. When I go to open it, it feels absolutely natural and comfortable at that height.

    A T@Home thanked User
  • 6 years ago

    Thanks, @User. Your kitchen is one of my absolute favorites.


    Centered in the rail puts the top of my pull at about 36" off the floor. I have a smaller pull than yours though. Mine is 160mm (6 5/16"). I could do an 8" but that is an appliance pull which seems like overkill. 36" off the floor feels a little low but I would probably get used to it.


    Another option that I just made up would be to move the pull up a little and that would put the top of the pull at about 41". That is the most comfortable for me, but I don't know if it looks right. Thoughts?




    I think I've ruled out 4 knobs. I'd rather keep the mix of knobs and pulls. And a knob feels small for such a large door.



  • 6 years ago

    I personally like knobs. I think the pulls are a lot of look and visually distracting. I would do knobs at the cross bar on the tall doors - so middle of the door - not up at the top of the door where you were holding it in the pic.

    A T@Home thanked Kendrah
  • 6 years ago

    Honestly....after living in the house for a while, it’s one of those things I just don’t notice (there are lots of things like that which I kind of agonized over). In fact, when I saw this thread, I could have sworn I had all knobs on that cabinet!


    I certainly wouldn’t get a larger pull for just that cabinet. Mine is 9” (8” center to center), but I have a bunch that size throughout the kitchen.


    I think if you moved it up where you have it in your last pic, it would look perfectly fine. Most of the time, in pics, everything becomes hyper noticeable, but in the real world, not so much.


    Haha....if you don’t like it, you can always get a new door :)

    A T@Home thanked User
  • 6 years ago

    Just noticing what beekeeperswife wrote "My doors don't look to be as tall as yours, but we put the knob in the middle, and guess what? Nobody uses it, they just reach for the upper corner of the cabinet to open it." Ugh! Actually one point my husband made about putting pulls centered on the rail is that maybe if they are lower our tweens wont HANG on them (because apparently it is difficult to hold yourself upright unassisted when looking in the pantry).

  • 6 years ago

    The door knobs throughout my house are centered at 37" off the floor and I manage to open them just fine. Maybe a pull centered on the rail is the way to go...

  • PRO
    6 years ago

    Stand in front of cabinet and extend hand to comfortable place on cabinet and center pull at that spot.

    A T@Home thanked Flo Mangan
  • 6 years ago

    That would be too easy and make too much sense, @Flo Mangan lol

  • PRO
    6 years ago

    Haha. Yea.

  • 6 years ago

    A T@Home, that is a hilarious observation about your tweens , hahahaha !

  • 6 years ago

    These refrigerator pulls are placed just above the rail, which is the most comfortable for me on my door. And the pantry door pulls are in a different location. Still works fine because the scale and use is different.


    My horizontal rail is at about the same height as this pantry (in relation to the nearby counter). Seems low for a pull, right?


    Tipping the scales towards going with just above the rail for function/ergonomics (maybe they not be damned;-). Liking what nidnay said about being one of those things you don't notice after awhile and what Flo said about just putting them where they feel right.


    KraftMaid Cabinetry (@kraftmaid) • Instagram photos and videos · More Info


  • 6 years ago

    See....those fridge pulls look perfectly fine.

  • 6 years ago

    Done! No turning back.
    Haven’t been home for the “open” test but I think they look good.

    Thanks to everyone for helping me think this through!

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    ”Open” test feels great. Basically a right angle at my elbow.

    Funny, at my kids event today I polled some friends without telling them what I had chosen and 3 out of 4 picked where we placed them. One person picked centered on the rail. No one picked upper knob or pull. And upper pull was what I had planned when I purchased the knobs.

    Also funny...My husband found a picture of our old kitchen and we used knobs at the top! He recalls us being very fixed on pulls on drawers and knobs on all doors. Today, not so much!



  • 6 years ago

    Looks perfect!

    A T@Home thanked User
  • 5 years ago

    2pups4me I am a bit late to this thread but wondering if you would have the overall length of the Pantry pull handles?

  • last year

    A T@Home ,

    I love what you did and am doing something very similar. Would you mind sharing the diameter of the round knob and the length of the lower pull?