When I remodeled my kitchen I was surprised to find that knob and pull placement was a lot more complicated than I thought it would be, but I was going with a traditional craftsman look, which meant I could find plenty of examples on the internet. I think this is trickier. In your case you are starting with a strong grid (the doors) and the knobs will add another visual grid on top of that. I would print out your picture and try painting on knobs in various configurations. It’s partly a matter of aesthetics, but also what feels best to you in terms of practicality. If they were my cabinets I would go with knobs (not pulls) and place all of them midway, rather than have a top configuration for one tier and a bottom configuration for another. Because, then indeed the middle tier will throw one or the other off. Placing the knobs at the middle would mean that you’d need to get step ladder every time you wanted something in the upper cabinets though.

A soapstone counter would be gorgeous.

What is the height of each cabinet on the wall?

For a budget-friendly countertop on the drawer bases I would use IKEA butcher block. It would look lovely with the dark blue gray color.

Cabinets are 30" tall x 33" wide.

Ooh, I like #2 better. Symmetry + function (I think it would bug me in #1 to have to bend over to open a cabinet). And an extra set of handles to boot! ;-)

I do too!

Number 2, or 2 but with the middle ones with handles higher (same as bottom row).

Also, I am envious of your new pantry!

nhb, got it right with #2. It actually has symmetry, if you place a horizontal line across the middle of the center cabinets.

I’d suggested mid cabinet point for all the doors, using knobs, because that would provide a symmetrical grid, but nhb’s solution #2 provides both symmetry and the most practical position for the handles. Two thumbs up for that layout, and it would look really good with vertical pulls.

Wow, actual consensus on Houzz! LOL. Final question: what would be the best length of the bar pulls for the cabinets and for the drawers?

And Final + 1 question: any more opinions on the countertop over the base cabinets?

You could do 10 inch bars easy. Very nice! And I agree about the 12” depth rather than 24”. Imagine trying to get stuff out of the back of the top cabinets.

For me the first consideration would be what hardware I had in the kitchen and rest of the house. I would try to match the laundry room fittings to that in terms of finish and style. It gives a house a feeling of serenity. The length of the bars is partly a stylist thing - 10” bars (which would indeed look good) are a distinctly contemporary statement. If you laundry room is sitting in a remodeled 1950s house, or if your kitchen was built in 1980 they would maybe feel like a bit of a mismatch. If it’s new construction I kind of think almost everything goes. ...well not Victorian.

We have a wall of uppers, similar. Ours tho, in the middle has two sets of the short uppers. We did our pulls like the second picture, top cabinets pulls on the bottom, bottom cabinets pulls on the top, middle cabinets pulls in the middle. It looks nice.

First off, this is mudroom only. Laundry room is miles away.

Secondly, kitchen is 30 years old and will be remodeled, so we don't need to match anything existing.

Thirdly, the house is 30 years old, of non-descript style, so I can do whatever I want.

10" pulls sound good for the drawers, but wouldn't that be too long for the uppers? That's 1/3 of the cabinet height, and x 12 is a lot of metal.