Love you cabinet color!

We just remodeled our kitchen and considered that as well, but our cabinetmaker strongly recommended all handles and NO knobs. His reason for that is in his experience, most dirt and wear on painted cabinet occurs around the knobs where the part of the fingers that aren’t touching the knob end up contacting, leaving behind more residual dirt and oils from skin, and wearing more on the paint. After 3 months with our new white cabinets, I have to say I do see his logic as the white wood around the “grab” areas has stayed very clean, which is saying something in my house because I have the grubbiest husband in the universe. Lol. So we chose all Top Knob Nouveau pulls in matte black. I DID vary the length of those pulls according to the width of the cabinets. My narrow spice/oil drawer has a 3” wide handle and our long deep drawers have longer ones, around 10” I believe.

I used to have a chest that had a larger drawer on the bottom with 2 smaller drawers on top and I switched out to smaller knobs on the smaller upper drawers and larger knobs in the same style and finish on the lower drawer. It looked fine and I liked having a chunkier knob on the bottom.

Can you put on a few knobs to see how it looks? Top Knob will sell a sample of the hardware you’re considering for $5. I’d use some pieces of a Command strip to attach them temporarily so you can decide if you like it before drilling holes. Good luck!

I agree with Susanne…handles are way more forgiving of greasy or dirty fingers

I like knobs.

I'd keep them all the same. Your kitchen is neat and orderly and the knobs should all be uniform. (However, I don't know your knobs as there's no link but I doubt 1/8" will be noticeable. )

I have a slightly larger knob on my trash (now dogfood) pullout. I had bought it as a sample and...I don't know why it's there. But it is a rectangle instead of a square like the others so it does look different. I should swap it back. I do have a proper knob for it... :)

I also like, and have, all handles on my kitchen cabinetry. I was told by lots of friends and family to not use knobs, as they can get caught on beltloops and pockets.

Thank you all for the comments. We currently have a mix of knobs and pulls planned. The switch to knobs I was thinking was for the upper glass and larger pantry doors -- to keep a more minimal look -- but I appreciate the notes about needing to be careful with finger prints with knobs. Definitely a consideration. You also confirmed my guess which is same size on knobs is best. Also @Susanne Woolley the color of the cabinets is Benjamin Moore Balboa Mist (and we love it too!)

One more question on the topic of knobs and pulls and shaker drawers: did anyone put their pulls in the center of the top rail vs center panel? Our GC says it’s sturdier in the center panel (which makes some sense) but I like the look of higher placement and wondering if anyone has experience with durability.

I like the look of crystal knobs as accents on glass doors. A little variety and sparkle! They come with a variety of metal shanks to match the other hardware.

I always use pulls on drawers and large cabinets and 2 knobs or pulls on a wide drawer are all wrong who wants to have to use 2 hands to open a drawer. As for the actual style what is your style ? I actaully even use different size pulls in propotion to the cabinet this is a good example

Pulls look better on larger doors. A knob will look too small.

I have knobs on upper doors and pulls (two sizes) on drawers. I understand the argument against knobs regarding messy fingers, but I like the variety. Pulls on everything, I proper proportion, will also look correct but if you’ve fallen in love with a knob style, you can use that. They should be on the lower inside corner of the door. A knob in the middle of the panel is very outdated. (And, since I’m short, awkward as heck to open.)

When I was deciding on hardware (black), I cut out black cardboard in the size knobs and pulls I was considering. Then I taped all those pieces to the cabinets with painter's tape, so I could see what it looked like on the cabinet and so the placement was what I preferred. I went with knobs on all the doors and pulls on the drawers. Snap a photo so you can show your contractor where you want them installed.

Hello Kph17,

IMO you can definitely use knobs and pulls as well as different size pulls on kitchen cabinets.

We love doing that in kitchens as it gives more character to the space.

Here is one kitchen that we finished recently; we not only used knobs and pulls, but also different size pulls based on drawer and door sizes.

Sturdinesswise, it shouldn't matter where they are placed on drawers because the fronts are (usually!) securely attached to the drawer boxes which are (usually!) solid. It's not like the old days when the face of the drawer was the actual front of the drawer box. Usually, anyway.

Put 'em where you like them, and make sure your knuckles won't scrape anywhere.

@Trinity Builders & Design, Inc. the hardware selection in the kitchen you posted is very nicely done! Just out of curiosity, what would you suggest that @kph17 do with the pantry wall of cabinets?

@theresa21 my suggestion would be to do knobs on the smaller doors and bar pulls on the larger doors. Because the doors are different sizes/heights i would do different side bars on those.