Generally, we are seeing most people use cabinet pulls on their drawers, and cabinet knobs on their cabinets (see photo). That allows people to use coordinating knobs and pulls that have a common design, like a "rope" design, a "vine" design, etc. That said, it is always a matter of preference. I, personally, like the look of cabinet pulls on both drawers and doors, where the cabinet pulls on the drawers are horizontal, and the same (or similar) pull is used vertically on the cabinet doors.

It is personal preference, but it also depends on a door style. In most cases knob on decorative doors, pull on simple, modern doors. If using both usually pull goes on a drawer and knob on a door.

I had a similar question (to myself, not posted) and so I started looking at lots of Houzz pictures to see what I liked best (and saved the ones I liked for future reference). I've seen every combination and conclude that it's a matter of preference, partly influenced by the design style of the cabinet and the interior as a whole. I recommend looking at lots of Houzz photos and starting your own ideabook specifically to see if you have a pattern of preference.

You may want to take into account that knobs tend to loosen since they can rotate around the single screw. Higher quality knobs will have a sharp nib to dig into a face, but I still see some loosening,

Drawer pulls are often drilled through drawer boxes and the pull screws help lock the drawer front in position on the drawer box.

Pulls are traditionally mounted vertical on doors in the US. In Europe, pulls are more often mounted horizontally, especially in modern styles.

I say personal preference too. I went through the same thing as smileyface2013 when remodeling my kitchen. I actually thought at first that I preferred all pulls, on drawers and doors. But after looking at seemingly every...single...Houzz kitchen photo, I realized I liked the diversity of mixing both pulls (horizontal on drawers and vertical on very tall doors) and knobs (on normal doors). I'm so glad I did my research because my cabinet hardware looks just amazing to me!

To bexaliikai - I realize you posted several years ago. I am interested in the description of your combination of pulls and knobs. Could you post a picture?

Pulls on drawers that open straight, knobs on anything that opens on an angle so your fingers naturally rotate while you open it (great to be a primate, eh?). The knobs should have a "pin" that keeps it from rotating around the screw.

It is really personal preference. We do recommend using a pull on heavier or larger drawers.

It is a matter of preference when choosing knobs vs. pulls. We recommend using both knobs and pulls, it can give contrast to your kitchen. Just be sure to select them from the same collection or finish!

View our selection of Fiori knobs and pulls!

guys! post is three years old!

I don't think the poster still needs suggestions!

Glad this was bumped. I am going through this process now. Who knew that picking cabinet hardware be stressful. lol

Choosing cabinet hardware ended up being one of my favorite tasks in a whole-house renovation. It was like choosing jewelry to coordinate with my special outfits.

I'm building a house and chose pulls in 2 sizes, smaller for cabinets, longer for the drawers....I have many large drawers

I am also in the midst of selecting cabinet hardware so I'm glad I came across this post, even if it's old. @jlneighbors, what did you end up selecting? Our drawers range in size: 2 are 30", 1 is 27" and 3 are 36". The rest of the lower and upper cabinets range in width from 30 - 39" (double, so each panel is half that width. Hope I'm explaining myself correctly). Most are standard cabinet height with the exception of the pantry that is 24" x appx 60". I've read that a good rule of thumb is having the drawer pulls be 2/3 the width of the drawer - ie going with around a 7" option for those 6 drawers. Where I'm hung up is the upper and lower cabinets that aren't drawers: what size?!

@Elise Amy, we ended up using oil rubbed bronze pulls on everything. 6" on 24" and less width drawers horizontally and vertically on doors except the pantrys and 30" cabinets which got 9" and 12" on 36" drawers. it took a lot of consideration but we love our choice (our cabinets are white shaker style). hope you are as pleased with your choices. happy holidays!

And yes this is a very old post but we are having the same trouble we can't decide knobs or handles we want to do both we don't know what to do and we've changed our mind twice but now I think we're back to knobs on the doors handles on the drawers. But originally we were going to reverse it and have handles on the doors and knobs on the drawers but I like it better the other way around I think. Most picture's on line show knobs on cabinets handles on drawers or all knobs that we've seen.

I would avoid putting 2 pulls on a single wide drawer. Kitchen drawers will typically be opened using one hand instead of both, unlike a dresser drawer. Opening the wide drawers by using only one of the pulls which is placed off center will eventually skew the drawer. Better to use one wider pull in the center of the drawer so that the pulling force is exerted evenly on the center of the drawer.

We just went through the same decision on a new home and did considerable research to see which we preferred. It certainly ends up being a personal choice but we went pulls throughout, and varied them from 6 inch to 12 inch on all drawers and used a few smaller ones on some very small drawers and doors. They were applied horizontally on drawers and vertically on doors. Pulls, especially the larger ones, tend to be quite a bit more expensive, but the look ended up beautiful. It took me about 2 months to decide but I'm so happy that we stayed with pulls throughout. That being said, a mixture of pulls and knobs is certainly a great choice, if that's the look you want.

I bet yours looks really nice! Our house will be done in August I cannot wait. After changing our mind a couple times I think we're happy with our choice knobs on Doors handles on drawers we got the matching set.

After installing knobs throughout I am changing the drawers to handles since the knobs keep catching my pockets and belt tabs ...just something to consider before you install

Is anyone out there trying to coordinate old glass cabinet knobs with new bottom cabinets? The only pulls I can find are $14-$15 each and that is well beyond my budget. I have the old glass knobs from the bottom cabinets that were removed, but they won't work on a drawer unless I put two on it and that may look rather foolish on newer wood stained cabinets. Also, they tend to loosen. Is there a solution to this quandary?? My top cabinets are painted and it is an 1800's house so I don't want anything too modern.

I've decided to go with the old fashioned glass knobs on the upper cabinets and distressed nickel cup pulls on the drawers. I think the combination will go very well together, even though it's an antique look and my cabinets are brand new. Picked up some good tips on this thread: I was going to use 2 pulls on the wider drawers but the comment about folks using only 1 hand to open them usually can result in a skewed drawer eventually is leading me to just 1 pull. And I was going to put the glass knobs on the smaller, top drawers but they probably would catch on clothing so it's going to be all cup pulls below the counter height. However, I'm a little concerned because the glass knobs I chose do not have the sharp nib to keep them from loosening. Would the use of a lock washer help this problem? And would placing cup pulls vertically on the pantry door look funny? The knob seems too small for such a large door.

I just ripped a pair of my favorite jeans that caught on a lower knob... The distressed kind so it ripped the whole pant leg open. Huge bummer. Definitely put pulls on all bottom drawers and doors.

These cabinets will be painted white this weekend. They’ve never had pulls/knobs. Suggestions for what to use and where to place?

Sharon, no suggestions but let us know what you did!

I'm glad this thread bumped up. We are trying to decide knobs and pulls or all pulls. I'm leaning towards all pulls but maybe that's not a good idea in a galley kitchen... Think I'll wait to decide after the cabinets are installed.

Same question here! I appreciate all the feedback. I love the look of pulls on everything. I am struggling with putting 2 handles on large drawers though. I really don't like that look, but the pulls I like are 6.75 inches long, and I don't know if they are big enough to only use one.

We ended up with knobs on doors and handles on drawers. But I loved coming here for feedback. Made us change our kitchen countertop and am so glad we did.

Rose, if you'd care to post a photo I'd love to see it and I'll bet others would, too. What kind of countertop did you end up with?

Good choice. Unless my client has a strong preference, my default is KNOBS on all doors (upper/lowers) and PULLS on all drawers.

Style is of course important, but FUNCTION is their purpose! Knobs can be grabbed from any angle, whereas a Pulls are typically one direction straight out.

Top Knobs is my goto for cab hardware - nice selection and reasonable priced for the quality.

PS. As fantastic as Bar Pulls look (w/overhang left/right). They can easily get caught on clothing. I've seen belt loops caught on them and pull off the drawer face!

Don't knobs on lower doors (say, hip to waist height) also catch on clothing?

Our builder had a spec home and we copied several things that were the same in his home the antique white cabinets the hardwood floor and even the bathroom ceramic tile but we chose our own countertop and then changed our mind to one that I found here on houzz that people liked and we had samples and I ordered a bigger sample and we loved it. We also did the Beveled edge which we like it was extra. When Builders are building spec homes they usually do all knobs cuz it's easier to change out for people but I like what we did. And our countertop is called Spring Carnival Wilsonart I believe. We love it compared to this one we had picked out in the beginning we changed our mind at the last minute. I hope this is a good enough picture. Our wall came out the wrong color and my husband wants to change it but for now it's kind of purple and not the greyish color we thought it was going to be but I like it ok he don't.

Rose, thanks for posting! Really nice cabinets, style and color, and the countertop looks great. I admit I would not have considered that paint color but seeing it, I really like it!

Thanks! We thought it was going to be more grey but everyone that has seen it likes it and purple is my favorite color. LOL! It's really not bad but my husband wants it changed eventually. But this site really helped me when we we're building our house. Good Luck!

We are struggling with kitchen hardware also. Reno starts end of April and I’ve chosen Jeffrey Alexander (Belcastel) for the pulls and RH Asbury for the knobs in polished nickel with white shaker cabinets. I am leaning towards mostly pulls but think I will have to see once the cabinetry is in. I have lots of drawers (21 in all) with a good number in the 33”-36” range, so struggling with 2 pulls per drawer or one long pull....and have glass front 14” cabinets on top of the 36” upper cabinets as well (latch, knob, or pull). These decisions are making me crazy.

If you have two pulls per drawer I think you have to open the drawer with two hands, one on each pull, or it gets off kilter. Which would drive me crazy :) But hopefully someone more expert than I will respond.

acm, the post might be five years old, but new people pose the same type of question and it is nice to be able to read additional comments.

So, what size pull attached vertically if your cabinet door is 42" in height? There will be an 18" cabinet above that which probably should use a knob? or could a smaller pull work?

Sizes for pulls...are there guidelines other than by eyeballing it?

No, there are not set "guidelines" when choosing the length of your cabinet pulls. Generally, you want them to be relatively proportional to each other as compared to the cabinet or drawer width/height. For example, if you used a 5" long pull on a 36" drawer, you might use a 7"-8" pull on a 42" cabinet door, and then be consistent with your choices.

Any advice regarding mixing knobs, cup pulls AND handles? I have a fondness for cup pulls and wanted to use them on the drawers. My husband doesn’t care for knobs so handles would be used on the lower doors. I envisioned using knobs on the upper doors. Is this too busy? All hardware would be from the same line and same finish. Haven’t found many pics of this type of mix on houzz and wonder if there is a reason for this ( design faux pas??) Pantry would be all handles.

I'm a knob girl through and through. If I ever wanted to switch out hardware it's super easy with knobs. Pulls come in all sorts of lengths so it becomes more complicated if you ever want to switch.

E M - If they are all from the same line and finish, I don't think it would be too busy, in fact I think it would be quite attractive to use knobs, cup pulls and handles. I found a blog a few months ago where the homeowner had at least three if not four different types of hardware on her kitchen drawers and doors and because it was purposeful, it looked fine. If I had time, I would search for it again but maybe you can find it. Of course it is possible to look cluttered and haphazard, but on the other hand, all knobs can look a bit much . . . To each her own.

Awesome discussion! We've got 56 cabinet doors/drawers in an open kitchen/living area. It's a mix of contemporary & vintage, & we're picking out art deco style cabinet hardware. I've been noticing that vintage-looking kitchens usually have less obtrusive/smaller hardware & that's my preference. I'm looking at knobs for most, but will use pulls for taller/wider doors & drawers. - Some of our cabinet doors are very tall, so may use vertical pulls on those for aesthetics. Cost is double or more in the styles we're considering, so that's a consideration.

This is such a helpful discussion. Thanks, Houzzers!

I did 96mm pulls throughout and they’re awesome. The ones with the overhang looked tacky and weren’t as functional. I have two 3’ cabinets that I used the next larger size for.

Beautiful granite

As of 2020, several years after this thread was originally posted, it is my impression that we are seeing fewer knobs on kitchen cabinet doors in recent designs and rather hardware schemes that are trending toward all pulls to favor a modern aesthetic. This thread has been very helpful to me to reconsider knobs on the doors for my traditionally styled renovation, especially for the ease of grasping a knob from all angles for a side swing motion, as several reviewers pointed out. Another benefit is the reduced cost of knobs to pulls which can add up even for a small kitchen if you are considering premium hardware such as from Water Street Brass, as I am.

It's your kitchen, but the general recommendation would be to stay as consistent as you possibly can with cabinetry hardware in the same room. If you currently have glass hardware on the uppers, I can see why you would want to transition to a more sturdy pull for drawers, but it sounds like you want to maximize the places where you use glass. I would recommend starting a new search for glass or acrylic pulls that would blend with your existing hardware and then use that for all your drawers.