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Cabinet Hardware Placement

Exactly where to drill for knobs and pulls — measure twice, the holes are forever.

Decides which corner the hardware goes in

2.5–3" is standard

Knobs and pulls are the last five percent of a kitchen and the easiest thing to get visibly wrong. This gives you the exact drilling position, so every handle lines up.

How it works

On doors, hardware is placed a fixed distance in from the corner of the door stile — typically 2 1/2 to 3 inches — and mirrored on the opposite side, so the placement is consistent whichever way the door swings. On drawers, pulls are centered horizontally, and either centered vertically on the drawer face or aligned to the top rail on tall drawers.

Example

On a standard door, a knob 2 1/2 inches in from the edge and 2 1/2 inches up from the bottom corner. On a 30-inch drawer, a pull centered on the face — 15 inches from either side.

Tips & common mistakes

  • Make a drilling template out of scrap and use it for every single door. Measuring each one individually guarantees that a few end up a fraction out, and the eye catches it instantly across a row of cabinets.
  • Drill from the front face, and back the hole with a scrap block clamped behind. Cabinet doors blow out splinters on the exit side, and that side is sometimes visible.
  • Buy one handle first and hold it against a door before ordering thirty. Screen colors lie, and 'brushed brass' covers an enormous range.
  • Check the pull's screw spacing (its center-to-center measurement) before drilling, not the pull's overall length. They are different numbers and drilling for the wrong one ruins the door.

Frequently asked questions

Where do you put knobs on cabinet doors?

Typically 2 1/2 to 3 inches in from the corner of the door, on the opening side. Keep the same distance on every door and the row reads as a straight line.

Should drawer pulls be centered?

On most drawers, yes — centered both ways. On very tall drawers, aligning the pull nearer the top often looks better and is easier to use.

What size pulls for kitchen drawers?

A rough rule is a pull about one third the width of the drawer. Bigger drawers can take bigger hardware; a tiny pull on a wide drawer looks lost and is awkward to open.