Kitchen Cabinet Hardware: Attention to the Details
Custom Kitchen Remodeling: Understanding Kitchen Cabinetry – Part IV
“Knobs and Pulls and Hinges…Oh My!”
While kitchen cabinet doors and drawer fronts are the focal point of your newly installed custom kitchen cabinets, and hence the kitchen, there can be little argument that it is the cabinet hardware, at least the kitchen cabinet door and drawer knobs, pulls, and hinges that are the icing on the cake.
And let’s not forget the kitchen cabinet drawer slides!
The kitchen cabinet door and drawer knobs, pulls, and hinges are the finishing touches. It is the kitchen cabinet hardware, including the kitchen cabinet drawer slides, that defines the look, the feel, and even the utility of your kitchen cabinets. Choosing just the right kitchen cabinet hardware for your newly designed and remodeled custom kitchen will finish the job right and make a lasting impression on your friends and family as you show off your new custom kitchen.
Kitchen cabinet hardware includes:
• Kitchen Cabinet Door Knobs (although door pulls are far and away more popular, it is not a hard and fast rule)
• Kitchen Cabinet Door Pulls
• Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Knobs
• Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Pulls (less popular than knods for draweer fronts but again not a hard and fast rule)
• Kitchen Cabinet Hinges (butt hinges)
• Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Slides
• Kitchen Cabinet Drawer and Door Locks
• Kitchen Cabinet Drawer and Door Catches
Some of the materials used for kitchen cabinet hardware include:
• Plastic
• Wood
• Brass
• Aluminum
• Stainless Steel
• Ceramics
Kitchen Cabinet Knobs and Pulls
It's the little things that matter. When viewed in the context of the custom kitchen as a whole, the kitchen knobs may seem like a very small part but they can make or break the look of your newly remodeled custom kitchen.
Kitchen cabinet knobs are generally found on the cabinet drawer fronts and the kitchen cabinet pulls are generally reserved for the doors.
However, as noted above, while this is a usually viewed as a matter of proportion and common practice throughout the kitchen design and remodeling industry, it is not a hard and fast rule.
The proper combination of knobs and pulls can look great in a kitchen, regardless of how they are distributed, as long as you pay attention to kitchen cabinet placing, functional considerations, style, and finish.
Make sure the design theme is consistent throughout your new custom kitchen, not only matching the overall aesthetics but allowing for functionality, fit, and finish, and the added attgention to detail now will pay off for years to come.
While the kitchen cabinet knobs and pulls are generally a small part of the overall kitchen remodeling project, they deliver tremendous value; it is unwise to skimp on them. Spending just a little more on just the right style, with and eye towards enhanced functionality, will pay off in the long run.
A relatively tiny investment in quality now will result in increased functionality and enhanced value. The enhanced value affects not just the newly remdodeled kitchen, it carries over to the entire home.
Because, as we have noted before:
The Kitchen is the Heart and Hearth of the Home!
Keep in mind that design and functionality go hand in hand. For this reason, and many others, it is wise to consult a custom kitchen design and remodeling specialist before you begin. It is often the small “stuff” (to use a technical term), and we mean small in terms of the items we initially view as less significant or not as important because their cost is not as great, relative to other factors in your budget, that can detract from and/or even derail your custom kitchen project.
Attend to the small stuff early and you will be happy you did so later. Or, as my grandmother used to say:
“Take care of the corners and the middle takes care of itself.”
Hinges
The little things work in concert. I this case the custom kitchen hardware, the green door knobs, along with the hidden kitchen cabinet door hinges.
The type of kitchen cabinet will ultimately determine the type of hinge to be used. The standard type of kitchen cabinet door hinge for a frameless kitchen cabinet is a concealed, adjustable hinge. The traditional hinge for an inset kitchen cabinet door is the butt hinge. The butt hinges may be motised or non-mortised, depedning on design requirements, taste, and a number of other factors. Mortised butt hinges are a bit more difficult to install but it results in smoother fit along the kitchen cabinet door and farme.
Adjustable hinges, unlike butt hinges, allow for easier realignment. Concealed adjustable kitchen cabinet door hinges allow the cabinet door to open to 180 degrees, often a big advantage. Adjustable hinges are available for face-frame kitchen cabinets, as well as for frameless cabinets. However, even with adjustable hinges in the face-frame kitchen cabinets, the hinges will not allow the doors to open a full 180 degrees…but almost. The adjustable hinges do allow for much easier adjustment than butt hinges.
Kitchen Cabinet Hardware: The kitchen cabinet doors knobs and kitchen cabinet drawer pulls work well together and give the door and drawer fronts an additional focus point. The cabinets look rich and warm while maintaining their overall functionality.
Note: The differences in hinge performance (e.g., opening, adjustability, and others) discussed above and in previous posts, have as much to do with the type of kitchen cabinet foundation selected, as it does the type of hinges. We have discussed features and benefits of face-frame and frameless cabinets previously and will undoubtedly mention them again as we progress through this series on custom kitchen remodeling and custom kitchen cabinetry.
Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Slides
In order to have access along the entire length of the kitchen cabinet drawer, a full-extension slide is required. While this may seem like a small consideration, the convenience it will afford you will offset any additional cost, particularly over the life of the home, or your time in it; and then, in terms of increased value to a prospective buyer. The advantage resulting from full-extension slides for deep drawers holding pots and pans and the long, shallow drawers holding kitchen utensils and the like cannot be overstated, particularly if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen…or if you don’t want to!
You may want to consider the added feature of quiet, self-closing kitchen cabinet drawer slides, especially if you have children in the house, or anyone else who may be fond of closing doors and drawers aggressively (i.e., slamming them), particularly if they are night cookers and feeders.
You will probably pay big money for this feature the first time you are without it at 3am!
You may also want to consider under-mounted slides as opposed to the side-mounted slides you usually see on kitchen cabinet drawers. Yes, they cost a bit more but if you amortize the investment over the number of years you intend to be in and home, particularly if the kitchen is indeed the Heart and Hearth of the Home, then it is a small price to pay. Side-mounted slides also restrict the overall width of the kitchen cabinet drawers. It is not a lot but if you are taking into consideration all of the little things, and you should, it is worth considering. Ultimately, it is crucial that you and your custom kitchen remodeling specialist take into account the load, usage, and so one as you consider which slides will be most appropriate for your custom kitchen cabinet drawers.
There are several different types of kitchen cabinet drawer slides:
• Aluminum Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Slides
• Stainless Steel Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Slides
• Ball Bearing Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Slides
• Mini-Ball Bearing Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Slides
• Classic Wood Center-Mount Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Slides
• Plastic Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Slides (careful here)
• Epoxy-Coated Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Slides
As is the case with kitchen cabinet door and drawer knobs, pulls, and hinges, I can go on for hours listing the variations, the number of different kinds of kitchen cabinet drawer slides avaialble. For this reason, and for so many others, it is important to seek professional advise before beginning a project of this kind. The money you pay for qualified custom kitchen design and remodeling help, before the remodeling even commences, will pay dividends not only during the job…but for years to come.
Finally, it’s all about the small stuff. The small stuff can make or break you kitchen remodeling project…so we take care of the small stuff!
There are a number of seemingly insignificant details that must be attended to when purchasing the right kitchen hardware, contact Chmura Custom Woodworks for more information about just the right kitchen cabinet hardware or anything else having to do with your custom kitchen remodeling project because Chmura Custom Woodworks has been serving Ohio residents for more than a decade and we are:
Your Complete Source for a Custom Home!
Contact us anytime for a comprehensive in-home custom kitchen consultation.
Chmura Custom Woodworks has been serving Cleveland and all of Northern Ohio for more than a decade. We look forward to the opportunity to serve you and all your custom home needs.
Contact us today!
Rick and Bryan Chmura
Chmura Custom Woodworks
Serving suburban Cleveland and all of Ohio for more than a decade!
216-533-3760
Rick@ChmuraCustomWoodworks.com
Resources:
Image #1 Ewen and Donabel’s Flickr Photostream (Creative Commons)
Image #2 back_garage’s Flickr Photostream (Creative Commons)