the only thing I feel strongly about is I dislike knobs.
They'd have to be pretty special to get me to use them.

Why, you ask!?
Because eventually they get loose and can't be tightened anymore. I always feel like they're going to be falling off in your hand.

Do what looks proportionate on your cabs. You might want to go two on your 33" for example. Look for balance.

Tape up some fake pulls or handles and experiment.

Christine

For some perspective, these are 7" pulls on 25.5" drawer fronts.

I am with CEFreeman in that I dislike knobs. So all pulls for me. I also like simplicity so all one size but definitely big enough to get your hand into. I also dislike having drawers with two small pulls, I prefer one centred decent sized pull. I have 160mm pulls (approx 6")

I don't have any great photos focussing on the pulls alone but here's a photo from stone install day showing some of the perimeter. Sadly there is plastic over the uppers but hopefully you can get an idea of the scale and perspective anyway. Flanking the cooktop are 27" uppers and 30" lowers. Prior to installation of the hardware I had been concerned that the 6" pull would be too large scale for my smallest cabinet - a 16" trash pullout. I can get a photo for you later today or tomorrow if you want but in the end I think it looks great, not at all out of proportion and I much prefer the uniformity of the single size pull. Not to mention that a single size makes it easier to install and less likely for someone to make a mistake ... just make a template and go about drilling for the hardware! HTH and good luck!

Darn, Amy! I just realized I never answered your email! Sorry! I'll pull together the answers and send them as soon as I can.

Sorry, forgot to mention that below the cooktop are 36" drawers.

And I thought it worth noting that feeling the hardware can really make or break the decision. My most favourite pulls based solely on appearance in a brochure/online dropped off my list entirely after physically handling them. And the pull that I chose wasn't my preference until I felt how comfy it was in comparison.

Cheers!

Here's a link to a previous thread asking about pull sizes and widths. Might help to look at it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Previous thread on pull sizes

Based on my own experience I much prefer the look of knobs on doors and pulls on drawers. That's what I'm doing right now. The lazy susan "doors" get knobs too. When I install the hardware I always use blue Loctite and never have a problem with them coming loose.

One thing to consider, depending on where you would want to mount the knobs you can potentially replace them with pulls later if desired just by drilling a second hole. When I was comparing knobs and pulls I drilled the hole for a knob and then temporarily installed a pull with just the one screw. With that I was able to visually compare them easily. Once you install pulls you're committed.

Universal Design would suggest using all pulls in your kitchen. Pulls are much more easily operable for people of all kinds of grasping abilities such as toddlers or folks with arthritis. Knobs are not nearly as universal user friendly.

I have pulls on my lowers, knobs on my uppers. I thought about doing all pulls, which is a look I like, but the knobs I found were just way too cool to not use. Plus the cost of doing all pulls would have meant using lower quality hardware all around for me, and knobs are more in keeping with the age and style of my house.

grumpydave makes a good point that you can always change to pulls later, but it's hard to go back to knobs once you've drilled two holes.

We used all pulls - bin pulls on the drawers and regular pulls on the doors. Knobs on lowers can sometimes catch pockets. We used the same size pulls on all the drawers, larger ones that were about 4.5" wide. I like the uniform size. My DH likes these more than the 3" ones because they fit all the space for his fingers.

I find that the actual feel and shape of the pulls or knobs is more important to ease of use than whether they are pulls or knobs - especially for doors and drawers that don't require much force to move. With modern hinges or slides, it doesn't take much. We used wood knobs for our family room cabinets. We picked a shape that have a good surface for fingers to hold and they operate very easily.

We used knobs on the doors (upper and lower) and pulls on the drawers. We have a lot of cabinets and the hardware we wanted to use wasn't cheap, so all pulls would have been a little pricey. We used 4" pulls on most of the drawers. I didn't like the feel of the narrower pulls. We used two 6" pulls on our wide large drawers because I liked the way it looked, but one would probably have worked fine. We used a pull on the trash pullout and on the two tall skinny cabinet doors beside the refrigerator. We have a more traditional kitchen, so the variety looks OK. With a more modern style, you might want to keep things more consistent.

Be sure you also check out the projection (height) to be sure your hand fits comfortably in them. Some are very flat. The knobs we picked have a flared bottom to them, where the knob touches the cabinet, so when you grab them, your fingers go in the groove and don't touch the wood of the cabinet. I've seen some older kitchens where the cabinet finish has worn from too much contact with fingers around the knobs. I would imagine you might get similar wear if your pulls were close to the surface they are mounted on.

Like on of the other posters, I had a pull picked out, but decided not to use it after I actually had it in my hands and found it didn't have the desired hand clearance. I loved the knobs though, so ended up using a different pull with the same finish from the same manufacturer.

The bottom line is that the hardware has to function for you.

Thanks all for the information! I am still undecided about knobs vs. pulls. Price may be the deciding factor.

For the bottom 33" drawers do you feel the 6" would work?

4" on the 18 and 21?

The garbage pull out has a drawer above which would get a 4" pull. Put a 4" below it for trash or a 6"

What would you suggest on lazy susan and 9" cookie sheet cabinet? Sticking with all pulls on all lowers for consistency?

I know it is all a personal preference, but I'm at the over whelmed stage right now. This too will pass :)

Thanks again!

We used a 6" pull on the trash pullout, and it has a drawer with a 4" pull above it. Looks fine to me. The trash pullout gets LOTS of use and the larger handle is easier to grab. The trash bin is sometimes fairly heavy and I thought the bigger pull would distribute the load on the door/drawer better.

Hang in there. Soon you will have decided and you can relax....

I'd get the 6" pulls. but they'd have to have a projection a bit over 1" - I'd prefer a 1.25" projection but might do with 1 1/8th ". depends. I'd have to try my hands on it.

your dh is right - get ones that are easy to get fingers thru and around. so projection matters also.

I've picked pulls that are very, very plain - no fancy carving, scrolls, raised areas etc. Those are prime for catching dirt and can nick the fingers - or catch on a shirt, robe etc. I want to stay away from those pitfalls.

I also fall easily so I don't want a pull with any sharp areas/edges that could hurt me if I fall near them.