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Need help: 1 or 2 pulls on kitchen cabinet drawers?

13 years ago

I have a lot of large cabinet drawers in my new kitchen and I am not sure if I should use 1 or 2 pulls on the drawers. I would appreciate your experiences and pics.

Thanks in advance!

Here is a pic of my unfinished kitchen.

Featured Answer

Buehl

13 years ago

Some people are afraid that if they put two pulls on a drawer that means they cannot open it with one hand...not true! As long as you have decent drawer hardware, you can use one or two hands w/o hurting the hardware or the alignment. I use one hand probably 90% of the time to open my drawers...and no problems yet!

Here's a kitchen w/two pulls on drawers >= 30" and 1 pull on drawers The cabinets are, left-to-right, 33" drawer base, 18" trash pullout, 36" sink base, 24" DW, 27" drawer base, 31.5" oven cabinet.

In this pic, the cabinets are: 24" drawer base (around the corner), 30" warming drawer + drawers, 6" pullout, 36" cooktop cabinet, 6" pullout, 31.5" MW Drawer + drawer.

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Comments (11)

Buehl
13 years ago
A little bit of discussion....

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: knob location
shelly_k
13 years ago
We are doing two different size bar pulls. One is 13 inches long and one is 5 inches long. We decided to do the 13 inch on the tall cabinets and wide drawers -- instead of doing 2 of the short ones.
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I would definitely put the appliance pulls on the DW and fridge drawers. Unlike your cabinet drawers which are on slides and so easy to move, the DW and fridge drawers almost have a suction action to them which require a "tug" to open. I have never checked this but I wouldn't be surprised if the screws on the appliance handles are actually bolts and so are heavtier than the drawer pulls and are built for the heavier pull action required. Using the 12" ones would give a uniformity to your appliances. I have a bank of 15" drawers, a bank of 19" drawers and 2 banks of 30" drawers which are shaker style. I have the same not quite 7" pulls on all of them with only one on the 30" drawers. They are all centered in the middle of the drawer. I know that some people center them on the top narrower drawer (cutlery) and then raise them to be set higher on the wider bottom two drawers. That drives my sense of symmetry up the wall. P.S. what do you mean centering them vertically?
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I upgraded to extra heaving weight bearing glides on our two 30" drawers, designated for pots and pans storage. Initially I planned two 6" pulls on each, but at DH's request changed to one 6" centered pull which allows a firm grip wrap around it. You can go either way obviously.
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I agree with everyone who is hesitant to put two on, unless the drawer is so incredibly wide and fully-loaded that two hands are necessary to pull it out (e.g. on my old built-in buffet drawers in my dining room...those can barely open when using two hands!). I think having a free hand in a kitchen is a good thing. I think I'm getting the Gilmore pulls from Restoration Hardware because I too like those different lengths. I'll put the 4" pulls on my wide drawers (they're about 24.5 or 25" wide, not including their frames around them) and the 6" pull on my integrated dishwasher front. The only beef I have with them is that they're SO COMMON (I see them on just about every picture, everywhere)! But then I also have to remember that most people who see them will be family, friends and neighbors and most of them won't know how common they are out here in cyberspace like the rest of us do - haha. Here's a pic of my husband holding up the 6" pull to our 25"-or-so-wide drawers (prior to drawer fronts being installed, so the drawers look strange, sorry!): ...and here's the 4" pull held up to same drawer: You can see the 6" bin pull sitting on the counter above our dishwasher in the following photo. Its front hasn't been put on yet but when it has, it will be a little wider (whatever standard width is for dishwashers):
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That's what I'm thinking... Tablecloths, formal place settings, serving platters. Stuff that we rarely use. Just to be clear, what I've asked the designer to add is a full height pull-out (imagine the sort of thing that folks use for garbage inserts) with several rots. I've not used rots anywhere else but since the overhang would block a standard drawer it made sense. It was rots or standard shelves, so it seemed like the lesser of two evils. I'll post the updated plan tomorrow. Thanks again, everyone, for all of your wisdom.
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sabjimata
13 years ago
This is really personal preference. I dislike the two pulls because I want to grab in the center. Our cabinets are going in this week. Largest drawers are 36" and will get a single 8" pull.
gopintos
13 years ago
I vote for larger pulls on the center. If many ppl who use two smaller ones only pull on one, kind of defeats the purpose, or so it seems to me.

Anyways, it is totally personal preference. I tried to think about how I would use the drawer. Would I have wet or dirty hands, how does the drawer/door open, would I be bumping against it or catching my pockets or my zipper, and I tried to think of what would look pleasing to the eye.
jakabedy
13 years ago
Two houses ago we had a traditional look and went with cup pulls for the drawers (excuse the tiny, bad photo -- robbed from the MLS listing by the current owners(!)). Those seemed to look better in pairs. (The cabinet on the right of the photo is a 30" drawer base -- you're seeing the left pulls).

Our current kitchen is more modern, and the hardware we used was wider (but not the ubiquitous clear-across-the-drawer pull, so we went with a single.
wizard19
13 years ago
If your pulls are smaller I would go with 2 pulls. If they are larger, then just 1 pull. Your drawers look fairly wide. We ended up going with two 5" pulls on each drawer. Looks great and glad we went with 2 instead of 1. No problem with opening with one hand.
lowspark
13 years ago
There's no reason to do it one way or the other aside from looks. Either way, the drawers are going to open just fine. So head over to the FKB, look at the pictures and decide which look you like best.
bireland
13 years ago
We like a larger pull for the large drawers...one hand, one pull. Our smaller drawers are 4 inch and the ones in this photo are 6 inch. These large drawers have heavy items like pots and pans.
lfielder54
13 years ago
Bireland, would you mind telling me about your cabinet pulls and knobs? I really like them!
cancoi
13 years ago
Agreed! I'd love to know more about your pulls, too, Bireland!

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