We've made a mistake and are thinking of ways to deal with it (m)

13 years ago

It's a stupid mistake, but probably not unusual. The drawers next to our cooktop are going to bang into the pulls on the corner cabinet when we pull them out. See the corner to the right of the cooktop?

We haven't yet installed the pulls. In fact, we haven't even bought the pulls. So there's nothing "wrong" yet, but when we finally finish our k itchen we'd like to be able to open our doors and drawers without breaking our fingernails, LOL.

Our style is modern. The doors are slabs. One thought I had was just to notch the one cabinet door in the corner so there's no pull there to interfere with the drawers.

Then I started thinking about the next cabinet over...I'd like long stainless bar pulls, so if I went the whole width of the door this one, too, would interfere with the drawer next to the cooktop.

Then I started thinking about integral pulls, you know the extruded aluminum handles on modern kit chens, like by Henrybuilt...I love that look, but DH is resisting. We'd thought to install pulls ourselves, but integrated pulls will mean that our cabinet maker has to route each door and drawer front and install the hardware.

This is the cabinet maker I told you about a couple of weeks ago who's got a stage IV cancer situation that he's not treating. We REALLY want him to finish and go take care of himself. So I think we'd have to find another carpenter to do the handles.

I could also wait and have someone rebuild these drawers so they won't interfere, but then I'll lose the symmetry with the drawers on the other side of the cooktop. It's in the corner of the ki tchen, behind the island, so it's not that visible, but this isn't my first choice.

Opinions??

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Comments (11)

weissman
13 years ago
This is a case where you should have put in a filler in the corner so that the drawers can open properly. I assume you're too far along in your install to do that.
remodelfla
13 years ago
Would replacing the pulls on those two cabinets with square contemporary knobs (centered) help your situation?
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karen_belle
Original Author
13 years ago
remodelfla, any pull that extends out from the face of the cabinet will interfere with the drawer - there's only about a 1/4" clearance. And yes, weissman, we should have put in a filler. But the cabinets are site built, all installed, almost finished except for hardware. So, too late...except I could get the cabinet maker to rebuild the drawers and insert a filler. I'm trying to think of a way around that - see the part of my OP where I talk about his medical issues.
archnista
13 years ago
Kraftmaid actually makes handles that are screwed to the back side of the drawer/door and then there is a little lip that sits on the front that you pull to open the door/drawer. Look at their website and you'll see them....they are aluminum and probably about 2 1/2" to 3" long and sit at the very top of the drawer/door, so this may help...you can order them from Home Depot.
bmorepanic
13 years ago
You might want to try touch latches - push drawer front in slightly, release and it pops forward. They are mostly mechanical but blum has a fancy electric one.
pinch_me
13 years ago
Lee valley hardware has a cheap snap open thingy, too. Forget how much but not expensive at all. Fits on the back of the drawer. Spring loaded. You could do the drawers on each side of the cooktop so they match. or do the other drawer/s so that side matches. that's what I'd do.
joyjoyjoy
13 years ago
Is there wood along the right edge of those drawers that could be shaved off to give a little more clearance? How thick is the door? is there a way to have a 3/4 thick door vs 1" for example?
Then maybe you could find a more modern looking drop bail or pendant pull for those cabinets. They'd need more than 1/4 inch clearance, but I'm sure Ive seen some that aren't more than 1/2 inch thick.
monkeymo
13 years ago
Do you have the space to do a filler on each side so you don't lose your symmetry? Also will this mess up the alignment with upper cabinets?

I think it would be good to do your cabinets right. You don't want to be looking at them months from now wishing you had done them differently and once your countertop is on you are sort of stuck.

I don't think it would be too stressful to create two fillers. If the bottom cabinets were fastened already you could have a handyman unfasten them so your cabinetmaker will not have to deal with that part. Then once you have the fillers in place you could probably get a handyman to put them back in as well. I think doing that is less time consuming than routing to have inset knobs.

Sorry I didn't have some brilliant idea for you!
karen_belle
Original Author
13 years ago
Monkeymo, I think we could put a filler on the drawer side pretty easily, but on the corner cabinet we've already got one of those kidney shaped susans installed. I checked to see if they would work if the door was moved over a bit, but I'm not sure how much play I have there.

DH was pretty encouraged by the idea of a push latch (thanks bmorepanic!) but then I was worried about the drawers looking odd....pinch_me, your idea is pretty good to make both sides of the cooktop match.

Here's how our cabinets in this corner are looking today:

Just to investigate the idea of integrated handles further, I'm going to talk to the cabinet maker's son tomorrow morning and see if he has any experience routing out a groove like this. I also have a couple of friends who build fine furniture and might do this job in a pinch. Also our builder might be able to help.

Thanks for your ideas everyone. What a great place this is - hope iVillage gets their )(*()*& together one of these days and fixes the server problems.
monkeymo
13 years ago
What do you think about pulls on drawers, but not on cabinets? Is that too odd?
karen_belle
Original Author
13 years ago
I've been thinking about doing different pulls on cabinets than drawers.

Today the cabinet guy, the builder and I had a talk and we're going to investigate putting the right filler into the existing cabinets. We'll have to replace the existing susan with a smaller one. The drawers will have to shrink about 1.5"; DH and I are going to have to live with the resulting asymmetry. My main concern is that it might take our cabinet guy another fricking week to make this revision, and I REALLY want him to finish and leave our project.

The other option is to cut down the drawer fronts and put in integral handles, which I think we can do, without the cabinet guy's help.

We've made a mistake and are thinking of ways to deal with it (m)

Comments (11)

weissman

remodelfla

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We've made a mistake and are thinking of ways to deal with it (m)

Comments (11)

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