We did all wood knobs on our cabinetry, both painted and stained. My instructions to the cabinet maker - "distress them so that it looks like wear from natural use - as though they have been here for years."

Hope this helps. Happy New Year!

We had wood knobs and one caveat...they are prone to breakage. I think inevitably knobs get slammed by a door or a child or something. We had to replace many and finally replaced them all with metal.

Thanks! Mine came from the cabinetmaker. In the past, someone here has posted the large wooden knobs. Mine measure 1 and 5/8" deep and wide. We haven't had any problems with breakage, but they appear larger than the ones shown above.

This catalog/website has some on this page that are similar:

Here is a link that might be useful: wooden knobs --> Scroll down

Thank you all so much for your info. Allison, I was looking at some online that look much like yours..some 1.5 and even 1.75 inches wide. I love them! Thanks also for the link! You guys are so helpful!

Allison- what is the diameter of your knobs?

I did a search for woodedn knobs earlier today and found these, which exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately they don't sell them.

So I went digging and found these which seem to have the same profile and are availble in 3 sizes:

Here is a link that might be useful: knobs

This Old House or The Old House (I get them confused) just had a thing about wooden knobs. I'll see if I can dig it up.

Amberley, they are 1 5/8" diameter.

Thanks Allison! That gives me a good visual. It is so hard to determine when they just list the sizes and you don't have them in front of you.

My uncle also recommend looking at Van Dykes. They have some good possiblities. Search for wooden knob:

Here is a link that might be useful: Van Dykes Restorers

Thanks so much! Amberley...that is exactly one of the knobs that is my favorite. I'll go check out those sites right now! Yippee!! You're such good people!!

I found another one:

Here is a link that might be useful: more wood knobs

Amberly, Mine are just like the British knobs on Van Dyke's website:

Here is a link that might be useful: British Knobs

Allison-

Hooray! I have been looking at knobs all night! Alot of the ones I had found are from the UK, with prices to match. These are a steal!!!

Did you have yours stained? Are they a walnut stain?

I think I am going to do some stained and some painted. My everyday dishes pantry will be a slightly darker or lighter color than the rest of the cabinets, so I will do painted on those to resemble a pieces of furniture, and dark stained on the rest (I am doing an English inspired kit with puttish-warm grayish painted cabs). I have always loved your kitchen!

Thanks so much!!

Oh no, with the pound/dollar out of whack, you don't want to buy overseas now!

Mine are all stained. No idea what color they used. It is dark, like Walnut (wood floors in the house are walnut). I don't have any painted, but I've seen painted cabinets with both painted and stained knobs.

Thanks. I love it too! ;D The island and either side of range have the wooden knobs, pine hutch has smaller metal knobs and the black coffee station has bin pulls.

Have you seen the pictures of my kitchen on AtticMag? Look in the Gray section, French Gray Island. You can see photos of the other pieces/knobs not shown on the FKB.

Oh, your kitchen has been in my ideas file for years!!

My space is not nearly as large as yours (nor is my budget), so I will probably have to stick with all the same thing. I really, really want to do about 5 different kinds of hardware (metal knobs, bin pulls, a doweled bracket rod thingie- might have to work that one in there somewhere)...

But, I must force myself to edit, edit, edit...

It looks like I will need about 40 knobs, so all my hardware with shipping will be about $75!! Something else to add to my great bargain list.

Now if I can just figure out the rest of my lighting....Y'all are probably getting sick of me with all my lighting issues here in GW land... :)

Thanks again amberley & Allison...I found some beautiful cherry knobs on ebay and have bought them...not sure if they're gonna work. Perimeter cabinets..off white glazed, sink base-heart pine, range hood-heart pine, heart pine floors, black distressed island with wood top and wood top on island looks like stain color of knobs. What a mix!!! Oh well, hoping they'll work, if not I'm out $45.

I have them and love them. Mine are cherry, and I stained them myself. They're about an 1 1/2" in diameter and got them at Lee Valley hardware. No breakage issues. In fact no issues at all. Mine are shallower than most of the above. Which is good for me since I am of a height where my pockets tend to get snagged on knobs. Never happens with these.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wooden knobs

pirula-

Yours and Allison's are the only kitchens on GW I have seen with the big knobs! Thanks for sharing. I noticed on your link that you used ECO FPE Satin paint. I have used the oil satin on the exterior of my windows and was very pleased. Is your finish brushed on, or sprayed? How high//low is the sheen?

I am considering spraying mine, as we already have a compressor, and I just need to buy the sprayer attatchement, and it will also make the job go a WHOLE lot faster.

Beautifal kitchen. I love how the wood knobs make the space so warm and inviting! Funny how such a small (and inexpensive) thing can really make the look of the room! I too will have wood floors, and about 4 feet of butcherblock countertop. The floors are salvaged red oak (to match the rest of the original in the house), and I plan to stain them a medium brown. I will probably stain the knobs a little darker, but in the same brown tone.

I am not sure what I should do with the bb though. I am getting the birch bb from IKEA. I don't want it too look exactly like the floor, but at the same time, I am not sure that keeping it "blonde" would be the best choice either. The cabs will be a putty color, and the rest of the counters are Python soapstone.

Thanks amberly!

I painted the cabinets myself, using a brush. The sheen is subtle. A true "satin".

Here is a picture of another kitchen with oversized knobs. This one has a lot of contrast. I love the look of large knobs, though I'm a bit nervous about wood (durability and cleaning). How do yours clean up? Is it hard on the finish to be scrubbing them often? We'll have kids in our next kitchen, and I find myself thinking about cleaning a lot. Haha!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

One one my top DD, right of sink, is quite worn since I open the washer with that knob 100% of the time. Also the garbage pull-out, bottom left of sink. I'm sure they can be easily refinished... but they don't bother me so they will have to get worse before I do something. Then, I will probably only wipe with stain, so that the wear still shows. Part of the charm.

I was given permission to link my kitchen, as long as it is pertaining to a thread at hand. :D

Here is a link that might be useful: my kitchen - wooden knobs

They clean up just fine. No visible wear yet after three years of hard use. And Allison is right. The beauty of wood is that it's renewable. Sand and re-stain if necessary and they're new again.

Not only that, but they are super inexpensive, so if you really were disappointed, you can replace them later, without having spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars!

Allison, why do you have to have permission to link to pics of your own kitchen?

younggardener- I have 2 young boys and I am a messy cook. I have no worries.

Correction: I just measured. My knobs are a full 2" in diameter. Love them.

I was b@nned not long ago and the reason they gave me was posting links to AM. I was told I would be let back, but could never post links - not even when the subject pertained to an existing thread (which was all I ever did) After others continued to post links to their blogs, I requested a recheck into the situation and was told I could as long as it was not abused, which it never was.

Pirula, I thought yours were larger than you stated earlier. lol

Pirula....is that link to your actual kitchen? It is beautiful and love those knobs! The knobs I just ordered are cherry, but are only 1.5 inches. Now I kinda wish I would have gone a little larger. I noticed that in reading about the kitchen in the link you provided that the toekick was painted black so that it disappears, I had a friend suggest that to me as I will have bracket feet on my cabinets. Again, if that is your kitchen, is it obvious when you enter the kitchen that the toekick is painted black? Thanks.
Dana

Hi nc cowgirl,

Yes that is my kitchen and yikes allison!: I always post from AM when I want to show my kitchen because that's where the pictures are! I don't have photobucket or anything like that.

The toekicks just disappear. I mean sure, if you specifically *LOOK* at them then yeah, they look black. But otherwise they just go away. It was one of my cleverer ideas. LOL! Thanks for the compliment!

The knobs are great. You know this was one of my few potentially form over function decisions. I wanted them and was a little concerned that they'd be difficult to open with grubby hands etc. But they're not. You can open the lighter drawers with just a pinky and the heavier ones can be opened with two fingers just tucked in at the sides as cleanly as possible and pull. So, for us anyway, they are perfectly functional and no compromise there whatsoever.

nccowgirl. I had wood knobs on my cabinets that I just took off and replaced. They were stained the same color as the cabinets. I like that look. I didn't really have any problems with the stained ones with dirt or keeping them clean. The only problem i had was when the screws the cabinet maker used became stripped. This only happened on my big garbage pull out because it was heavy and got a lot of use. Just had to replace the screw. They can be glued too for reinforcement on the front.

Good luck. I really like the look you are going for.

I live near the Texas coast and enjoy collecting seeds that have washed in from other countries. I was told when I was a child that some of these are "good luck" beans. These particular seeds have a really pretty wood color that stays pretty in direct sunlight of the beach for who knows how long. They look like the perfect size and shape for cabinet pull knobs. They look great with their natural matte finish but have a thick enough hull they can be sanded and polished to a high shine. You can "Google" them up with keyword "hamburger beans". Be aware that the beans are not edible.