We have recessed panels on our DDs, but I thought I'd respond anyway. We put standard 3" pulls on ours, and placed them the same 6" down from the top edge of the drawer that we did for all of our deep drawers. This places the pulls above the midway point on the drawer, which makes them easier to reach. Also another consideration is that if you have double drawers, the top drawer panel is taller than the bottom one. Choosing a fixed height from the top edge really helped them to look 'right' to us. DDs are under the window: And here's a closer shot (we have doubles on both sides of the sink):

I'm concerned that the wood in the middle is too thin to take the pressure there would be at the points of where the screws are attached. I think that is why handles on IKEA cabinet drawers are on the top portion and not in the middle. Most other cabinet lines have the thickness of the drawer and then there is a piece of wood to the drawer itself which distributes the load. Where did you put your handles? That said, I would think there is a work around to all this, but it would be nice to see what others have done.

It doesn't matter what color your appliances are. It'll look fine either way. The big question is why you're letting some guy mess with your vision? I think that the dark of ORB isn't the best with the light of Costa Esmeralda. In fact, all of your finishes are breezy and light, so ORB doesn't really make sense in your design. It would look fine, but your original plan makes more sense. Size is a different matter. Are you talking about using the very long, narrow Euro style wire pulls? People often get them so that they'll be just a few inches shorter than each cabinet door or drawer, and mount them all horiztonally. Just a margin of a couple of inches on either side. Positioning is a little tricky with shaker doors. Ordinarily, one centers the hardware in the frame, but that might put the bars too high below the counter to make that workable. Best to measure what's comfortable so you don't rap your knuckles. As long as they're a quarter inch above the inset, and the same placement on all, they'll be fine. Are your drawers slab front? Or are they also inset panel? That will make a big difference. Do you mostly have drawers in the lowers? Or mostly cabinets?

Thanks everyone for your replies. I did as you suggested, gooster, and taped them to the cabinets. Surprisingly, they looked MUCH different on the cabinets than they do sitting on a counter top. I did not even notice that the tops had a convex curve to them ... I thought they were straight! And unfortunately, the light reflecting off them really accentuates the curve and it is not quite the look I was going for. So, it is back to the drawing board for me. For anyone else going through the knob/pull selection process, actually putting them up on the cabinet is extremely helpful. Even when my DH held them up to the cabinets, I did not notice that the top edge was curved outwards. Yes, they are still lovely pulls, just not the pulls for me. Sigh.