6 Types of Decorative Cabinet Hardware for Your Kitchen Renovation
Cabinet hardware is often considered the jewelry of the kitchen or bathroom. When remodeling your space choosing your decorative cabinet hardware shouldn’t be treated as an afterthought. The right new hardware can also act as a makeover for your existing cabinetry’s new styling. Whether the look is bold or subtle, in metal, glass, acrylic, or leather, they’re a necessary addition for interacting with your cabinets that will have a large impact on the style of your space.
For your consideration, here are some common types of decorative cabinet hardware.
Pulls
Pulls are fixtures attached to drawers or doors that allow you to open and close the cabinet. Their defining feature is they're mounted to the cabinet face at two points. Pulls are available in many shapes, sizes, and concepts. Some allow grasping the cabinet hardware only with fingers, while others allow the entire hand to grasp the cabinet hardware. For this reason, many people prefer to place pulls on cabinet drawers. Pulls are available in a variety of sizes in length, from the very small at an inch or two to the very large at 30-inches or greater found on bar/appliance pulls.
Cup pulls
Cup pulls are typically used on drawers. Also known as bin pulls or half-moon pulls due to their semi-circular shape. Cup pulls are unique from other pulls because they can only be used in one direction by grasping with the hand from the underside of the cup to open or close a cabinet drawer.
Another unique quality of cups is their socket mounting placement. Some cups have their mounting screws hidden, while others leave the screw head visible from the exterior drawer face of the cabinet.
Edge pulls
Edge pulls (also called finger pulls) are considered a minimalistic and contemporary style pull. Edge pulls are mounted at the edge of a cabinet door or drawer forming a low-profile ledge at the top, bottom, or side of the cabinet face for the fingers to grip and pull open or push close.
Knobs
Knobs are fixtures connected at one point to drawers, or doors, that allow you to open or close the cabinet door with your fingers. Like pulls, knobs are available in a plethora of shapes, sizes, and materials. Their unique characeritisc is their singular mounting point.
Drop pulls
Drop pulls are hinged handle fixtures attached to drawer fronts and typically found on more ornate cabinet items. A drop pull can function in two ways: the first, similar to a door knocker, the drop pull operates by grasping a piece of metal hinged at one end. The second uses the same concept but with a piece of metal between two hinged end-points. Its defining characteristic is the ability of the pull or handle to swing up and down from the hinge when grasped.
Backplates
Another ornate consideration are backplates. Backplates are a decorative piece of metal mounted flush on the cabinet door or drawer surface meant to be placed under a knob or pull. The backplate has one mounting hole for knobs, and two mounting holes for pulls, where the two items will align together as one decorative piece.