When it comes to making a house a home, there are several different aspects to consider. From lighting to which colour of paint to use, all the way down to your kitchen cabinet handles – everything needs to be planned and picked out accordingly. If you don’t care about making a statement – sure, pick whatever you want. But, if you want to make a statement, have everything in your kitchen be pleasing to the eye. And you want to have quality craftsmanship in your kitchen – materials, style, and colour do matter.
In the same way, you probably didn’t pick your flooring up at a local department store. You also don’t want to choose shoddy kitchen cabinet handles when planning your kitchen renovation. If you are going to spend a little more money on any part of your kitchen, it should be the hardware. Choosing appropriate hardware is important, but making sure it is made out of quality materials is also essential.
If you’ve ever lived in a home or apartment and the cabinet hardware was cheap – you probably noticed it after a few months, especially if it was a specific material. Landlords, for example, in apartments, tend to use the CHEAPEST materials they can. This leads to all sorts of issues such as:
- The hardware stops functioning as well as it once did.
- The hardware breaks!
- The hardware such as the knobs or pulls lose its shine becomes dull or dirty looking, or they even lose the colour altogether, and the very thin coating on it wears off.
Chances are, if you lived in a place where the hardware had one of the above happen, you probably promised yourself that when you had your own home, you would choose something better. Well. Now is your chance!
Below, we will be talking about the different types of hardware, materials, styles for your kitchen, and of course, how to go a little off-course and make a statement with your cabinet hardware!
The Different Types Of Cabinet Hardware
This is the easiest part of your kitchen renovation plan because, as of right now, there are TWO main types of cabinet hardware:
– Knobs
– Pulls
You can have all knobs, all pulls, or a mixture of both. If you plan on having a mixture of the two, it’s in your best interest to plan this out so that it’s aesthetically pleasing.
For example, if you plan to have your cabinets made by a cabinet maker, you might have a sink with two cabinets below and 4 drawers on each side. Aesthetically speaking, the 8 drawers would look better with pulls, and the two cabinets in the middle would look best with knobs. This isn’t really about function per se because cabinets can have knobs or handles, and drawers can also have knobs or handles. It’s more about how it looks.
Choosing A Style For Your Hardware
Thankfully when it comes to a cabinet maker and hardware, there are tons of options and styles to choose from. This way, you get a smooth transition throughout the kitchen and can stick with your overall style. For example, if you have a modern kitchen, you probably won’t want to go with traditional hardware.
A kitchen showroom might not have traditional, modern, industrial names for its hardware. Still, there is an easy way to tell which by the materials, angles, and colours used. Here are a few examples when talking to a sunshine coast cabinet maker.
– Modern: Modern colour palettes don’t include a ton of colours. It tends to be more neutral colours or even materials like platinum or copper. Nothing too ornate or too busy. Copper T pull handles would look good in a modern kitchen.
– Traditional: Essentially, traditional is the opposite of Modern, so this type of hardware would be materials like gold, brushed brass, or nickel. These materials equate to clean and simple to help create a classic look. Lean and long handles would go well in a traditional kitchen.
– Minimalistic: A minimalistic kitchen would use something like integrated handles. According to Architectural Digest, these are handles with an inward bevel edge, so your fingers wrap around on one side of the hardware. Since a minimalistic kitchen has MINIMAL in it, you would want to make sure nothing is ornate, highly visible, too clunky, or too obvious. Medium to long handles made in brushed silver or brushed stainless steel would work best.
Of course, there are tons of other options, but this at least gives you an idea of how to choose the proper hardware for your kitchen. A starting point, so to speak!
Making A Statement With Cabinet Handles
In the same way, you can make a statement with jewellery. You can also do so with cabinet handles. Above, we went through some ways to define what hardware colours and materials you can use for your specific kitchen style. But, that is not the end-all to be all. It is your kitchen, so you can do whatever you want with it, including making a statement.
– Black Hardware With White Cabinets: This would undoubtedly make a statement. Black hardware tends to have a cosy, homey, classic look to it. The stark white cabinets with black hardware would be a bold but pleasing look.
– Choosing Odd Shapes or Styles: Shapes that you can think of at the top of your head are; square, rectangular, circle, elliptical, etc. But, utilizing some of the higher grade brands out there will allow for better craftsmanship and varying shapes like; mushroom, diamond-shaped, door-knocker styles, etc. These would create a bold statement – just make sure you like them and made well!
– Using Different Materials: You can very well use the same materials, colours, and shapes for your cabinets. Or you can use different materials. For example, you could use brushed brass and gold or brushed brass and nickel for a traditional kitchen. If you want to use two separate materials, talk to your cabinet maker or visit a kitchen showroom to ask about how to do this the right way.
Even though kitchen cabinet hardware is small in terms of scale, it can be one of the most critical and defining details of your kitchen. When done horribly, it shows. When done well, it also shows and can take your design to a whole new level!