Selecting the Perfect Drawer Hardware
Choosing new drawer hardware is a great way to freshen up your kitchen or bathroom. There are so many different kinds and styles of drawer hardware that the choice can seem like a large one. You have to think about the style your cabinets have and how they fit in with the appliances or other fixtures in the room. Then quality and durability are also important issues, as are color and material of the drawer hardware. Also the size of the drawers is extremely important because even good quality hardware can be damaged by drawers that are too big for it. Here are some ideas to help you in your search for new drawer hardware.
Drawer Sizes
Of course people do have different sizes of drawers in their kitchens and bathrooms, and it is important to take the size of the drawer into account when selecting drawer hardware. Take the time to measure the drawers before you go shopping for hardware. Also feel how heavy the drawer is and how easy or hard it is to pull out. All of these will need to be taken into account when selecting drawer hardware. Each piece of hardware is made to pull a set amount of weight frequently, but having drawers that are heavier than the appropriate weight for the pull will cause the screws to strip and the knobs or handles to fall right off. Also purchasing the best screws for the job is important for the same reason. Heavy duty screws are needed for drawers that are very heavy or difficult to pull out.
Also the size of the drawer’s face is also important for stylistic purposes. You should think about how big the knob or handle is and how it will look against the size of the drawer face.
Types of Drawer Hardware
It is also important to understand the types of drawer hardware. There are two basic kinds of hardware for drawers. Handles and knobs both offer different looks and different ways of opening the drawer. Try a few different handles and knobs to see which kind fits in your hand better. Also remember that sometimes certain handles or knobs will not work as well as other handles or knobs. It all depends on the size of your hand, your reaching abilities, and whether or not you have arthritis or other hand problems.
Materials
Drawer hardware is available in several different kinds of materials. Currently metal is the most common material, and there are many different kinds of metal available. Some common choices include nickel, bronze, brass, and pewter, although there are certainly more choices than just those few kinds. Usually the type of metal you choose depends entirely on the color you want. Think about how each color will look against the color of the cabinets when making a decision.
In addition to metal, there are also a few other choices when it comes to materials. Glass drawer pulls are certainly making a comeback, probably because of the wide variety of choices in colors and styles. Hardware manufacturers are able to make many different variations with glass rather than metal because they have a much wider palate of color to work with. While metal hardware may be very ornate, it typically will not be very colorful.
Style
Style is also very important when choosing new hardware for your drawers. Style can be as simple as how the hardware looks on the drawer or as complicated as how it feels in your hand. It is a very good idea to take samples of several pieces of hardware home so that you can place them up against the drawers and see how they look.