Drawer Pulls

All the cabinet hardware is in and I'm very pleased. The stressing, sweating and tedious measuring paid off.

Last to be installed were these pulls on two large banks of drawers. I'm excited to begin putting things away and clearing out my dining room and the rest of my house that has looked like a storage locker for the last four months.

I now have lots of room for my cookie and cake decorating supplies. I can't wait to begin baking in my new kitchen.

Lots of storage space!

Hardware Hesitation

I had been putting off installing the hardware for my kitchen cabinets because I was stressed about putting them on perfectly.

There's a lot of careful measuring involved and it's a one shot deal. Mis-drilled holes can't be filled and painted because of the reflective foil finish on the cabinets. There is no way to duplicate the finish.

After pondering and pondering I got a great tip from my brother Josh who just remodeled his own kitchen - use painter's tape to mark where you want to drill. The texture of the tape also keeps the drill bit from slipping and sliding.

Yesterday afternoon I got the courage to start with the knobs which went very smoothly. This morning I started on the drawer pulls which are more complicated. I just took my time and I'm off to a great start. I have one bank finished and later today I'll tackle the remaining two.

Here are some installation tips.

Knobs:

Put a piece of painter's tape on the cabinet where the knob will be placed.

Make a template out of a square edged piece of cardboard by simply lining it up with the top and side of the cabinet door and marking with a pen where you want your knob to be placed. Drill a hole there and then line it up again and mark with a pen through the hole and onto the painter's tape where you need to drill.

Make sure you use a drill bit that is the same size as your screws.

Add the knob and repeat.  Be sure to flip the template for the second door on double door cabinets.

Pulls:

The pulls needed to be lined up perfectly so I snapped a chalk line down where each of the screws holes needed to be drilled and where the center of the handle needed to line up. My daughter helped me snap the chalk lines while I held the string in place. I then put painter's tape on the middle of each of the drawers so that I could draw center lines through the chalk lines. Where those line intersected with the outside chalk lines is where I pre-drilled for the screws.

Finishing Details

It's been a busy few days for me, trying to decide on which knobs and pulls to buy for my kitchen cabinets.

After scouring the choices at six stores including Restoration Hardware, Lowe's and Home Depot,  I made a decision. I chose Square Bin Pulls and Tall Mushroom Knobs  in polished chrome from Rejuvenation.

The deciding factors were the finish, style and quality. Polished chrome was an easy finish to find knobs in, but not bin pulls. And, it was important for me to use polished chrome since it's the finish on my faucet and my light fixtures.

The square shape of the bin pull compliments the clean lines of my flat cabinets. The style actually pulls off quite a feat by looking both modern and vintage at the same time. A too modern design wouldn't look right in my house which was build in the 1920's.

The polished chrome is so bright and reflective that you can see me taking the picture.

If things go as planned, my kitchen should look quite different after the weekend. My goal is to install the hardware and add my backplash tile which will cover an entire wall.