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.