Kitchen beauty: how to choose the best knobs or handles

Style and function are two reasons to choose quality kitchen handles. Kitchens get messy on the regular, and to preserve its longevity you need to have handles to stop the mess getting onto the cupboard fronts.

You also need them to open your cupboards and drawers if you have a full-overlay or frameless cabinet, as your fingers won’t be able to squeeze into those tiny gaps!

Whether it’s uber elegant antique drawer knobs or contemporarily sophisticated handles, there are near-endless designs to enhance your kitchen’s luxurious feel.

But how do you choose the right style for your home? What goes into ensuring your space is one that has the perfect additions?

Here are a few tips for reaching that happy place of style and functionality:

1. Would you prefer knobs or handles?

Obviously there is no one-size-fits-all, strict-rule solution when it comes to choosing between the two designs. One option is to use knobs for all the doors and handles for all your kitchen drawers. For larger doors like pull-out doors and pantries, handles are always a good option as it makes for grabbing them much easier.

Drawers can be extremely heavy, especially when they’re full of kitchenware, so handles are a good option for the heavier parts of the space. You can also feel free to stick to one choice or the other, as the continuity creates a smooth, uniform finish that is always very pleasing to the eye.

When choosing handles it’s important to remember to go with horizontal for drawers and vertical for doors, finding a handle that is not too heavy if you choose the vertical option.

2. Do you want curved or square designs?

Consider your cabinet’s style, lighting fixtures, countertop edge as well as other design aspects. Do they have curved or square lines? Choose fittings that will suit the type of lines in your kitchen design.

Examples of square cabinet styles include the flat panel, shaker and other modified shaker doors with squared or flatter looks. Square-shaped hardware can still appear round in shape with square lines - these have a much more contemporary feel to them!

Curvy cabinet styles include pillow-top doors, recessed panel doors with ogee edges, traditional raised panel doors, and beads on the outside or inside profiles. Curved-design hardware has more detail and soft edges. These are more transitional and traditional.

3. Think about the finish before finalising

Many homeowners opt for brushed nickel or chrome, but there are numerous other designs available to add some serious style to your kitchen. You don’t necessarily need that special matching faucet so long as the finish compliments other design finishes.

Some designs work perfectly with brushed stainless and brushed nickel faucets, including satin brass (though this can be difficult), antique pewter, bronze (light to dark), black matte, aluminium, rust and oil-rubbed bronze.

Conversely, finishes that work well with chrome faucet are more restrictive, like fark bronze, pewter, black, white and clear glass.

So, what style is perfect for your kitchen? Remember, the most important decision is based upon whether you want knobs or handles, as this, of course, sets the entire aesthetic tone.

From there, it’s important to consider the actual design of either option in itself, always considering whether it will be the perfect style for your home or not. Once you have got this out of the way, you should be able to find the perfect fixtures for your stunning kitchen makeover!