How to choose kitchen cabinet hardware

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So you’ve finally scrounged up the money or the credit to invest in a new set of kitchen cabinets. Now that you’re ready to buy, you’ve got some serious thinking to do. The decisions that you make when buying kitchen cabinets will leave an impact that goes far beyond the kitchen itself. Neighbors, guests, and family members alike will judge you by the kitchen cabinet hardware that you choose. When it comes to picking out kitchen cabinet hardware, everyone could use a little help so here it is. Take a look at our little guide and give yourself the best chance at making the best decision so that you won’t regret your choices later after the money has already been spent. 

Functionality Verses Aesthetics and Cosmetics

When it comes to making decisions on cabinet hardware for your kitchen, it usually comes down to making a compromise between functionality and aesthetics. In making these decisions, one partner will usually push for the more cosmetically and visually appealing hardware while the other will be more concerned with functionality and durability. There are ways to get the best of both worlds, but you’ll probably have to pay more for it. One wonders whether manufacturers deliberately make so one-sided on purpose. 

While the shiny artisan fittings and Rococo hinges might look dazzling,  they won’t look so pretty when they fall off splattering cabinetry all over the floor. At a closer examination, you can find structural or mechanical flaws in the design of many of the prettier glitzier cabinet fittings. Conversely, when looking at durable more practical cabinet hardware, it’s hard to find anything that looks particularly pleasant to the eye. 

A decision will have to be made, and with the kind of money that most people spend on cabinet hardware, you’re going to want to make sure that your decision is a good one. 

If you’re going for more functional or durable hardware, try to at least find it in a color that will match the paint or finish on your cabinets. When you have bright yellow hardware on dark brown cabinets, it tends to stand out, and not in a good way. There are of course, some bold color combinations that actually work rather well together. Such combinations include red and yellow, black and red, white and blue etc.

Find a Theme and Stick with it

Most kitchens have some sort of theme going on. It’s important to identify that theme and stick with it so that you don’t end up buying hardware in mismatched colors that will make your kitchen look ridiculous. 

You need to take all of the other colors in your kitchen into account. Do you have light colored walls or dark colored walls? Do you have a black oven or a chrome oven? What color is your microwave? What color is your refrigerator? Do you have a backsplash, and if so, what color is it? Do you have a kitchen island? What color are your countertops? These are all  important questions to ask yourself when picking out hardware for your kitchen cabinets. 

One of the biggest factors to take into account when shopping for kitchen cabinet hardware is the placement of your appliances. When choosing between cabinets with knobs that swing open and drawers that pull open, you need to take your appliances into consideration. If a cabinet door or a kitchen drawer is not strategically placed, you can easily end up slamming a cabinet door into your pristine chrome refrigerator. 

Likewise, drawers that open too far and end up scratching the surface of other appliances. If you have a lot of chrome appliances in your kitchen, you’ll want to be especially careful about this because the material scratches so easily.  

Choosing the Right Materials for Kitchen Cabinet Hardware

Color is one thing, but material is another and you need to take it seriously. With so many options out there ,it’s easy to get carried away and start mix-matching a bunch of different pieces of hardware constructed from many different materials. 

If most of your kitchen appliances are chrome and you have a neutral or light color scheme throughout your kitchen, you should probably stick to stainless steel when picking out hardware for your cabinetry. 

The Big Picture

In the end, you have to look at the big picture, which is to design an aesthetically pleasing yet functional kitchen complete with high-quality hardware. When you first start shopping, the myriad of choices might seem overwhelming and the process might even seem a little daunting. After all, one can only stare at piece after piece of cabinet hardware for so long before it gets confusing, frustrating, or boring. 

Take your time and use the tips that you learned here to make the best decisions so that when all is said and done, you will have a fabulous kitchen that you will be proud of. 

Madera Interior Solutions LLC is a design firm, custom cabinetry maker and countertops fabricator. They have been providing and installing quality kitchen cabinets in Phoenix since 2016. Their showroom is located at 745 W Baseline Rd Mesa, AZ.