Cabinet Pull Handles: A Complete UK Buyer's Guide

Whether you are updating a kitchen, a wardrobe or a bathroom vanity unit, the right cabinet pull handles - sometimes called cabinet pulls or drawer pulls - can change the whole feel of a room for a modest outlay. This guide from our ironmongery team explains the sizes, finishes, materials, designs and fixings that matter, so you can choose the perfect cabinet pull handles for every cupboard and drawer in your home.

Supplied by Trade Door Handles, trusted UK supplier of architectural ironmongery since 1976, with quick nationwide delivery.

Cabinet pull handles, also known as cabinet pulls or drawer pulls, are the bar, bow and cup-style handles fixed to cupboard doors and drawer fronts. Unlike a single knob, a pull handle has two fixing points, which gives a firmer, more comfortable grip that is easier to use on drawers and larger doors. You will find cabinet pull handles right through the home and in commercial settings, from fitted kitchens and home offices to schools, hotels and healthcare buildings.

Cabinet pull handles are far more versatile than many people assume. Because they suit almost any cupboard, drawer or unit, they work in nearly every room:

• Kitchen units, drawers and larder doors
• Bedroom wardrobes, dressers and chests of drawers
• Living-room sideboards, media units and display cabinets
• Bathroom vanity units and bathroom cabinets
• Home-office storage, cupboards and pedestals

You do not have to buy your cabinet hardware from your kitchen supplier. Fitting your own choice of cabinet pull handles is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to make a standard kitchen feel unique.

The main alternative to a pull is a knob. Cabinet knobs use a single fixing and suit smaller doors, while cabinet pull handles give a two-point grip that works better on drawers and taller doors. Many ranges also offer matching knobs on roses, knobs on backplates, ceramic knobs and popular knurled knobs, so you can mix cabinet knobs and pull handles - for example, knobs on the doors and drawer pulls on the drawers - while keeping a single finish across the room.

Quality, weight and price all start with the material. Cabinet pull handles are commonly made from solid brass, stainless steel, steel, zinc, cast iron and even wood. Brass and stainless steel sit at the premium end for durability and feel, while zinc and steel offer strong value on larger projects.

Finish is where cabinet pull handles set the tone of a room. Traditional favourites were polished brass, polished chrome and satin chrome. When stainless-steel appliances became popular, satin nickel and satin stainless steel took over, as they blend neatly with modern kitchens. Today the most in-demand finishes are:

• Matt black - bold, modern and hugely popular
• Antique brass, aged bronze and copper - warm and traditional
• Satin brass, brushed brass and burnished brass - the current on-trend look
• Satin nickel, polished chrome and satin chrome - safe, timeless neutrals
• Natural wood and leather - for a softer, more tactile finish

Alongside finish, the profile sets the style. Reeded and lined handles bring texture and a period feel, knurled handles add a tactile, engineered grip, and the plain T-bar remains the everyday classic. Cup pulls and bow handles are also popular on Shaker and traditional kitchens, while slim bar handles suit sleek, handleless-look designs.

A reeded handle has fine vertical lines; a knurled handle has a cross-hatched grip; and a T-bar is a clean, straight pull. All three run through our cabinet pull handles ranges in the leading finishes above, so you can keep one consistent look across an entire kitchen.

Cabinet pull handles split broadly into two looks. Modern and contemporary kitchen cabinet pulls tend to be slim bars, T-bars and knurled or reeded designs in matt black, brushed brass or satin brass. Traditional and period styles lean on cup pulls, bow handles and antique brass or pewter finishes. Because the same door will take either, swapping the handles is the quickest way to move a kitchen from classic to contemporary without a full refit.

Cabinet pull handles come in a huge range of sizes, from tiny 64mm bar pulls to statement handles over 500mm long. Getting the size and placement right makes all the difference to how a finished kitchen looks and feels.

Always order by the fixing centre - the distance between the two bolt holes - rather than the overall length. As a rough guide, shorter centres suit doors and narrow drawers, while longer cabinet pull handles suit wide drawers and tall larder units. Matching the centres to your unit is the single most important measurement, so it pays to check before you order.

Most cabinet pull handles secure from the back of the door using two M4 threaded bolts, which is the industry-standard thread. A few designs fix from the front instead. Fitting is straightforward:

1. Mark and drill the two fixing holes at the correct centres.
2. Pass the M4 bolts through from the back of the door.
3. Tighten them into the threaded posts on the handle.

Most cabinet pull handles are designed for 18mm to 20mm thick cabinet doors. Some brands supply bolts in several lengths, others in only one - where a door or wardrobe front is thicker, we can supply longer M4 bolts to suit.

Placement is one of the most-searched questions on this topic. As a general rule, fit handles to the bottom rail of wall-unit doors and the top rail of base-unit doors, keeping them a consistent distance from the corner. On drawers, centre the handle or line it up with the door pulls for a tidy, uniform look.

Cabinet pull handles should not be used on normal internal doors in high-traffic areas, because the load is carried by just two thin bolts. For doors, choose purpose-made door pull handles that face-fix or bolt through with thicker fixings. Fitting cabinet pull handles to a low-traffic wardrobe door around 35mm thick is usually fine, as wardrobes see far less use than a busy doorway.

On drawers, cabinet pull handles are often called drawer pulls, and the material sets the mood of the whole room. Popular options include brass and antique brass drawer pulls for a warm, traditional look, copper and brushed brass for a softer metallic, chrome for a crisp modern finish, and wooden or leather drawer pulls for a natural, tactile feel. As a rule, centre a single pull on a narrow drawer and fit two evenly spaced handles on a wide drawer so it opens squarely and looks balanced.

We supply cabinet pull handles from the UK's leading manufacturers, so you can compare style, quality and price in one place:

• Carlisle Brass Fingertip Design (FTD) - one of the largest cabinet ranges in the country
• Alexander and Wilks - contemporary designs and on-trend finishes
• From The Anvil - hand-finished, period and blacksmith styles
• Heritage Brass - solid brass handles in carefully matched finishes
• Hoxton - a premium range known for its knurled and reeded designs

If you want one finish across the whole house, Heritage Brass is hard to beat, as every item - from door and window furniture to cabinet pull handles, sockets and light switches - is plated to match. There is a socket in every kitchen and a light switch beside almost every door, so matching them is far easier when it all comes from a single, coordinated range.

We supply a massive range of cabinet pull handles and wider kitchen and cabinet hardware ready to ship. Our Kendal and Carlisle showrooms give local and trade customers large displays to browse in person, and our Carlisle branch sits only a short drive from two of the UK's biggest manufacturers, so we can often collect the same day for a faster service.