Ever since I came across this crazy good kitchen remodel a few years ago, I’ve been thinking about horizontal pulls on upper cabinetry. They definitely make for a streamlined look as opposed to a bunch of knobs. There’s something about the vertical lines of the cabinetry mixed with the horizontal lines of the hardware that provide an aesthetically appealing contrast. They seem pretty practical, too. But maybe that’s because I’m on the shorter side {5’4″ on a good day}, so reaching up and opening a cabinet via a horizontal pull feels more natural than the same action via a vertical pull.
Whatever the reason for my obsession over the placement of cabinet hardware, I saved the two images above in my kitchen inspiration folder noting ‘horizontal hardware?’ It should come as no surprise that when it came time to install hardware onto our own kitchen cabinets I suggested to Handy Hubby the idea of placing pulls horizontally on the upper cabinets. After seeing the simplicity of them {HH has a more modern aesthetic than me}, he was game.
We went with the VÄRDE handles from IKEA and chose not to use the rosettes.
Using a drill template that we had leftover from hardware installation in our previous home, HH added the handles to the cabinets. {Never mind the photo styling. It’s what I like to call ‘we just moved in 5 days ago and are still emptying box contents wherever.’ And the bar stool goes to the island. I haven’t found one for the desk area yet.}
Like my inspiration pics, we installed them horizontally on the upper cabinetry centered at the bottom of each door.
They have a good weight to them and feel nice in your hand when you open and close the doors.
Leaving the rosettes off gives a cleaner look.
More of the same on the other side of the kitchen. Unlike my inspiration pics, we didn’t do only horizontal placement on the lower cabinets. We kind of just went one-by-one pretend opening the drawers and cabinets and placing the handles the way that felt most natural to us. Basically, all the lower cabinet doors {except for the dishwasher panel and trash pull-out} got vertical handles and the drawers got horizontal ones.
It’s nice opening the drawers and doors via actual hardware instead of strips of masking tape…which is what we were doing. Little by little, it’s coming together.
images: 1) Cottage Living 2) flickr 3) IKEA 4-8 ) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
budget decor, DIY, inspiration, renovation