I really need to get a FAQ page together and have it as a tab on my home page.  It seems you all have a lot of the same questions.  Until that FAQ page shows up {please, Fairy Blog Mother?}, I’ll try to answer the most popular ones in the form of a post.  In just the last few weeks, I’ve had more than one question about the measurements of our kitchen cabinet hardware.  They are the stainless steel IKEA LANSA handles and I blogged about adding them to the cabinets here. They’re available in packs of two and cost ranges from $6.99 to $9.99 per pack.  They’re suitable for cabinet doors or drawers 1/2″ to 3/4″ thick.  They come in several lengths for various types of use. The sizes listed on IKEA’s website and packaging are the distances from screw hole to screw hole.  The length of the actual handle {longer than the hole spacing measurement} is listed under ‘product dimensions’ on the IKEA website.  We only used 2 sizes in our kitchen:  10 1/16″ and 6 1/4″…which seems to now be listed as 6 5/16″.

On our taller 42″ upper cabinets we installed the 10 1/16″ handles…

Above the microwave and refrigerator we used the 6 1/4″…

On the wider lower drawers we added the 10 1/16″…

On the narrower drawers to either side of the stove we added the 6 1/4″… {Note: the bottom door is really a pull-out trash/recycling center so we placed the hardware horizontally for ease of function.}

Finally, on the kitchen island we mixed things up.  The wide drawers have the 10 1/16″ handles while the cabinet doors have the 6 1/4″ handles.

I think the thing to keep in mind while picking cabinet hardware is the width/height of each door and drawer.  Personally, I like the hardware to mimic the size of the cabinet or drawer.  A big ol’ door would look awfully naked with a teeny handle.  Likewise, a smallish drawer would look pretty silly with a crazy big pull.  Keep things to scale.  You may even want to buy several sizes and hold them up to the doors/drawers before making a commitment.  Just return the ones you don’t use. I’d also suggest buying a few extras {we have 2 backup handles of each size we used} in case something happens to the handles and they need replaced.  If it’s been several years since you installed your hardware, there’s a good chance it’ll be discontinued.

Adding hardware to plain stock cabinets and even older outdated cabinets is a cheap upgrade.  We love ours.  Try it yourself!

FYI – I was not compensated in any way for this post.  I just love sharing great products!

images: all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Have you had enough of the DIY sliding barn door yet?  Okay, I promise this is the last post devoted to it.  I just wanted to share a few finishing touches we’ve added – some handles.  Handy Hubby added this steel pull to the bedroom side of the sliding door.  I think it’s actually meant to be a drawer pull but we liked the modern, simple lines of it and the flat black finish goes well with the track.  And the less than $10 price tag wasn’t too bad either.

The bathroom side of the barn door posed a slight problem.  Since the door was mounted onto the outside {bedroom side} of the bathroom doorway, there wasn’t enough room for a standard handle that would stick out from the door…it would have banged into the door frame and kept the door from opening/closing properly…not to mention ding up the frame I just painted.  We needed something that wouldn’t protrude from the door.  Handy Hubby found this recessed door handle for less than $5.  He simply routed out a ‘well’ to place and screw the flush pull into.  It works perfectly!

Notice how the recessed handle doesn’t sit right at the edge of the door.  There are 2 reasons for this:  1) the screws for the pull handle on the other side of the door are there and 2) we wouldn’t be able to reach the recessed handle from the bathroom side of the door when it was completely shut. {There is a small overlap so that the door covers the door frame moulding on the bedroom side of the doorway.}

So, finally, our barn door is fully functional and D-O-N-E.  Going to the bathroom has never been more fun.

FYI – I was not compensated in any way for this post.  I just love sharing stuff we find and DIY!

images:  all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking