Cabinet Knobs: A Buyer’s Guide
If you feel like your kitchen is looking dated, it could be those ugly old knobs that grace your classic cabinets. You know, the ones that are chipped or worn or have no personality?
Cabinet knobs are essential for function and style. Over the past few decades, decorative hardware designs have evolved from round knobs made of wood and glass to highly stylized and intricately designed knobs of all shapes and sizes.
If you’ve noticed that your local store has a lot more cabinet knob options than ever before, it’s probably because they know that online selections run in the thousands. This doesn’t have to make shopping online an intimidating task: Websites make it easy to see and choose your knob, separating styles into categories like colors, finishes, themes, and materials.
Things to think about when beginning your search include:
Basic rules of thumb: Conventional wisdom suggests that the more detailed your cabinet is, the simpler the style of knobs you should choose. Conversely, if you have classic cabinets with very little detail, you can go crazy with colors, material choices, and styles.
Matching Your Space: Since you’ll likely have a lot of design elements in the area you’re decorating, the pieces should flow together. Muted cabinet colors lend themselves perfectly to a tastefully decorated room and allow for more options in cabinet knobs! If you have multiple paint colors in a space or are using wallpaper, you may need to tone down the style of the knob design so your pieces blend into a uniform look.
Colors: Brightly colored knobs are an easy way to complement your cabinet finish. This is especially true in the children’s bedroom, where the use of color is a subtle way to stimulate their growing minds and inspire creativity. Choosing the right size for their little hands is also an important consideration, as is the safety of the knob. Acrylic knobs are a perfect choice for this location as they are simple in design, come in dozens of colors, and are durable and easy to keep clean.
Materials and Finishes: Metal is by far the most popular choice in cabinet knobs, including hundreds of options from aluminum to zinc. Knobs have traditionally been made from almost every metal available. This is not a mystery; Metal knobs are easy to match your furniture and add a classic look to your cabinet. Finishes can range from brushed, rubbed, matte, glazed, and many more.
Bathrooms are a perfect place to get creative with knobs. If your bathroom area is well lit with pastel paint colors, glass knobs perfectly complement the porcelain, glass, and mirrors traditionally used to decorate bathroom areas. Pewter and bronze are also an attractive match for darker wood tones and bold design elements.
Did you know you can buy cabinet knobs in the shapes of fish, animals, clothing, sports, flowers, and celestial beings? Whether it’s a kitchen, study, laundry room or bedroom, the modern home needs as many drawers and cabinets for storage as can practically fit in one room… they all require handles or knobs!
Your knobs will stay shiny and functional if you take steps to keep them clean. This is an easy process: remove the hardware with a screwdriver and soak it in warm, soapy water. Using a microfiber cloth, clean any residue from the knobs and apply metal polish, gently rubbing it into the hardware. Be sure to also clean the screws for long lasting use. After drying, the knobs are now ready to be replaced!
Cabinet knobs are the worker bees in your home’s design and function; small but numerous, hardworking, often bright and colourful, but always steadfast and essential to achieving your overall goal of beauty and productivity.