Cabinet Hardware Placement: Where to Put Knobs and Pulls

What is the standard placement for cabinet hardware?

Put knobs and pulls on the side opposite the hinges: in the bottom corner of wall cabinet doors and the top corner of base cabinet doors, about 2 to 3 inches in from each edge. On drawers, center the hardware left to right, and center it top to bottom unless the drawer is deep, then set it higher.

Opposite the hinges, always. Hardware goes on the edge of the door that swings open.
Low on wall cabinets, high on base cabinets — commonly about 2 to 3 inches in from the corner, so it ends up near countertop height.
Shaker doors set their own position: center on the stile and line the pull up with the inner edge of the rail.
Drawers: centered left to right, centered top to bottom on standard drawers, moved toward the top on deep ones.
The 1/3 rule: a drawer pull about one-third as long as the drawer is wide — or two pulls once a drawer passes roughly 24 to 30 inches.
Measure center to center, test with tape, drill with a template. Consistency matters more than the exact inch.
Lily Ann sells knobs and pulls — each product page lists the center-to-center spacing you drill to.

Cabinet Hardware Placement at a Glance

Every standard placement comes back to one idea: put the hardware where your hand already goes. That means the side opposite the hinges on doors, low on cabinets you reach up to, high on cabinets you reach down to, and in the middle of drawers you pull straight out.

Where	Knob	Pull
Wall (upper) cabinet door	Bottom corner, opposite the hinges, about 2–3 in from the bottom and side edges	Vertical, in the same bottom corner; the bottom end of the pull sits at the mark
Base (lower) cabinet door	Top corner, opposite the hinges, about 2–3 in from the top and side edges	Vertical, in the same top corner; the top end of the pull sits at the mark
Shaker (framed) door	Centered on the stile, level with the inner edge of the rail, or on the point where they meet	Centered on the stile; the end of the pull lines up with the inner edge of the rail and never runs onto it
Standard drawer	Centered left to right and top to bottom	Centered both ways; about 1/3 as long as the drawer is wide
Deep drawer	Centered left to right, moved up toward the top	Centered left to right, often 2–3 in down from the top edge
Wide drawer (past roughly 24–30 in)	Two knobs, spaced evenly	Two pulls, or one long pull centered

These are common conventions that hardware makers and designers repeat, not building codes and not a Lily Ann specification. They exist because they suit most people's reach. If your kitchen has a reason to break one — a very tall pantry door, someone who needs hardware at a different height, a look you love — break it on purpose and do it the same way everywhere.

White Shaker Elite kitchen with brass knobs in the lower corners of the wall cabinet doors and centered on the drawer fronts

The Three Rules Every Placement Follows

Before any measuring, three rules decide where hardware goes. Get these right and the exact inch matters much less.

Opposite the hinges. Hardware goes on the edge of the door that swings open. It sounds obvious, but on a run of mixed left- and right-hand doors it is the easiest mistake to make. If you are fitting or replacing doors too, our guide to cabinet hinge types covers the hinge side of the job.
Low on wall cabinets, high on base cabinets. You reach up to open an upper cabinet, so its hardware sits in the bottom corner. You reach down to a base cabinet, so its hardware sits in the top corner. Either way the hardware ends up near countertop height, where your hand already is.
The same spot on every matching piece. All wall-cabinet hardware the same distance from the bottom, all base-cabinet hardware the same distance from the top, all drawer pulls in the same position. Inconsistent placement is what people notice — far more than whether you chose 2 inches or 3.

Where to Put Knobs and Pulls on Cabinet Doors

On doors, the corner rule does most of the work: hardware goes in the corner opposite the hinges — the bottom corner on wall cabinets and the top corner on base cabinets. What changes is how you measure into that corner, and that depends on whether the door is framed, like a Shaker door, or flat.

Navy Blue Shaker base cabinets with pulls near the top of each door and white wall cabinets with pulls near the bottom

Wall (upper) cabinet doors

Knobs sit in the bottom corner on the opening side, commonly about 2 to 3 inches up from the bottom edge and 2 to 3 inches in from the side. Pulls are usually mounted vertically in that same corner, with the bottom end of the pull at the mark rather than its center.

Base (lower) cabinet doors

The same logic, flipped: the top corner on the opening side, about 2 to 3 inches down from the top and in from the side. A vertical pull hangs down from that point, so the top end of the pull sits at the mark.

Shaker and other framed doors: let the frame decide

A Shaker door has a frame around a recessed center panel. The upright frame pieces are called stiles and the horizontal ones are rails. On these doors the frame gives you the position, so you barely need a tape measure:

Pulls: center the pull on the stile, left to right, and line up its end with the inner edge of the rail. The pull should not run onto the rail itself.
Knobs: center the knob on the stile, either level with the inner edge of the rail for a cleaner, updated look, or on the point where the stile and rail meet for a traditional one.

This is why Shaker cabinets are forgiving: the door shows you where the hardware goes. For the style side — which knobs and pulls suit a Shaker door in the first place — see our Shaker cabinet hardware styles.

Slab (flat) doors: equal distance from the corner

A slab door has no frame to line up with, so the convention is equal distance from the two edges that meet at the corner — commonly about 2 inches from both. For a pull, it is the end of the pull that sits at that point, not its center and not the screw hole, so the screw holes land slightly further in. The measuring section below shows how to work that out.

Where to Put Pulls on Drawers

Drawer hardware is centered left to right on almost every drawer. The real decision is height: centered top to bottom on a standard drawer, and moved up toward the top on a deep one, where a centered pull sits too low to grab comfortably.

Colorado White Shaker island with long bar pulls centered on each drawer front

Standard drawers — the shallow top drawer on a base cabinet, for example: center the knob or pull both ways.
Deep drawers — pot drawers and the lower drawers in a stack: keep the hardware centered left to right, but move it up, commonly about 2 to 3 inches down from the top edge.
Shaker drawer fronts: center the hardware within the recessed panel, or on the top rail if you want it higher and easier to reach.

Stacked drawers: pick one approach and repeat it

A bank of three or four drawers of different heights has two accepted layouts:

Centered on each drawer. Every pull sits in the middle of its own drawer face. Because the drawers are different heights, the gaps between the pulls are uneven — that is expected, and it reads as calm and traditional.
The same distance from the top of every drawer. Every pull sits, say, 2 to 3 inches below the top edge of its drawer. It reads cleaner and more modern, and it puts the pull where you grab on every drawer.

Both are correct. Mixing the two in one kitchen is the thing to avoid.

Wide drawers: one long pull or two shorter ones

Once a drawer gets past roughly 24 to 30 inches wide, many designers switch to two pulls, or use one long pull centered across it. If you use two, there are two common ways to space them: centered on the lines that divide the drawer into thirds, or further out, toward the quarter points. Either looks deliberate. What matters is using the same method on every wide drawer in the room.

What Is the 1/3 Rule for Cabinet Hardware?

The 1/3 rule says a drawer pull looks best when it is about one-third as long as the drawer is wide. A 12-inch drawer suits a pull of about 4 inches, a 15-inch drawer about 5 inches, and a 30-inch drawer about 10 inches — or two shorter pulls instead.

Drawer width	1/3 of the width	What people usually do
12 in	4 in	One pull about 4 in long, or a knob
15 in	5 in	One pull about 5 in long
18 in	6 in	One pull about 6 in long
24 in	8 in	One pull about 8 in long, or two smaller pulls
30 in	10 in	One pull about 10 in long, or two pulls spaced as above
36 in	12 in	One pull about 12 in long, or two pulls

Three things worth knowing about the rule:

It is a drawer rule. Door pulls are chosen for the look you want and the height of the door, not its width.
It is a starting point, not a law. Modern kitchens often go longer on purpose — pulls running two-thirds of the drawer or more — to stretch the horizontal line.
It is about what you see. Use the pull's overall length for the 1/3 check, and its center-to-center spacing for drilling (next section).

You will occasionally see "the 1/3 rule" used for height instead — a pull set a third of the way up a drawer front. That is a different idea. When most people ask about the 1/3 rule, they mean length. If you would rather work from ranges than a single number, our guide to choosing cabinet hardware has a size chart by drawer width.

How to Measure for Cabinet Hardware

Measure pulls center to center: the distance from the middle of one screw hole to the middle of the other. That number, not the pull's overall length, decides whether a pull fits existing holes and where you drill new ones.

Every pull has two lengths:

Overall length — end to end, what you see on the door.
Center-to-center — between the screw holes, what the drill cares about. It is often listed in millimeters.

A real example from our own range: the Black Contemporary Metal Pull 12-3/4 in is 325 mm long overall, with its screw holes 305 mm apart. That leaves 10 mm of bar past each hole: (325 − 305) ÷ 2.

That overhang is why the slab-door rule puts the end of the pull at your 2-inch mark: the first screw hole then sits further in by exactly the overhang. Work it out once per pull size and write it on your template.

Replacing hardware? Match the holes first

If you are swapping pulls on existing cabinets, measure the center-to-center spacing of the old holes before you shop. A new pull with the same spacing goes straight in. A different spacing means filling the old holes and drilling new ones — a bigger job on a painted or stained door, because the filled holes can show.

Knobs

A knob mounts on a single screw, so there is no spacing to match; placement is only about where its center sits. Do check how far it sticks out — its projection — if the knob sits close to a wall, an appliance or a neighboring door.

How to Measure and Drill: Step by Step

Decide your rule for each cabinet type, test it with tape before drilling, then use a template or jig so every hole lands in the same place. The template is the difference between one good door and a whole kitchen that lines up.

Write down your rules. One line each for wall doors, base doors, standard drawers, deep drawers and wide drawers — for example, “base doors: top corner, 2-1/2 in from the top and side.”
Test before you drill. Cut painter's tape or masking tape to the size of each knob or the full length of each pull, stick it where the hardware will go, and look at the whole wall from across the room. Mounting putty does the same job with the real hardware. Tape comes off; holes do not.
Use a template or jig. A cabinet hardware template or jig holds your measurements, so you set it once and drill every matching door and drawer the same way. You can buy one or make one cut to your own numbers. Measuring each door by hand is where small differences creep in.
Mark, then check again. Mark each hole with a sharp pencil and double-check it before drilling — especially that you are on the side opposite the hinges.
Check the run, not just the door. Before drilling a whole row, hold a level or straight edge across the marks. All the wall-cabinet marks should sit in one line, and all the base-cabinet marks in another.
Drill one, fit it, then do the rest. Drill straight and square, fit the first piece of hardware, and confirm it looks right before repeating. Clamping a scrap block behind the door where the bit comes out helps stop the wood splintering.

Two checks before you start: some doors and drawer fronts come pre-drilled, so look for existing holes first; and make sure the screws supplied with your hardware suit the thickness of your doors.

Common Hardware Placement Mistakes

Hardware on the hinge side. Most likely on a run where left- and right-hand doors alternate. Mark the opening edge of every door before you start.
Heights that drift. Each cabinet looks fine on its own and the kitchen looks wrong as a whole. A template fixes this.
Pulls running onto a Shaker rail. Line the end of the pull up with the inner edge of the rail instead.
Measuring to the screw hole instead of the pull. On slab doors, measure to the end of the pull, then work in to the hole.
Too high or too low to reach. Hardware that looks balanced but is awkward to grab has missed the point of the rules.
Drilling before testing. Ten minutes with tape is cheaper than filling holes.

Where to Go Next in Our Hardware Guides

This page covers where hardware goes and how to measure for it. Choosing the hardware itself — style, finish, knobs or pulls — is covered in our other guides.

Knobs or pulls? How to choose knobs and pulls for kitchen cabinets
Matching your kitchen's style: how to match cabinet hardware with kitchen decor
Modern kitchens: choosing cabinet handles for a modern kitchen
Finishes: mixing and matching hardware finishes

When you are ready to buy, Lily Ann sells cabinet knobs and pulls alongside our cabinets — 132 items in the category as of Sep 2026. Check the center-to-center spacing on the product page before you order.

The Short Version

Opposite the hinges. Low on wall cabinets, high on base cabinets, about 2 to 3 inches from the edges — or lined up with the frame on a Shaker door. Centered on drawers, a little higher on deep ones. Pulls about a third as long as the drawer is wide. Measure center to center, test with tape, drill with a template, and keep every matching piece in the same spot.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the 1/3 rule for cabinet hardware?

It says a drawer pull looks best when it is about one-third as long as the drawer is wide — roughly a 4-inch pull on a 12-inch drawer and a 10-inch pull on a 30-inch drawer. It is a guide for drawers, not doors. On wide drawers you can use two shorter pulls instead of one long one, and modern kitchens often go longer than a third on purpose. A few guides use the phrase for height instead, but length is the usual meaning.

2. What is the standard placement for cabinet hardware?

On doors, hardware goes on the side opposite the hinges: in the bottom corner of wall cabinet doors and the top corner of base cabinet doors, commonly about 2 to 3 inches in from each edge. On drawers, it is centered left to right, and centered top to bottom unless the drawer is deep, where it moves up toward the top. On Shaker doors, the frame sets the position instead of a measurement. These are conventions, not codes, so consistency across the kitchen matters more than the exact inch.

3. What are the rules for cabinet pulls and knobs?

Three rules cover almost every kitchen. Put hardware on the side opposite the hinges. Put it low on wall cabinets and high on base cabinets, so it ends up near countertop height. And put it in the same spot on every matching door and drawer. After that, drawers get their hardware centered left to right, and drawer pulls are usually about a third as long as the drawer is wide.

4. Where should knobs be placed on cabinets?

On a wall cabinet door, a knob goes in the bottom corner on the side opposite the hinges, commonly 2 to 3 inches from the bottom and side edges. On a base cabinet door, it goes in the top corner at the same distances. On a Shaker door, center it on the stile and line it up with the inner edge of the rail. On a drawer, center it left to right and, on a standard drawer, top to bottom.

5. Where do you put pulls vs knobs in a kitchen?

A common pattern is knobs on doors and pulls on drawers, because a pull gives a better grip on a heavy drawer. Both follow the same placement rules: doors get hardware in the corner opposite the hinges, and drawers get it centered left to right. Some kitchens use pulls everywhere for a more modern look, and that works too, as long as every matching piece is placed the same way.

6. Is it okay to mix knobs and pulls on cabinets?

Yes. Knobs on doors with pulls on drawers is one of the most common combinations. It usually looks deliberate when the finish is the same across both and the placement follows one rule per cabinet type. Where mixing goes wrong is inconsistency — a pull on one base door and a knob on the next, or hardware at different heights. Our guide to choosing knobs and pulls covers the style side of the decision.

7. How do I determine hardware size for cabinets?

For drawer pulls, start with the 1/3 rule: a pull about one-third as long as the drawer is wide. Past roughly 24 to 30 inches, consider two pulls or one long pull. For door pulls, size by the look you want and the door's height rather than its width. Then check the center-to-center spacing of the pull, because that is what you drill to.

8. What size cabinet pulls for 36-inch cabinets?

By the 1/3 rule, a 36-inch-wide drawer suits a pull about 12 inches long. Many people use two shorter pulls instead, spaced on the lines that divide the drawer into thirds or out toward the quarter points. Both look intentional if you use the same approach on every wide drawer. For a 36-inch door, the width does not set the pull size; choose by the door's height and style.

9. What size pull for a 30-inch cabinet?

On a 30-inch drawer, the 1/3 rule points to a pull of about 10 inches, or two shorter pulls. A 30-inch drawer is right where many designers switch from one pull to two, so either choice is normal. If you use two, space them the same way on every wide drawer. The rule is a starting point, not a requirement.

10. How do you measure center to center on a cabinet pull?

Measure from the middle of one screw hole to the middle of the other, not from end to end. For an existing pull, measure the holes in the door. Many pulls list this spacing in millimeters. For example, our Black Contemporary Metal Pull 12-3/4 in is 325 mm long overall with holes 305 mm apart. Match that spacing when replacing hardware, and you will not need to drill new holes.

11. Where do you put hardware on Shaker cabinets?

Use the door's frame. Center pulls on the stile, the upright frame piece, and line the end of the pull up with the inner edge of the rail, so the pull does not run onto it. Knobs go on the stile too, level with the inner edge of the rail or where the stile and rail meet. On Shaker drawer fronts, center the hardware within the recessed panel or on the top rail.

12. Should cabinet hardware line up across the whole kitchen?

Within each cabinet type, yes. All wall-cabinet hardware should sit the same distance from the bottom, all base-cabinet hardware the same distance from the top, and all drawer pulls in the same position. Those three groups will not share one line with each other, and that is fine. What looks wrong is hardware that drifts from one cabinet to the next.

13. Do I need a template to install cabinet hardware?

You do not strictly need one, but it is the easiest way to get every door and drawer the same. A template or jig holds your measurements, so you set it once and drill each matching piece identically. Measuring every door by hand works for a few cabinets. Across a whole kitchen, small differences add up and show.

14. Does Lily Ann sell cabinet knobs and pulls?

Yes. Our knobs and pulls category listed 132 items as of September 2026, including contemporary metal pulls in several lengths and finishes, and modern metal knobs. Each pull's product page lists its dimensions, including the center-to-center spacing, so you can plan your template before you order.