Any housewife knows how important the practicality of furniture installed in the kitchen is. Each cabinet, shelf or table should be comfortable and useful for storing food and utensils and preparing food. We must also not forget about the attractive design of the headset. Surprisingly, it is the handles for kitchen furniture, chosen correctly, that add zest, make it unique and comfortable. You just need to be careful about their choice. Handles should be of high quality, beautiful, practical, and appropriate to the interior.
Varieties
The market offers a huge selection of furniture handles for the kitchen to suit every taste and budget. When purchasing a ready-made structure on which these elements are already installed, you should pay attention to their quality, safety and convenience. When ordering a headset, you can choose accessories from the catalogs proposed by the designer. However, you need to have an idea about the types of handles, the material they are made of and the approximate price.
Profile
Material of manufacture: aluminum or plastic. The handle can be overhead or mortise. Suitable for small kitchens with narrow aisles as it saves space.
The mortise profile is installed a little more complicated than the overhead profile, because a special recess is milled into the facade for it. But it combines favorably with high-tech design and does not protrude beyond the boundaries of the surface. These are the so-called hidden handles. They are very popular abroad, in particular in Europe.
You should not try to install mortise handles yourself. The work requires a certain skill and experience of furniture makers.
Overhead profile handles are simply attached to the furniture facade at the top or side end. They give kitchen furniture a modern, laconic look. They come in different colors, but there is no decor. The price of these elements is low, but they are reliable and durable.
Mortise
Invoice
Bracket
The most popular handles for kitchen furniture are staples. They are considered universal. They have the shape of the letter P, but with a curved arc, and come in various designs. Main advantages:
- strong fastening with two screws;
- variety of models, shapes, sizes;
- large selection of shades;
- reliability, durability;
- ease of use;
- affordable price;
- various materials of manufacture.
Handle handles can be chosen for both a small cabinet and a large one. It is important that they are comfortable and stylistically match the kitchen set.
Railing
The railing resembles a bracket, but without bending. It looks like a crossbar on two supports. It can extend beyond the supports or go into them at right angles. The surface is most often nickel plated. If the coating was made by galvanization, it does not wear off over time and does not lose its shine. Railings are often used in modern interiors. Like staples, they have a wide range of sizes; it’s easy to choose a color that matches the set.
Button
Knob knobs are not very popular now. They are made in the Provence style, but suit the loft and classics. This accessory has a small leg, which is screwed to the furniture. The head is made round, oval, square, in the form of a flower or an animal figurine. The button can be combined, with an insert made of wood or porcelain, with rhinestones or crystals. Disadvantage: not very convenient for kitchen cabinets, as your hand can slip off its surface.
Shell
The original shape of the handle for kitchen furniture resembles a shell, does not overload the façade, and looks inconspicuous. It can only be purchased in specialized departments or online catalogs. It is suitable for loft, country, classic or any modern design. Shells are made of stainless steel, nickel, plastic, and sometimes plated with gold. For furniture in Art Nouveau and Gothic styles, products are made of copper.
A drop
This furniture handle really resembles a drop with its base. An addition in the form of a loop or earring is attached to the top. This is an elegant accessory that looks original on a facade made of any material - wood, plastic. The drop decorates kitchen furniture and serves more as decoration than as a convenient handle.
With ring
Such products are used to equip kitchen furniture in a classic or retro style. The main element of the model is a ring attached to a decorative base. These are high quality, durable products. They have a small selection of colors, but you can choose fittings to match different furniture designs. Requires caution during operation; the ring often leaves scratches on the door covering.
Functional new items
New technological models are constantly appearing among furniture fittings. A striking example of such handles for kitchen furniture are touch-sensitive handles with LED backlighting. They look interesting in the evening and at night, illuminating furniture cabinets with soft light. The power source is a regular battery, which is attached to the inside of the facade. The pen glows for 30 seconds after you touch it.
Design of wooden legs for furniture in different interior styles
Another new furniture fittings product dictated by the development of the tandembox is a handle with a leash. It is attached to the inner drawer and secured to the outer drawer from the inside with a latch. With its help, both boxes can be pulled out together or, by releasing the latch, one can be pulled out separately using the regular handle on it.
Touch with LED backlight
Handle with leash
Types of furniture handles
Kitchen units, cabinets, chests of drawers, walls for hallways and living rooms almost always include many lockable compartments, access to which is provided by special holders - handles.
Despite their small size, these functional accessories give furniture structures a complete look, and sometimes serve as an interesting addition to the design. Depending on the shape, handles can be divided into the following types:
Staples
These are ordinary strips or arcs that are fixed to two symmetrically located fasteners. The elongated shape and slight deviation from the surface of the facade makes it easy to open fairly large doors.
There are straight staples, the surface of which is strictly rectangular, curved, semi-oval, with different decorative options. For example, vintage models are characterized by ceramic inserts - “barrels” or “medallions” with a floral pattern made in enamel. In the classic style you can often see carved, forged parts or even almost jewelry inlay.
Railings
A somewhat elongated and more modern subtype of staples. Often a metal pipe, strip or spindle-shaped arc is used - any narrow crossbar that occupies from 1/3 to 5/6 of the door width.
This design distributes weight well, so it can be used for drawers with kitchen utensils, shoes or other heavy items.
Built-in (integrated) handles
They are an aluminum profile mounted into the surface of the facade. It can be hidden along the milled end - then the door looks absolutely smooth, and the presence of fittings is only revealed by a thin strip along the edge.
The second fashionable option is mortise handles, which are often used in modern design trends such as minimalism or hi-tech.
Buttons
In appearance they are somewhat reminiscent of buttons - they have exactly the same “leg” and a very varied design on the outside. Round, oval, square, in the shape of flowers, leaves, pins and other interesting things, these handles can harmoniously complement any interior.
However, their characteristic single fastening and small size are suitable mainly for compact furniture with small doors and light-weight drawers - for example, a linen chest of drawers in the bedroom, children's bedside tables, dressing table.
Ring pens
This is probably one of the oldest types of fastenings. They were already found in medieval chests - durable forged linings facilitated the process of transporting heavy boxes.
On modern furniture, rings serve more of a decorative function, but this in no way reduces their convenience in everyday use. In addition to historically stylized rings made of iron, bronze or copper, there are also lightweight options - chrome-plated or gold-plated products made of steel, aluminum, zinc alloys.
Drop pens
A characteristic feature of Gothic interiors, and in a more refined form - Renaissance and Victorian classics. Here the moving part, i.e. the teardrop or brush shaped pendant, is attached to a base with a roller tip.
Initially, this design was used to knock so that the inhabitants of a fortress or monastery would hear it and open the heavy door. When using teardrop-shaped handles at home, you should be careful so that constant impacts do not cause dents on wooden facades.
Sink handles
They are rare, but this is a very good choice for furniture in the Mediterranean style, shabby chic and Provence. Geometrically, they repeat an inverted hemisphere - a shape that is repeated many times in the rustic architecture of southern Italy and France (arches, ceilings, window openings, stoves). But buttons with a decor in the form of a seashell, although they look quite nice, do not belong to this category.
Manufacturing materials
The highest quality, strongest, most durable materials for the manufacture of furniture handles are metal alloys based on aluminum with zinc or magnesium. A thin film of galvanic coating serves as a protective layer and at the same time a decor for them. Such elements can be chrome-plated, nickel-plated, matte, glossy, with patina, coated with gold, silver, copper. Bronze looks interesting. In addition to metal, furniture handles are made:
- made of wood;
- plastic;
- porcelain;
- rock crystal.
Sometimes ceramics are used to make handles.
Handles for kitchen cabinets can be combined from several materials (for example, wood and metal), inlaid with natural stones, rhinestones, and Swarovski crystals. Designers even offer rope elements for furniture. Each material has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, the varnish surface of wooden ones quickly wears off and will have to be restored again. The metal must have a coating applied by galvanic method, and after cutting the thread for fastening, so that corrosion does not appear in this place.
Advantages of pine furniture board, scope of its application
Ceramic and porcelain handles are fragile and require careful handling. Despite this, they are popular due to their elegant appearance. They are considered quite expensive options. Ceramic handles look stylish and beautiful, but they need to be protected from impacts. Plastic is a universal material; elements made from it will decorate any interior, the main thing is that it is of high quality. Disadvantages: not wear-resistant, cracks even with slight mechanical impact.
Metal
Tree
Plastic
Porcelain
Rhinestone
Combined
Methods for attaching furniture handles
Ergonomics, reliability, and strength of handles on furniture facades largely depend on the method and quality of their fastening. Of course, the base material plays an important role - self-tapping screws will hold better on solid wood doors than on chipboard. For comfortable operation, heavy structures are equipped with larger width handles with at least two locking elements.
Fastening with one screw
Typically used for small knobs. The head of the screw is fixed on the inside of the door or drawer, and the spiral part is screwed into the base of the handle.
Fastening with two self-tapping screws
Typical for the installation of brackets, shells, and sometimes modernized rings and drops. In the brackets, the fastener heads are also hidden inside the facade and can be additionally protected with silicone/plastic overlays that protect against rust. If the design of the handle provides for an external base plate with slots on the sides, the screws are screwed in from the outside.
Fastening on steel hinges
Suitable for antique furniture, as well as rough drawers and cabinets in the loft style. In this case, the handle is supported on a base of forged door hinges. This option looks very unusual.
Handles for the kitchen - details about the details
High-quality fittings for kitchen furniture should be selected very carefully. This is especially true for such an element as handles - after all, they have both functional and decorative purposes. Indeed, it is impossible to imagine a kitchen set without handles. But your kitchen will only be original, attractive and easy to use if you select all its elements correctly.
Main types of kitchen handles
Furniture handles can be made of colored plastic or decorated with rhinestones. Naturally, before purchasing, you will have to analyze many factors - from the color of the room and the style of furniture to financial possibilities, but the main thing you will have to figure out is what kind of handles there are.
As a rule, fittings offered by trusted manufacturers can be of the following types and forms:
- The ring handles mounted on a decorative base are massive, noble and elegant. The material for their manufacture is metal, patinated or coated with bronze plating. They go perfectly with classic wooden kitchen fronts. However, each time the doors will need to be opened very carefully so as not to damage the facades;
- Shell handles are popular (made of both metal and plastic), the surface of which can be decorated with paintings and carvings;
- compact and convenient fittings in the form of “buttons” can be made of wood, metal or plastic and are perfect for lightweight facades;
- Small teardrop handles are also considered lightweight - this product is classic, but is best combined with a plastic facade;
- The most practical and laconic (and therefore very common) are considered to be handle-brackets, which can be made of different sizes;
- built-in handles (look like a canvas cut into a smooth facade) - ideal if the facades of the kitchen furniture are already richly decorated (for example, with rhinestones or carvings).
Selecting pens based on technical specifications
It's no secret that kitchen doors are opened many times every day. Therefore, you need to choose handles for the headset so that they are not only a decorative element, but also provide proper functionality.
For this reason, metal or wood fittings are most often chosen rather than plastic fittings. Plastic, especially cheap plastic, cannot provide the necessary durability and practicality. In addition, it can even become deformed due to high temperatures. However, there is also a risk of damage to wooden handles - therefore they are not placed in the area of high temperatures. As for metal, this will be the ideal choice for all cases.
Tip: It is very important to choose the right size of handles. Small products fastened with one screw are considered the most impractical. That's why staples have gained popularity, coming in a variety of styles and in a wide size range. From an ergonomic point of view, a large handle will always be more comfortable than a small one. In addition, they are attached to the facade in several places, which guarantees increased reliability.
Recommendations for installing handles
So, you have chosen high-quality, functional and attractive pens. All that remains is to install them correctly - it is important not to disturb the symmetry of the location.
To do this, installation is carried out according to a template - with its help, the fittings are mounted even before hanging the facades. The template is a rectangular piece of plywood with holes made in the right places. Thanks to this simple design, you can make holes for fasteners on all facades at once without additional measurements.
Tip: glass and wooden facades require the installation of an additional washer (on the back of the bolt). This will not only reduce the risk of cracking, but will also prevent the fastener from becoming loose.
The choice of tool is also important. So, for a wooden (or MDF) kitchen facade, step or core drills are used - sharp and allowing drilling without pressure. For glass, special diamond-coated drills are used.
Tip: A hole in the glass can also be made with molten tin - in this case, cracks cannot appear. To carry out the work you will need tin (which is used in the soldering process) and sand. The facade panel is marked and sprinkled with sand. A funnel of the required diameter is made in it, into which molten tin is poured. After a few seconds, the solder will cool down and can be removed - along with the sand and glass stopper.
So, choosing kitchen handles is not a difficult task at all. You may prefer traditional brackets, or you can decorate the set with extraordinary fittings - it all depends on the style of the room and your own desires.
Unusual furniture handles - photo
The design of the handles significantly influences the overall style and perception of the furniture, so it is very important to select them with taste, focusing on the chosen design direction and, of course, not forgetting about quality.
It’s good if the shades, materials and shapes are combined with other interior items - kitchen faucets, interior door fittings, lamps. Let the collection of photos collected on this page help you make the best decision, filling your home environment with even greater comfort and harmony!
Choosing handles for kitchen fronts among a variety of options
Ordinary kitchen handles can be compared to spices - they are the ones who give the room completeness and add “taste”. It would seem, why pay attention to such an inconspicuous detail when choosing facades?
Using handles, you can emphasize the style of the kitchen, especially if it is baroque, classic or post-modern. And, of course, such fittings must fulfill their function, and, therefore, be reliable and of high quality. Let's look at the varieties, design features and subtleties of choosing handles on facades.
