New drawer pulls and handles is a great way to freshen up an old kitchen or bath, even if you have no intention of actually replacing the cabinets and drawers themselves. Drawer pulls and handles can make any statement you want them to, but it is extremely important that they match the style of the cabinets and the overall room that they will be used in. There are so many different options available when it comes to selecting drawer pulls and handles that it will help out a lot if you have a basic understanding of the different kinds of hardware.

Types of Drawer Pulls and Handles
The first thing to understand is that drawer pulls can be either handles or knobs. Handles are much longer than knobs, and they do provide more space to grab onto when you want to open a drawer. Handles also tend to offer more stylistic options since there is more space to make a statement in style. Handles are generally more versatile than knobs, and many people prefer handles to knobs, especially if all of the doors in their homes have handles rather than knobs.

Materials
The next thing it is important to understand is the different materials that are used for drawer pulls and handles. Metal is probably the most popular material currently, although glass is also a very viable option, especially if you want to display color and expression in a way that metal just can’t do. Metal is probably the most durable material available, and it can offer some very ornate options in carving, although most metal pulls and handles are only one color or, at the most, two. Generally shoppers looking for metal handles or pulls are going to have a choice between silver or yellow, and there are several different kinds of metals that fall into those two colors. Pewter, nickel, brass, and bronze are just a few of the choices. The only real reason to choose a certain metal over another type of metal is the color. Beyond that, in cases of a metal allergy there is also a good reason to avoid specific types of metal.

Style
Another important consideration to make is the style of the pulls. Remember that the goal of the pulls is to find hardware that matches the style of the drawers. Hardware that looks out of place of the drawer will not match the style at all. Just spend some time looking around your kitchen or bath and think about the style you see there. Are there plenty of wavy lines or curves, or does the decor lean more toward blocks and straight lines? Is the room full of neutral colors or bursting with other vibrant colors? Are the cabinets made of a dark or light wood? Are they stained or painted white, black, or a different color?

It is also very important to think about the size of the drawers. Are they very heavy and hard to pull out, or do they glide out very easily? Heavier drawers will need a more heavy duty type of pull, while a lighter drawer will be able to work well with a lighter handle. In addition to the practical part of size, also be sure to think about how the size of the drawer pulls and handles will look on the drawers themselves. Try to choose handles and pulls that are proportionate to the size of the drawers. Having a piece of hardware that just looks too small or too large for the drawer it is on will throw off the style quite a bit.

Author Bio: Jesse Akre owns Edenvale Shoppes and hosts numerous furniture and furnishings for any home whether it be living room tables or cabinet hardware styles and designs.

Category: Advice
Keywords: living room furniture,kitchen furniture,dining furniture,patio furniture,benches,cabinet hardware,ba