Installing Kitchen Cabinet Door Handles
Intro: Installing Kitchen Cabinet Door Handles
My boyfriend and I spent weeks remodeling our kitchen. After countless hours scraping paint, sanding wood, primering and painting doors, and staining cabinets, we finally got to the last part to complete our kitchen.... installing the final hardware bits! I was adamant that the handles be even and perfect. My partner in crime showed me this great and inexpensive trick to making sure that all the handles matched up, without the use of fancy tools, or the annoyance of having to measure each door.
Saving time and money means more time for eating and lounging!
STEP 1: Tools
Drill & Bits
Screwdriver
Masking Tape
Ruler
Pencil
Screwdriver
Masking Tape
Ruler
Pencil
STEP 2: Placement & Drill
Take a good look at the overall design of the kitchen and decide where you want the handles to be.
Measure up where you want the holes to be drilled. Once you have marked that, take a piece of masking tape, mark the drill holes with a pencil and drill!
Measure up where you want the holes to be drilled. Once you have marked that, take a piece of masking tape, mark the drill holes with a pencil and drill!
STEP 3: Peel Tape and Repeat!
Peel the masking tape and reapply to the next door. (Be sure to use this tape on the doors that open in the same direction! Otherwise, your handles and drilled holes will not be even!)
Once all the doors are completed, restart from step 1 on the doors that open the other direction!
TA DA! now you have perfectly aligned cabinet handles in a jiffy!
STEP 4: R&R
admire your newly finished kitchen from afar with appropriate robot tee & four legged friends.
11 Comments
randofo 13 years ago
angelabchua 13 years ago
randofo 13 years ago
dadhog 13 years ago
angelabchua 13 years ago
PS118 13 years ago
Some panel-style doors use steel biscuits to hold the corners together. If yours do, make sure to put the handle in from the corner far enough to miss them or you might just be in for some unhappy drilling.
(And yes, I found this out the hard way.)
angelabchua 13 years ago
dimtick 13 years ago
What I do is make a hole guide template using some scrap pieces of wood.
this can also be done with cardboard. Because I always have projects going on I have no shortage of scrap wood.
first take double stick tape and use it to stick the handles onto the door so that you can visually pick where you want them. this will determine the measurements to use on the guide.
I make the guide jig using a 6x10x1/2" scrap piece of plywood with (2) 6"1x2's glued and nailed to 2 sides to create an "L". Attach the 1x2's so the plywood is centered on the 1x2. this way the template can be flipped for opposite doors. i then transfer the handle measurements onto the plywood and drill holes (I drill 1/16" holes). check and re-check your measurements several times before drillings. then i stick some double stick tape to both sides of the template. usign the L of the 1x2, I align the guide in the corner of the door and press so the double stick tape holds it in place while I drill the handle holes. the guide can be flipped for the opposite door.
Although you could use this to drill the 1/4" holes for the hardware, I've found that a 1/4" bit can drift, even with the jig, so I actually do a 1/16" pilot holes (which is what I drill on the guide) on all the doors then go back with a 1/4" bit to finish the job. make sure that you use a good quality drill bit and that you don't use to much pressure so that you don't chip the wood of have tear out when you pop thru.
jackbomber 13 years ago
angelabchua 13 years ago
angelabchua 13 years ago
I would have to say that for someone like me....measuring each one would not have worked, mainly bc im impatient, and they would have all ended up crooked. Thats the main reason i was left doing "plate holding duty" to catch the shavings.
We did chip the wood in the back a bit, but thankfully the screw head was large enough to cover up any imperfections!
Thanks for those suggestions! We have to put handles in our bathroom cabinets next and we will totally try your method!