Pimp Your Kitchen: How Kitchen Handles Complete the Design

Small details with a big effect: Kitchen handles, along with the colors and materials of fronts and countertops, significantly contribute to the kitchen’s appearance. We give an overview of the different variants and materials and show which style the respective kitchen handles fit.

What Types of Kitchen Handles Are There?

Whether stylish, eye-catching, understated, or invisible, kitchen handles are simply the icing on the cake of kitchen design. New handles are essential when you replace kitchen fronts. There are almost no limits to the choice of different shapes and materials. We show you some examples as inspirations, how you can embellish your kitchen with the different handles, and reveal to which style the different variants fit.

Leather Handles in the Kitchen

Update for the kitchen wanted? Then stylish leather handles are just the thing. They can be quickly installed by attaching them vertically as a loop or horizontally as a bow on the front. With nice screws and some leather strips, you can also quickly create these kitchen handles yourself. Their warm look gives the kitchen a homely and individual charm. The only drawback is that leather furniture handles are less easy to clean but become more beautiful over time.

Bow Handles in the Kitchen

This type of handle is the proven classic par excellence in the kitchen. No wonder, since the timeless handles fit well in the hand, are comfortable to use and make cabinets and drawers in the kitchen accessible with a handle. They are mostly available in stainless steel for kitchens with a modern, clean look or in the ornate variant as a playful addition to country-style kitchens.

Lip Handles in the Kitchen

These kitchen handles come in various shapes, from round to oval to square. The stylish handles are mounted on the top edge of furniture doors or drawers. The look becomes especially elegant when they come in the same color as the kitchen fronts and thus visually blend with them. On the other hand, the alternatives in metallic tones, such as gold, copper, or bronze, add interesting accents to plain cabinets.

Tip:
Before buying, ensure enough space is above the cabinet doors and drawers for mounting.

Bar or Railing Handles in the Kitchen

Similar to bow handles, they are evergreen in kitchen design. They mostly extend half or full width across drawers or doors. For this purpose, the bars are connected to the front at two attachment points horizontally on drawers and vertically on doors, at the top edge on base cabinets and pull-outs, and the bottom edge on wall cabinets.

Heavy drawers, in particular, are easier to open with handlebars. Their simple, straightforward design harmonizes particularly well with modern fitted kitchens.

Shell Handles in the Kitchen

With their nostalgic look, these handles are especially suitable for vintage or country-style kitchens or a classic white kitchen. Like a shell, they are usually curved and have the shape of a hemisphere, so you can easily grip them with your fingers – this especially facilitates the opening of drawers. Shell handles are mounted on the kitchen front or recessed.

Knob Handles in the Kitchen

They come in every conceivable design – from round to square, plain to richly ornamented. In variants made of stainless steel, brass, or copper, they become visual highlights of the kitchen and give a modern look. Vintage kitchens can be quickly and stylishly embellished with porcelain knob handles. The knob handles are usually placed in the middle of drawers and the upper corners of cabinet doors.

Recessed Handles Instead of Kitchen Handles

Handleless kitchens look particularly simple and minimalist. Thanks to the horizontal protrusion above cabinet doors or drawers, nothing here distracts from the actual design of the kitchen. But if you like, you can also give the handle recesses more attention with colored accents or LED lighting – unless you’re in a high-gloss kitchen with plenty of radiance.

Handle Holes

Various shapes, such as oval, round, or square, give the kitchen a playful, youthful, and modern touch. Their size should always be chosen so that at least two fingers fit inside. The back of the recesses can be made in the same color as the fronts or as a contrast, for example, wood.

What Materials Are Suitable for Kitchen Handles?

In the kitchen, of course, it should be robust and easy to clean – this also applies to the kitchen handles. These are the most commonly used materials:

1. Stainless steel kitchen handles are at the top of the ranking of the most popular materials. They are durable, sturdy, easy to clean, and fit any kitchen style, whether classic, playful, or modern. They come in glossy, matte, or brushed finishes.
2. Brass kitchen handles harmonize with kitchens in a vintage look, country style, or industrial style. Their golden coloring enhances any kitchen and adds timeless elegance. Since aggressive cleaning agents can quickly damage the alloy, a little care should be taken when cleaning.
3. Kitchen handles made of wood are real hand pleasers but not as robust as metal handles. The natural material is thus more likely to be used for handle strips or holes.
4. Leather kitchen handles have only been a trendy alternative for a few years. As loops, they bring a rustic touch to the kitchen. Leather loops are more something for the eyes than for easy handling because their patina makes them more beautiful from year to year. Another advantage: they are easy to make yourself from decorative screws and strong leather.
5. Kitchen handles made of porcelain we still know from grandma’s kitchen. If you love old kitchen buffets and vintage cabinets, trim a new kitchen to match the old with pretty decorative handles.

Kitchen Handles Are Perfectly Placed

Not only do the material, shape, and design of kitchen handles or recesses influence the look of the kitchen, but also their arrangement and placement on the furniture fronts should be well considered:

• For tall cabinets, for example, the height of the room door handles is a good orientation.
• The kitchen handles are ideally placed at reach height for upper and lower cabinets – for upper cabinets at the lower edge and lower cabinets at the upper edge.
• On drawers, handles are mostly aligned horizontally and vertically on doors.

Tip:
All kitchen handles are best installed at the end, in the installed state of the doors and drawers!

However, when looking for the right kitchen handles, it is not only design and appearance that matter; the focus is also on functionality because nothing is more impractical than the awkward operation of the interior when cooking. For example, care must be taken to ensure the handles are mounted in a U-shaped or L-shaped kitchen so that the adjacent cabinets and drawers can be opened and closed without problems.