Home Organization Tips

After many years of dealing with the leaking faucet, the slightly off-kilter cabinet doors and the drawers that stick along their tracks until you coerce it to open/close with your elbow, shoulder and heel, we are finally redoing our kitchen. I gingerly danced through the aisles, humming and smiling as I browsed cabinet hardware, knobs, hinges, and other cabinet accessories. My smile spread across my entire face, that is, until the first barrage of questions began.

“What’s this for?”

“What do these do?”

“Can we buy some of these?”

CRASH! “Mommy, I was riding the lawn mower first.”

You see, in my exuberance to begin my cabinet hardware shopping spree, I readily accepted my husband’s suggestion to take the kids along. So instead of the bells ding-a-ling-ing in my head the screech of the security alarm would be wailing in my ears as a result of one of my sons trying to walk out of the store holding a kitchen faucet.

Oh well, I was still getting my new kitchen and I was determined to enjoy my magical shopping spree into cabinet handles, hinges and more. As it turned out, we actually had a fun time. The boys even helped me come up with some good questions, and we learned a lot about cabinet hardware, too.

I found out that discount cabinet hardware doesn’t have to mean poor quality. If you shop good brand names like Amerock Hardware, for example, then the term discount cabinet hardware just means you are getting top quality products at great discount prices.

My boys and I also learned the difference between cabinet pulls and cabinet knobs. Did you know that, aside from their aesthetic variations, the differences between your standard cabinet knobs and pulls could affect the functionality of the cabinet hardware? Cabinet knobs have the advantage over handles when it comes to styling options. The variety of sizes, shapes and designs is tremendous, and the assortment of character knobs is simply adorable. Cabinet pulls are usually more sophisticated because of the elongated form, and pulls offer additional strength due to their installation gear.

We discovered that appliance pulls are not just cabinet pulls on steroids. In fact, there are concrete differences, and we heard about which situations are appropriate for these items and which are not. These larger cabinet hardware items enable you to have more control and support over the item you are maneuvering. This is especially useful for larger appliances and cabinet doors.

We found out that Liberty Hardware is one of the top names in the cabinet hardware industry. Belwith, Top Knobs and Anne at Home were other names with high standards and beautiful cabinet hardware items.

Oh, and we even learned that most cabinet handles will fit nicely up a six year-old’s nose and that some cabinet handles are strong enough to withstand a small boy climbing the wall using them as foot holds. (This is when the sales woman asked if we were ready to make our selection.)

So all in all, it was a pretty good trip, although, I think next time, I might save the experience and order online instead! Happy renovating!

Posted on January 17th, 2010 by Sarah
Filed under: Household Management