Choosing cabinet hardware is one thing. Figuring out exactly how many pieces to order is another.
It sounds simple: count the cabinets and add hardware. But kitchens often include a combination of doors, drawers, pantry cabinets, islands, and panel-ready appliances—and it’s surprisingly easy to miss a piece or order the wrong quantity.
Before placing your cabinet hardware order, use this guide to determine how many knobs and pulls you actually need.
Start by Counting Doors and Drawers—Not Cabinets
The easiest mistake to make is counting cabinet boxes instead of individual doors and drawers.
A double-door cabinet needs two pieces of hardware, not one. A cabinet with one drawer above two doors needs three pieces.
For example, if your kitchen has:
- 14 cabinet doors
- 8 drawers
- 2 pantry doors
You have 24 individual hardware locations.
From there, decide which locations will receive knobs and which will receive pulls.
A simple spreadsheet—or even a quick sketch of your kitchen—can make this much easier.
How Many Knobs Do You Need?
As a general rule, use one knob per cabinet door.
Knobs are especially useful on upper cabinet doors, smaller base cabinet doors, and other locations where a compact piece of hardware feels proportional.
If you have 12 doors that will use knobs, order at least 12 knobs.
But we recommend stopping there only if you enjoy tempting fate.
More on extras in a moment.
How Many Pulls Do You Need for Drawers?
Most drawers need one pull centered on the drawer front.
That includes many wide drawers. A large drawer does not automatically require two pulls.
In fact, using one appropriately scaled longer pull can often create a cleaner, more contemporary look than placing two smaller pulls on the same drawer.
This is where hardware size becomes important. Instead of simply adding another pull as the drawer gets wider, consider increasing the length of the hardware.
If you’re unsure about proportion, read our What Size Cabinet Pulls Should You Choose? A Guide to Getting the Proportions Right before ordering.
Should Wide Drawers Have One Pull or Two?
There isn’t one universal rule.
Traditional cabinetry sometimes uses two smaller pulls on an especially wide drawer. Contemporary kitchens, however, frequently use one longer pull centered on the drawer front.
The important thing is intentionality.
Two pulls create more visual detail. One longer pull creates a cleaner line.
For a streamlined kitchen, we generally prefer selecting a pull with enough presence to suit the drawer rather than automatically doubling the hardware.
Don’t Forget the Kitchen Island
The island is one of the easiest areas to overlook when counting hardware—especially when you’re working from an elevation of the perimeter cabinetry.
Walk around every side of the island.
Count each:
- Door
- Drawer
- Pull-out
- Storage cabinet
If your island has cabinetry on both sides, make sure both elevations are included in your count.
Pantry Cabinets Need Hardware Too
Tall pantry doors can disappear from a hardware count because they don’t visually resemble standard cabinets.
They still count.
Depending on the scale of the door, a longer cabinet pull can also look more proportional than a small knob.
This is another reason we recommend deciding where each hardware style will go before calculating your final quantities, rather than simply ordering a pile of knobs and pulls based on the total number of doors.
What About Panel-Ready Appliances?
Panel-ready refrigerators and dishwashers should be counted separately from standard cabinetry.
They generally require hardware designed for the additional size and force involved in opening an appliance.
That’s where an appliance pull comes in.
A standard cabinet pull and an appliance pull may look similar, but they aren’t necessarily interchangeable.
If your kitchen includes a panel-ready refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, or other integrated appliance, identify those locations separately on your hardware plan.
At Kova, our Knox 18” Appliance Pull is designed specifically for this larger-scale application while maintaining the same considered aesthetic as the rest of the kitchen hardware.
Should You Order Extra Cabinet Hardware?
Yes.
Once you have your exact count, we recommend ordering approximately 5–10% extra hardware, particularly for larger projects.
For a kitchen requiring 30 pieces, for example, adding two or three extras is reasonable.
Why?
Because kitchens change.
A piece can be damaged during installation. A screw can disappear. A cabinet may be added later. Years from now, you may want to replace a piece that has been damaged.
Keeping a few matching pieces stored away is much easier than trying to find the exact same hardware years later.
For a very small project, the 5–10% calculation may not make sense. In that case, simply consider adding one extra piece of each hardware style and finish you’re using.
A Simple Cabinet Hardware Counting Checklist
Before ordering, walk through the kitchen one final time and count:
Upper cabinet doors: ___
Lower cabinet doors: ___
Drawers: ___
Pantry doors: ___
Island doors: ___
Island drawers: ___
Other cabinetry: ___
Panel-ready appliances: ___
Then separate the total by hardware type:
Knobs: ___
6” pulls: ___
12” pulls: ___
Appliance pulls: ___
Extras: ___
Total pieces to order: ___
Taking five minutes to do this before checkout can save a surprisingly frustrating second order.
One Kitchen Doesn’t Mean One Hardware Size
Your final count doesn’t necessarily translate into 30 identical pieces.
A thoughtfully designed kitchen might combine knobs on cabinet doors, shorter pulls on smaller drawers, longer pulls on wide drawers and substantial appliance pulls on integrated appliances.
The goal isn’t to make every piece identical.
It’s to create consistency in finish, form and proportion so the entire kitchen feels connected.
That’s also why mixing knobs and pulls can work beautifully. If you’re still deciding between the two, our Cabinet Knobs vs. Pulls: Which Should You Choose? guide is a good place to start.
Measure Twice. Count Twice. Order Once.
Cabinet hardware is one of the final layers of a kitchen, but it’s repeated across nearly every cabinet surface—which means small mistakes become noticeable quickly.
Before ordering, count every door and drawer individually, identify the hardware type and size for each location, separate appliance hardware from standard cabinet hardware, and add a few extras.
Then count it all again.
Once the numbers are right, you can focus on the much more enjoyable part: seeing the hardware installed.
Explore Kova Atelier cabinet knobs, pulls and appliance hardware designed to bring proportion, texture and considered detail to the kitchen.
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