Cabinet Hardware Spacing Calculator

Properly spaced cabinet hardware looks professional, feels balanced, and is easier to use. Inconsistent spacing looks sloppy and can make even expensive cabinets look cheap. This calculator gives you exact drill point measurements for any cabinet size.

Hardware Types and Placement Rules

Knobs (single hole)

• Upper cabinets: Place knob 2–3 inches (50–75 mm) from the bottom corner of the door, on the latch side
• Lower cabinets (below counter): Place knob 2–3 inches from the top corner of the door, on the latch side
• Drawers: Center the knob horizontally and vertically on the drawer front

Single Pulls / Handles (two-hole)

• Standard placement: Horizontal center on drawer; positioned 2–3 inches from top or bottom edge
• The center of the pull (midpoint between the two holes) is the reference point
• Common hole spacing: 3 inches (76 mm), 3.75 inches (96 mm), 5 inches (128 mm), 6.25 inches (160 mm), 8.8 inches (224 mm)

Vertical Pulls on Doors

• Upper cabinets: Bottom of pull is 2–3 inches from bottom of door, on latch side
• Lower cabinets: Top of pull is 2–3 inches from top of door, on latch side

Horizontal Pulls on Drawers

• The pull should be centered horizontally (left-right) on the drawer
• Vertically, it should be centered on the drawer height
• Formula: From left edge = (Drawer Width − Pull Length) ÷ 2

Metric and Imperial are two different standards, not two names for one

This trips people up at the drill press. Hardware is made to either an imperial hole spacing or a metric one, and the two families do not line up:

A millimeter sounds like nothing. It is not: a two-hole pull is rigid, so drilling at 127 mm and then trying to fit a 128 mm pull leaves you reaming one hole out with the drill still in your hand. Buy the pull first, measure its actual hole centers, and use that number.

Full metric range: 96, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256, 320 mm. Full imperial range: 3", 3.75", 4", 5", 6.25", 8", 12".

Which side does the hardware go on?

Knobs and door pulls go on the latch side, which is the edge opposite the hinges. Get this backwards and the knob sits an inch from the hinge barrel where nobody can grip it. This calculator asks which side the hinges are on and places the hardware on the other one.

Drawers are the easy case: everything is centered, so there is no side to get wrong.