Round Shaped Cabinet Handles

Round Shaped Cabinet Handles Buying Guide

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A round handle is the simplest shape in cabinet hardware: a circle you grip with your fingertips. This page holds round cabinet handles, also searched as round knobs, round cupboard handles, circle handles, ball knobs and 32mm or 64mm handles. The shapes run through disc, ball, cone, bun and knurled knobs, plus one circular pull, and they suit kitchens, bathroom vanities, laundries, wardrobes and furniture. Sizes go from 19mm to 50mm across, in zinc alloy, brass, aluminium and stainless steel. Below you will find what the round shapes are, which diameter suits which door or drawer, where to place a knob, what each range measures and how to look after the finish. For knobs of every shape, see cabinet knobs, and for handles of every type, start at cabinet handles. Round knobs for room doors are at door knobs.

The round shapes

Round is a family, not one shape. It includes the round bun knob, where the knob and its base share one diameter, and round, oval, flat and button knobs. The ranges here add a ball knob, a cone knob, a disc knob with a knurled edge and a circular pull. They are described below.

• The Momo Handles Como is a plain circular knob in two sizes, 26mm and 41mm across, with a low 18mm projection. It suits a drawer or small door where you want almost no relief.
• The Momo Handles Ball knob is small and spherical. One size is 23.3mm across with a 22.8mm projection, and a larger one is 29.5mm with a 28.8mm projection.
• The Castella Cascade comes as a 25mm round knob and a 30mm cone knob with linear detailing, in antique brass, matt black, matt gold and bronze olive.
• The Momo Handles Graf round knob has a knurled edge, a mesh-like texture for grip, in 38mm and 50mm with a 30mm projection.
• The Castella Monaco and Grove are knurled knobs in 30mm and 35mm. The Momo Handles Belgravia and Bellevue are knurled brass knobs at 35mm.
• The Momo Handles Bau is a circular pull, 90mm across on 64mm centres with a 17mm projection. It has a circular design on a rectangular support, for bathroom vanities and kitchen cabinets.

The circular pull deserves a second look. It is a round shape that fixes with two screws 64mm apart, so it can replace a 64mm bar pull without new holes. A knob uses one hole, so swapping a two-screw handle for a knob means filling or covering the old holes.

Choosing the diameter

Knob size follows the size of the front. Common round knob sizes are 25, 32, 38 and 48mm. The smaller sizes typically go on kitchen cabinets and drawers, and the larger ones suit bigger cupboard or wardrobe doors. Standard residential knobs are about 32 to 35mm, with a metric range of 25 to 35mm. Doors narrower than about 300mm take 25mm or smaller. Doors from about 300mm to 900mm wide take 32mm, the most common size, and wider doors take 38mm to 75mm. Tall upper cabinets and pantry doors take about 38mm. Base cabinet doors take 32 to 38mm, since a lower placement suits a slightly larger knob. Bathroom vanity doors take 25 to 32mm, and wardrobe doors 32 to 38mm.

A knob should feel proportional to the door. A 25mm knob suits small doors, while on a 600mm base door 35 to 38mm is in proportion. Dark finishes such as black increase contrast, so poor scale or placement becomes more noticeable. Chunky handles make a bold statement and suit larger doors.

The sizes on this page cover the whole span. The 19mm Castella Terrace knob and the 23mm Ball knob suit a spice drawer or small door. The 25 and 26mm Cascade, Como and Nero Mecca knobs suit narrow doors and vanity drawers. The 29 to 32mm Florencia, Barrington, Bosco, Pellaro, New Hampton, Iver Puerto and Zanda Mayfair knobs are the standard door size. The 35 to 41mm Belgravia, Bellevue, Grove, Iver Puerto 38mm, Land and Como large suit a base door or a pantry, and the 50mm Graf suits a wide wardrobe door or a deep drawer front.

Knob or pull

The right choice depends on the front and how it is used. Knobs are gripped with the fingers, mount with a single screw and suit small to medium doors and drawers with light use. Pulls are elongated, gripped with the whole hand, take two or more screws and suit large or heavy doors and drawers and high-use areas. Knobs suit upper cabinets and smaller drawers while handles work better on larger drawers and pantry doors. A balanced look puts knobs above and handles below.

Drawer width sets the knob size. A narrow drawer under about 300mm takes a knob of 25mm or smaller. A standard drawer under about 600mm takes 25 to 32mm, with one centred knob. At 600mm and wider you need two knobs or a pull, because a single knob spreads the grip force poorly. For a pull, see cabinet pull handles, and for other shapes, square shaped cabinet handles, arc shaped cabinet handles and D shaped cabinet handles.

Where to place a knob

A knob traditionally sits on the lower corner of a door, though modern layouts often centre it. On a base door, place a knob near the top corner on the side opposite the hinges, and on a wall door near the bottom corner. On a drawer, centre one knob on the front. Keep clear of the routed panel edge on Shaker-style doors, and use one diameter for all doors and one for all drawers so the set stays consistent.

Projection matters in a narrow space. Standard projection is 25 to 38mm, and elongated knobs often project further, so check the specification. Across these knobs, projection runs from 18mm on the Como to 38mm on the Belgravia. Backplates, typically 35 to 50mm wide, add visual weight. Test a position with painter's tape before you drill, and order one sample to check the diameter, projection and finish before buying a full set.

Round handles by door style

Modern flat-panel doors take slim bar pulls or round knobs. Shaker and traditional doors take pulls, round knobs and classic bar handles in brushed brass or satin nickel. Hamptons and coastal rooms take round or D-shaped pulls in satin nickel or brushed brass, and industrial or rustic rooms take matte black, gunmetal or antique bronze. Knobs complement traditional and ornate designs, while pulls suit modern, streamlined spaces and make a bold statement when oversized or made of brass or matte black steel.

A round knob is therefore at home on a flat slab door in a minimal room, a Shaker door in a traditional one and a vanity door in a small bathroom. It works least well alone on a heavy, wide drawer. One fixing and a small grip make it hard to use there, and a pull or two knobs is the better answer.

Grip, comfort and safety

A knob is gripped with the fingertips and suits light, occasional use. Pulls are gripped with three or four fingers, which suits heavy drawers, children and older people better than a single-point knob. Choose a grip that suits everyone who will use the kitchen, including larger hands or arthritic fingers. Two practical checks follow. Test a sample for finger room, and check that the shape will not catch on clothing. Also note that a polished surface may be more slippery than a brushed one, so brushed is the safer finish in a home with young children.

Mixing round with other shapes

Use one or two handle styles consistently and plan hardware early in the project. Round knobs pair easily with a bar pull in the same finish: the pull takes the large drawers and the knob takes the doors. Use one finish through the home even if shapes and sizes vary. A common split puts round knobs on the upper cabinets and doors and pulls on the base drawers. See half moon and eclipse cabinet handles for a curved shape that sits beside a round knob.

If you want a natural material among the round shapes, timber is the choice, such as a round ash pull 90mm across with a 25mm projection, sealed with natural wax oil. Colour, texture and grain vary between batches in any natural timber, which is a reason to buy a full set at once. For timber handles on this site, see timber cabinet handles.

The ranges, measured

Overall length is the full diameter, and projection is how far the knob stands off the door.

• The Momo Handles New Hampton round knob is zinc alloy, 32mm across with a 36mm projection, in a matt finish.
• The Momo Handles Barrington is a zinc alloy knob, 32mm with a 30mm projection, in matt brass, bronze, dark brushed brass, matt black and polished nickel.
• The Momo Handles Florencia plain knob is zinc alloy, 29mm with a 33mm projection, in antique brass, brushed nickel, champagne, charcoal, matt black and satin nickel.
• The Momo Handles Bosco plain knob is zinc alloy, 32mm with a 34mm projection, in brushed matt brass, chrome plated, matte black and brushed nickel.
• The Momo Handles Pellaro is zinc alloy, 32mm with a 36mm projection. The Momo Handles Land is zinc alloy, 40mm with a 33mm projection.
• The Castella Bentleigh is a zinc alloy knob in 32mm and 38mm, with projections of 30mm and 36mm, in polished chrome, dull brushed nickel and brushed antique brass.
• The Castella Terrace knob is 19mm with a 21mm projection, in matte black, brushed nickel, chrome, bright copper, antique copper and brushed brass.
• The Nero Mecca knobs are stainless steel in 26mm and 36mm, each with a 26mm projection, and a fixing kit and screws are included.
• The Iver Puerto knobs are lacquered solid brass, 32mm with a 29.5mm projection and 38mm with a 35mm projection. They have a solid spherical form with softly rounded edges.
• The Zanda Mayfair knob is zinc alloy in brushed nickel, 32mm.

Compare them and a pattern shows. Most 32mm knobs project 30 to 36mm, so a standard door knob stands about as far out as it is wide. The Como at 18mm is the flattest, and the stainless Nero is the only stainless range. The Graf shows that size and depth are separate choices: its 50mm knob projects 30mm, which is less than the 36mm of the 32mm New Hampton, so a wide knob does not always stand further off the door. The Terrace is the other outlier, at 19mm across with a 21mm projection, which makes it the smallest knob on the page. For round knobs by maker, see Castella cabinet handles, Momo Handles premium cabinet handles, Nero cabinet hardware, Iver cabinet hardware and Zanda cabinet handles.

Materials and finishes

Round knobs come in glass, metal, wood, ceramic, brass, chrome and stainless steel, and in stainless steel, brushed nickel, brass and matte black finishes. Polished brass may be more slippery than brushed nickel, which matters in homes with young children. Glass, crystal and ceramic knobs suit bathroom vanities, which see less mechanical stress than kitchens, and bronze adds warmth to dark wood, painted furniture and traditional cabinetry.

The knobs here are metal. Brass is heavier than zinc alloy of the same size, and zinc alloy is die-cast, lighter and plated in many of the same finishes. For the finishes, see brushed brass cabinet handles, brushed nickel cabinet handles, black cabinet handles, champagne cabinet handles, gunmetal grey cabinet handles and stainless steel cabinet handles. A knurled edge, which is a fine cut texture, gives a better grip.

Modern kitchens suit sleek, minimal pieces and traditional kitchens more ornate ones. Use one finish through the room and limit each room to two metals. The cabinets are at bathroom vanities.

Fixing and replacing

A knob fixes with one screw through the door. For a thicker front, add about 6mm to the material thickness to find the screw length. Use metric screws of about 22 to 25mm for standard fronts and 30mm or more for thicker material. The Castella knobs take a 22mm or 25mm screw, and the Nero Mecca comes with a fixing kit. Many handles come with screws for 16 to 18mm cabinet boards, so check your door thickness.

When replacing handles, measure the holes you have. A 128mm handle will not fit 160mm holes without new holes, which can leave marks on a painted or veneered front. Match the existing centres unless you plan to fill the old holes. Swapping a two-screw handle for a knob leaves a second hole to fill.

How to care for round handles

Wipe a knob with a soft cloth and mild soap and water, then dry it. Avoid abrasive pads, steel wool and harsh chemicals, and do not use brass polish on lacquered or coated brass. A knurled edge holds residue in its cuts, so use a soft brush for the detail, and tighten loose screws as you clean. A living finish needs less care, not more, and trying to keep the surface perfectly uniform can do more damage than letting it age.

Warranty on the round knobs

Warranty differs by range, so check it alongside the finish.

• Nero Mecca stainless steel knobs carry a 25 year warranty.
• Iver Puerto lacquered brass knobs carry a 10 year warranty.
• Castella Bentleigh and Momo Handles Bellevue knobs carry a lifetime warranty.

Round knobs for bathroom vanities and wardrobes

A vanity door or drawer sees steam and splashes, so choose a finish that handles damp air. Stainless steel such as the Nero Mecca, and lacquered brass such as the Iver Puerto, are sensible choices for a bathroom. On a vanity the knob sits on a front that is often only 300mm to 450mm wide, which puts the 25mm to 32mm sizes in proportion. Browse wardrobe handles for a bedroom, where a 32mm to 38mm knob suits a full height door. For a bathroom, match the knob finish to the tapware and keep to the same metal throughout the room.

Cabinet thickness and screw length

Measure the door thickness before you order. The Nero Mecca fits cabinet thickness from 15mm to 35mm, and the Momo Handles Bellevue fits 16mm to 25mm. If your door is thicker than the range a knob is made for, a longer screw is needed. Most kitchen doors and drawer fronts sit within 16mm to 22mm, so a standard screw is enough.

Questions buyers ask about round handles

What size round knob suits a kitchen drawer?

A 32mm knob suits most kitchen drawers up to about 600mm wide. Wider drawers take two knobs or a pull, because one knob gives a weak grip across a wide front.

Can I replace a bar handle with a round knob?

Yes. A knob fixes with one screw, so you fill or cover the second hole left by a two-screw handle. The Momo Handles Bau circular pull is the exception, because it fixes on 64mm centres and can replace a 64mm bar pull without new holes.

Do round knobs suit older hands?

A knob is gripped with the fingertips, so a larger knob such as the 41mm Como large or the 50mm Graf is easier to hold than a small one. For anyone with reduced grip, a pull that takes the whole hand is easier again, and the cabinet pull handles collection covers it.

A short checklist before you order

• Pick the diameter by the front: 25mm or less for narrow drawers, 32mm for standard doors, 38mm or more for tall doors and pantries.
• Use two knobs or a pull on drawers 600mm and wider.
• Check the projection against the space in front of the door, and the screw length against the door thickness.
• Keep one diameter for doors and one for drawers, and one finish through the room.
• Order one sample before you buy a full set, and hold it against the door at the height you will use it.

For the full range of handle styles, return to cabinet handles.