Turner Hastings Tutto Cabinet Handles Buying Guide
The Tutto is a smooth, minimal zinc alloy range from Turner Hastings, with pull handles in four sizes and a knob. The range is manufactured in Italy and comes in Brushed Brass, Brushed Nickel, English Bronze, Matte Black and Chrome. It has a smooth form with a streamlined silhouette, gentle curves and clean proportions. The page covers what each piece measures, what zinc alloy with a plated finish is, what each finish looks like, and how to size, fit and clean the range. For all of the maker's handles, start at Turner Hastings cabinet handles.
The pieces, measured
The Tutto pulls are named 128mm, 160mm, 224mm and 320mm, with overall lengths of 163mm, 195mm, 260mm and 340mm. Each pull is 27mm wide. The fixing distance and projection are not given for these pulls. The 160mm brushed brass pull is 195mm long, 20mm deep and 27mm high, which matches the overall length and width above.
The Tutto names are read as centres, in line with the rest of the Turner Hastings handles, which are measured centre to centre. The centre is the gap between the two screw holes, measured from centre to centre. On that reading the 128mm and 160mm pulls run 35mm longer than their holes, the 224mm pull 36mm longer and the 320mm pull 20mm longer. Confirm the centre of the exact pull before you order.
The knob is 28mm long and 35mm wide. Fixing screws are included. When you replace a handle, measure the distance between the screw holes and match it to the centre in the name, not to the length of the old handle. A 128mm handle will not fit 160mm holes without new holes.
Zinc alloy in a handle
Zamak is a zinc-based alloy with aluminium, magnesium and copper. It is mostly die-cast, and the alloy can be electroplated, wet-painted and chromate-conversion-coated well. The Tutto is zinc alloy with an electroplated finish, and the grade and the plating metal are not named. A die-cast zinc handle depends on its finish for corrosion protection. Thin electroplated zinc alloy can fail within a few years in a shower splash zone. Indoors, away from direct splash, it is a normal material. See zinc alloy cabinet handles for the material in full.
A smooth form
The Tutto is a smooth, minimal form with a streamlined silhouette and gentle curves, with smooth, uninterrupted lines and no added ornamentation. There is no texture on the bar, so the finish does the work, and the finish is what you will see and touch. That makes the choice of finish more important here than on a knurled or ribbed range, where the surface pattern carries some of the look. Flush ends suit contemporary kitchens, since protruding ends can catch clothing or limbs. How the ends of the Tutto finish is not described, so look at a sample to see how the bar meets the door.
The five finishes
- Brushed Brass is a soft, even gold. Bare brass develops a patina while a lacquered finish holds the colour as made, and the Tutto body is zinc alloy, so the brass colour is a plated finish. Brushed brass is matte and subtle and suits minimalist or Scandinavian kitchens. See brushed brass cabinet handles.
- Brushed Nickel is a soft, cool grey: a metallic silver with a slight warm grey undertone and a low satin sheen that disguises fingerprints. See brushed nickel cabinet handles.
- English Bronze is a brown gold, darker than the brasses. The search data shows people look for bronze pull handles and English Bronze by name. See bronze cabinet handles.
- Matte Black is non-reflective, and it hides fingerprints better than a polished finish. See black cabinet handles.
- Chrome is the bright one. Decorative chrome is usually 5 to 10 microinches thick and applied over bright nickel plating, and it shows fingerprints, smudges and water spots more easily than brushed nickel. See chrome cabinet handles.
Treat every Tutto finish as coated, and avoid brass polish and abrasive cleaners. The rule for mixing is to keep a room to two metals and repeat each at least twice so it reads as a decision. Gold, brass and bronze tones pair with navy, charcoal, blue or green cabinetry, and matt black works against light cabinetry as a contrast.
Choosing a pull size
A sizing table helps. A standard drawer 450mm to 600mm wide takes a 128mm to 160mm centre, and a wide drawer of 600mm to 900mm takes 256mm to 320mm, or two 128mm pulls. A standard door takes a 96mm to 128mm pull or a knob, and a tall pantry door of 600mm and above takes two 256mm pulls. The most common centre in Australian kitchens is 128mm, and vanity drawers and doors usually take 96mm and 128mm centres.
The one-third rule says a pull is about a third as long as the drawer front is wide, so near 200mm for a drawer 600mm across. The 195mm Tutto is the nearly exact size for that drawer, and the 260mm pull suits one of about 780mm. The 340mm pull suits a wide drawer of about 1000mm, and the 163mm pull suits a drawer of about 490mm or a vanity door. The rule is a guide and not a strict rule. Buyers often look for these sizes by centre, such as 128mm pull handles and 224mm cabinet handles.
A pull or knob sits 40mm to 60mm in from the edge that opens, near the bottom corner of an upper door and the top corner of a lower door. Pulls run horizontally on drawers and vertically on doors. To test a size before you buy, tape a strip cut to the handle's length onto the cabinet and live with it for a day.
The knob
Knobs take the fingers and a single screw and suit small doors and drawers, while pulls take the whole hand. Most cabinet knobs run roughly 25mm to 38mm across, so the 28mm to 35mm Tutto knob sits within the common range. See cabinet knobs and cabinet pull handles.
Matching the Tutto to the door style
Handle types pair with kitchen styles. Contemporary and minimalist kitchens go with matte black or brushed nickel pulls, and Japandi and Scandi kitchens with timber and brushed nickel. Hamptons and coastal kitchens go with D-pulls or cup pulls in brushed nickel, brushed brass or chrome. Shaker kitchens go with cup pulls, bin pulls or knobs in brushed brass, antique bronze or matte black, and heritage kitchens with antique bronze or aged brass and period knobs. The Tutto sits comfortably in classic and contemporary interiors, and it suits kitchen, bathroom vanity and laundry joinery. These matches are guidance and not a rule.
Weight and what it means
The Tutto is the lighter body in the family. Zinc alloy is lighter than cast iron, and the Tutto is only 20mm deep against about 35mm for the iron ranges, such as the Fanetta slim bar. Feel a sample if weight matters to you.
Matching tapware and appliances
Choose the handle finish after the tapware, sink and appliance finishes are settled. Aim for one dominant finish for the handles through a kitchen, with a second metal as an accent and two metals at most. Warm metals such as brass, gold and bronze work best with each other, and cool metals such as nickel, chrome and stainless steel work best with their own group, because mixing across the two is harder. On the Tutto, Brushed Brass and English Bronze are the warm finishes, Brushed Nickel and Chrome are the cool ones, and Matte Black is the neutral accent. Coordinate finishes across cabinet hardware, appliance pulls and fixtures such as taps and lighting without making every piece identical.
Replacing handles
When you swap handles, match the fixing distance. A new pull with the same distance drops into the old holes without drilling. Measure from the centre of one screw hole to the centre of the other. Common centres such as 96, 128, 160, 192, 224 and 320mm are multiples of 32mm, and that handles made to imperial sizes will not match holes drilled on that grid. All four Tutto names sit on that grid. If the old holes are on another centre, you will need to fill them or drill new ones, and a filled hole shows unless the door is repainted. A knob needs only one hole, so swapping a pull for a knob leaves one old hole unused and the other to fill.
In a bathroom
Bathroom fittings need wiping and drying more often than those elsewhere, because steam and moisture leave marks. Bathrooms are more humid than kitchens, and solid brass, stainless steel and quality PVD are sound choices, with thin electroplated zinc alloy the weak one. A Tutto on a vanity door well away from the shower is a fair use. A handle in a splash zone is the case to avoid. The cabinets these handles fit are at bathroom vanities and furniture.
Caring for plated handles
Put the cleaner on the cloth and not on the hardware, and dry the handle straight away so water marks do not form. For coated finishes, use a soft microfibre cloth with mild soap and warm water if needed, dried promptly, and avoid abrasive pads, powdered cleansers, ammonia, bleach and alcohol-based disinfectants. A coating wears first where the hand lands, so wipe the grip area more often than the rest of the handle.
For a vanity or a laundry cupboard, 96mm and 128mm centres are usual, and drawers up to about 400mm take a knob, a short pull or a compact T-bar. On the Tutto that means the 128mm pull or the knob for small fronts, and the 160mm pull once the drawer reaches about 450mm. The Tutto suits vanity and laundry joinery, so these are the sizes to try first. Check the door clearance behind the handle when a vanity door opens against a wall or a tap.
Related pages
For the maker's other handles, see Turner Hastings cabinet handles. For other types and materials, see cabinet handles, cabinet pull handles and cabinet knobs.
