Turner Hastings Verese Cup Pull Buying Guide
The Verese is a half-moon cup pull from Turner Hastings, made in zinc alloy on a 96mm fixing distance. The range is manufactured in Italy and has a soft half-moon shape. It comes in Brushed Brass, Brushed Nickel, English Bronze, Matte Black and Chrome. It has a minimalist faceplate and a smooth, curved silhouette that offers a comfortable grip. The page covers what a cup pull is, what the Verese measures and what zinc alloy with a plated finish is. The page also describes each finish and shows how to size, fit and clean the pull. For all of the maker's handles, start at Turner Hastings cabinet handles.
What a cup pull is
A cup pull is a half-moon handle that you hook the fingers into, set on the face of a drawer. It goes by other names: cup pulls, bin pulls and half-moon pulls are the same shape. Cup pulls have a distinctive half-moon shape and a comfortable grip, and they work well on drawers with classic knobs on cabinet doors for a balanced look in traditional kitchens. Cup or bin pulls suit Shaker, farmhouse and mid-century kitchens and are popular in brushed brass and antique bronze. See cup pull cabinet handles and half-moon cabinet handles.
The Verese, measured
The Verese has a 96mm fixing distance, a 128mm overall length, a width of 27mm and a projection of 34mm. The fixing distance is the gap between the two screw holes, measured from centre to centre, so the cup pull runs 32mm longer than its holes. Measure a sample if the clearance behind the pull matters in your joinery.
Fixing screws are included. The screw length depends on the panel: 22mm for panels 16mm to 18mm thick, and 38mm for panels 32mm to 34mm thick. The screw must bite into the handle and stop short of the door face. When you replace a handle, measure the distance between the screw holes and match it to the fixing distance, not to the length of the old handle. A 128mm handle will not fit 160mm holes without new holes, so a 96mm Verese only drops into holes spaced at 96mm.
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 Verese 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.
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 Verese body is zinc alloy, so the brass colour is a plated finish. A 96mm brushed brass handle is a common search, and this is one. 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. 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 Verese 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 size
A sizing table suggests 128mm to 160mm centres for drawers 450mm to 600mm wide. A standard door takes a 96mm to 128mm pull or a knob, and an upper cabinet door takes a 96mm pull or a knob, since overhead doors are usually narrower. Vanity drawers and doors usually take 96mm and 128mm centres, so the 96mm Verese suits a vanity drawer, a small drawer or a narrow door. The one-third rule says a pull is about a third as long as the drawer front is wide, so a 128mm pull suits a drawer about 380mm wide. Drawers up to about 400mm take a knob, a short pull or a compact T-bar. For wider drawers, the sizing table allows two pulls in place of one long one.
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.
Where it suits
The Verese suits cabinetry in kitchens, bathrooms and laundries. It has a soft half-moon shape that suits modern spaces and traditional ones. Cup pulls suit Shaker, farmhouse and mid-century kitchens, and Hamptons and coastal kitchens go with D-pulls or cup pulls in brushed nickel, brushed brass or chrome. The Brushed Nickel, Brushed Brass and Chrome versions therefore sit in the Hamptons and coastal note, and the English Bronze and Matte Black versions sit in the Shaker note. These matches are guidance and not a rule.
Cup pull or knob
Knobs take the fingers and a single screw and suit small doors and drawers, while pulls take the whole hand. A pull is gripped with three or four fingers, which makes it the better choice for heavy drawers and for children and older people. A cup pull is used on drawers more than on doors, and there is no matching Verese knob. If you want a knob for the doors, choose one in the same finish name from the maker's other ranges or from cabinet knobs.
Cup pull placement on a drawer
A cup pull sits on the face of the drawer and is hooked from underneath. Pulls about a third of the drawer face suit most drawers, and a door pull goes at the bottom corner of the door, or the top corner for base cabinets. Pot drawers over 250mm tall can have the handle 60mm to 80mm down from the top edge. For a shallow drawer, the pull sits near the top edge, centred. Make sure handles do not collide when doors open, so check the 34mm projection against any drawer or door that opens near it.
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 Verese, Brushed Brass and English Bronze are the warm finishes, Brushed Nickel and Chrome are the cool ones, and Matte Black is the neutral accent. The handles can be matched to Turner Hastings sink mixers. Coordinate finishes across cabinet hardware, appliance pulls and fixtures such as taps and lighting without making every piece identical.
Hole spacing and existing joinery
A handle fits old holes only when the centre matches. If you are replacing an older pull, measure the distance between its screw holes before you order a Verese. The Verese sits on 96mm, one of the common centres that are multiples of 32mm, and a common size for vanity drawers and upper doors. A filled hole shows unless the door is repainted, so match existing centres where you can. Where the old holes sit on another centre, a cup pull from cup pull cabinet handles on that centre may suit better.
Replacing handles
When you swap handles, match the fixing distance. A new cup 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. The Verese centre of 96mm sits on the 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.
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 Verese on a vanity drawer 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.
Related pages
For the maker's other handles, see Turner Hastings cabinet handles. For other types and materials, see cabinet handles, cup pull cabinet handles and cabinet knobs.
