How to Drill Holes for Cabinet Pulls

Upgrading the hardware on your cabinets can make a remarkable difference both in aesthetics and functionality. Installing new cabinet pulls requires drilling into some of your home’s most visible  and valuable furniture. 

Whether you are installing cabinet pulls in new or old cabinets, follow my guide to ensure you drill holes for your cabinet pulls cleanly and correctly the first time.

Finding Cabinet Pulls Before Drilling Holes

Finding the correct cabinet pulls for your space is the first step in drilling cabinet pulls. You will need to be able to measure the drawer pulls before drilling any holes. If you are looking to replace existing cabinet pulls, you have a few options. 

Cabinet Pulls with Backplates

You may look for cabinet pulls that include backplates. Backplates are flat pieces which will rest between your cabinet pull and the cabinet itself. These plates hide existing holes and can speed up the installation process.

Backplates do not require filling old screw holes or sanding prior to installation. Backplates often have predrilled holes for your new cabinet pulls.

For some, squaring a backplate on the drawer surface is easier than correctly locating screw holes for new pulls.

Consider Knobs or Handles

Cabinets with knob pulls or handle pulls offer different advantages. For many large lower drawers that can be filled with heavier kitchen equipment, handles make opening drawers easier.

If you have high-end burlwood upper cabinets, an inconspicuous knob may be a better option to keep the limelight on your cabinets.

It is worth considering the amount of holes you will be putting into your cabinet. Knobs normally require a single screw while handles usually require two. Two-screw handles often stay secured longer, while single-screw knobs need to be attended to more often.

Tip: When purchasing new hardware, be sure to consider the screw length. Many drawers have a drawer box and an additional drawer face. Screws need to be long enough to pass through both of these and into your cabinet pulls. Sometimes screws included with drawer pull packages are not long enough. 

Preparing to Install New Cabinet Pulls

If you are drilling holes in wood for new cabinet pulls in existing cabinets, your first step is to prepare the surface.

Preparing for New Pulls on Painted Cabinets

If your cabinets are painted, you will need to fill the holes from the old cabinet using paintable wood filler.

1. Put on gloves.
2. Apply small dabs of wood filler to existing holes.
3. Use a putty knife to work wood filler into the hole.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 until wood filler is pushed entirely through the existing screw holes into the interior of the cabinet.
5. When hole is completely filled, use a putty knife to smooth the interior and exterior surfaces.
6. After the wood filler has dried per manufacturer’s instructions, paint over the screw holes with a matching paint.

Tip: This method also works well for new cabinet pulls that match up with existing holes. Old cabinet pull screw holes are often oversized due to their use over time. Even if the holes seemingly match up, it is often a good idea to fill the holes and start with fresh cabinet faces to ensure your desired results.

Preparing for New Pulls on Wood Stained Cabinets

If your cabinets are stained wood, I recommend detaching a cabinet door and taking it to your local home improvement store. Go to the wood putty selection and carefully select the wood putty that most closely matches your cabinet’s finish. 

Wood putty cannot be stained, so choose carefully. Woody putty is preferable in this situation because it will not crack or shrink. 

To apply your wood putty to fill pre-existing holes for cabinet pulls:

1. Put on gloves and protective eyewear.
2. Use a putty knife to apply small amounts of wood putty directly to the hole.
3. Continue working putty into the screw holes with a putty knife until putty extrudes through the opposite side of the screw hole.
4. Gently scrape a smooth surface with the putty knife on the inside and outside of the cabinet.
5. You are now read to drill your new holes for cabinet pulls.

You could also work with a stainable wood filler instead of a putty.

On the off chance that you are working with unfinished cabinets, make sure to paint the cabinets with a sprayer first before adding the pulls.

How to Drill Holes for Cabinet Pulls

We strongly recommend using jigs to install cabinet pulls and will only cover this method due to its precision and reproducible results.

Tip: If your cabinet door does not have a stile or you are unsure of where you want your knob or handle to be located on a drawer or cabinet face, buy museum putty.

This unique putty can be applied to the back of your new pulls and will hold those pulls in place on the cabinet. This allows you to see the pulls from multiple angles before making your final decision location.

Jig Method for Drilling Holes for Cabinet Pulls

Jigs help to fool proof installing cabinet pulls. Jigs can work for both drawers and cabinet doors. The only tools needed to use a jig to mark holes for cabinet pulls are the jig and a pen or pencil. 

The wonderful things about jigs are the results are easily reproducible and consistent. The best cabinet hardware jigs have a lip that either rests on top of a cabinet or drawer front or can be held on a door edge or bottom. 

The jig rests over the face of your drawer or door and has many holes set at distances commonly used by cabinet pull manufacturers. The centerpoint of the jig is also normally marked by a line on the lip of the jig.

Jigs and Drawer Pulls

For knobs and handles:

1. Measure and mark the center of the top of your drawer face.
2. Align the center mark of the jig with the center mark on your drawer face.
3. Determine which hole beneath your jig’s centerline is the vertical center. Mark that hole in the center line if installing a knob. If installing a handle, hold the new handle along the jig’s vertical center line to determine which pair of holes align with the handle. The holes should be equidistant from horizontal centerline and along the vertical centerline. Mark those holes.
4. Drill through marks with the cabinet pull manufacturer’s recommended drill bit size.
5. Push the cabinet pull screws through the hole from the inside of the drawer.
6. Tighten screws to bring the cabinet pull to the cabinet door.

Tip: On some lower cabinet drawers, the bottommost drawers are often over sized. If this is your case, I recommend you install your knobs or handles using the same jig holes as your other drawers. It will look cleaner and reaching your lowest knobs or handles will be easier.

Jigs and Cabinet Pulls

Cabinet doors often have stiles. If yours has a stile, knobs and pulls should be centered from left-to-right within the stile. 

For upper cabinets, knobs should be located 3” up from the bottom corner opposite the hinges while the bottom screw hole on pulls on upper cabinets should be 2 1/2″.  

For lower cabinets, knobs should be located 3” down from the upper corner opposite the hinges while the top screw hole on pulls on lower cabinets should be 2 1/2″.

1. Place the jig on the edge of the cabinet door on the side which you are installing your cabinet pull.
2. Use the holes within the jig to determine the center of the stile by counting the number of equidistant jig holes across the face of the stile, then dividing by two.
3. If your cabinet door is an upper cabinet: measure up 3” from the bottom of the jig along your stile centerpoint for knobs, or measure up 2 1/2″ from the bottom of the jig along your stile centerpoint for handles.
4. If your cabinet door is a lower cabinet: measure down 3” from the top of the jig along your stile centerpoint for knobs, or measure down 2 1/2″ from the tip of the jig along your stile centerpoint for handles.
5. Mark these points.
6. While holding the door open, use the manufacturer recommended size of drill bit to drill through the face of the cabinet.
7. Insert screw into the drilled hole from the interior.
8. Use the screw to tighten drawer pulls to the cabinet door.

If you have a lot of cabinet pulls to install, consider using a drill press. Even cheaper drill presses will allow to quickly drill precise holes.

Conclusion

Properly preparing your work surface ensures that drilling new holes for cabinet pulls is successful. Because it is likely that you are installing multiple cabinet pulls, using a jig almost guarantees uniform results across the furniture if you follow my method.

Make sure to check out my guides on installing drawer slides to face frame cabinets and how to make your own Shaker style cabinet doors.