Hardware They’ll Notice

Manufacturers are constantly upgrading the hardware that lets cabinet doors swing and drawers slide. Beyond looks, factories also respond to changing lifestyles, technologies, and materials. Form follows function, and the ornate pulls and knobs from oak kitchens of a previous generation would look dated and cumbersome in the sleek surrounds of a modern, minimalist room. But good looks aren’t everything – hardware also needs to be durable, reliable, and intuitive.

The new Compact Clip hinge from Blum (blum.com) is designed specifically for face frame cabinets, and it allows doors to be easily removed and attached. The goal is to speed up assembly in the woodshop and during field installation. Featuring a pre-attached plate, the hinge is delivered in one piece, so no assembly is required. Doors can be removed and reattached tool-free, and the adjustments remain unchanged no matter how many times the process occurs. The clips have Blumotion soft-close technology with a built-in deactivation switch.

Grass America (grassusa.com) has just introduced the Tiomos series, a stylish hinge with a unique kinematic mechanism, concealed inside the hinge arm, that makes doors easy to open, and to align when reducing gaps. It has soft-close with adjustable damping technology. The hinge is exceptionally narrow and has even reveals with minimum gaps, which are characteristics that will appeal to designers of high-quality, luxury kitchens. The precise vertical and depth adjustment is continuous and self-locking, using a worm gear principle. The third dimension is equally easy to adjust for setting the overlay and the stop limit, and the hinge can be used in frameless and face frame applications.

The Swing-Up fitting from Häfele (hafele.com) is designed for standard application flip-up cabinet doors that have a handle. It can be adjusted to open at 90 or 107 degrees, plugs into standard 32/37mm line holes, and fastens with just one pre-mounted screw.

Grass also has a new back panel holder for its Nova Pro Scala drawer system for clearing a sink trap or garbage disposal.

Knape & Vogt (knapeandvogt.com) is now offering heavy-duty ball-bearing slides with its Force Management soft-close technology, which features a rack-and-gear design that evens out drawer opening mechanics and increases closure force.

Last year, Accuride (accuride.com) introduced the new 3306DO, which is a medium-duty slide that’s ideal for mobile applications such as medical carts, RVs, and even rolling workbenches. The slide stays closed when closed, has an inch of over-travel so clients can reach into the back of the drawer, and has a hold-out detent that prevents drawers from rolling closed.

Fulterer’s new FR56 ball-bearing slides can handle loads up to 225 lbs. and the line includes versions with various functions and mounting methods. The full-extension side-mount slides have a standard 1” overextension, come in 16.2mm, 18mm and 19mm widths, and are available in lengths from 8” to 44”. The newest member of the family, the FR5619, has an anti-tilt mechanism that’s built in, and the company (fultererusa.com) also offers a new kit for this slide that adds a locking system to stacked drawers.

The AvanTech You drawer from Hettich (hettich.com) delivers a lot of options in styling, flexibility, colors, shapes, and materials. It has vertical, lateral and tilt alignments for a perfect fit in the opening, and those mechanics are all concealed in the drawer sides, where covers slide out of the way for easy access. The front panel has a safety feature built in, so it doesn’t drop to the floor when released.

Salice America’s F70 is a heavy-duty, concealed, undermount drawer slide that comes with a 154-lb. dynamic load rating, according to the company (salice.com). It’s suitable for residential and commercial applications and has an optional synchronizer kit for wide drawers. The slides are six-way adjustable and available in lengths from 15’’ to 30’’.

Lockdowel (lockdowel.com) has expanded its box assembly hardware system to include undermount and sidemount soft-closing slides.

The X-Series Bracket System from Century Components (xseriesbracket.com) is a clever Amish solution to the challenge of adding height adjustment to sliding shelves. It delivers affordable, tool-free adjustments for rollouts. The installation is quick and easy – just crosscut a few vertical moldings (called pilasters) to length and screw them in place. Then attach the supplied brackets to your drawer slides and pop everything in place.

One of the new trends in cabinet hardware is the edge pull, which is a thin, flat piece of metal that is ether screwed or set into the top edge of a drawer or door. This metal plate has a downward curve on the exposed edge that acts as a finger pull. A good example is the SN Pull from Sugatsune (sugatsune.com). It’s available in seven lengths with three different finishes (black, mirror or satin), with a gold finish coming soon.

Atlas Homewares (atlashomewares.com) has just expanded its ‘fun and funky’ decorative Zanzibar line with the addition of stainless hardware. The brand is also debuting two new finishes this year, Matte Gold and Matte Rose Gold, which are exclusive to the Stainless collection. Included are 85 pieces in five series: Indio, Tustin, Clemente, Burbank, and Torrance.

Top Knobs (topknobs.com) has completed its Morris collection with a series of cabinet pulls. The company says that the new pulls balance the complete collection with a reserved bar pull look, sleek minimal details, and a sturdy linear handle. There are six drawer pull sizes and two large appliance pulls, and the finishes are Ash Gray, Brushed Satin Nickel, Flat Black, Honey Bronze, Polished Chrome, and Polished Nickel.

Among the newest Jeffrey Alexander collections from Hardware Resources (hardwareresources.com) is Renzo, and it’s a timely addition given the trend toward larger and wider drawers. It features a modern, squared shape and the cup pull is offered in five center-to-center options from 3-3/4” to 12” long for wider drawer fronts. There are two knob sizes, and the collection comes in seven trendy finishes.

Bainbridge Mfg. (bainbridgemfg.com) makes inexpensive plastic drawer pulls in several colors, along with a few dinosaur-shaped pulls. The company sells wholesale-only, and the catalog includes drawer slide sockets and spacers along with a host of clips, catches and other cabinet hardware.

Rev-A-Shelf (rev-a-shelf.com) has designed a charging station that can be built into a base cabinet. Called the Charging Drawer, it comes in several widths and depths in both face frame and frameless options. The drawer sides are 5/8” natural maple with a semi-gloss clearcoat, and the slides are full-extension Tandem with Blumotion soft-close. There are two 120-volt outlets and two 2.1-amp USB ports in the included power strip.

One other area of hardware has seen a few advances of late. Floating shelves with hidden brackets have become quite popular, especially in kitchens that forego wall cabinets. Natural live edge or painted shelves are mounted on brackets such as the ones supplied by Innovashelf (innovashelf.com) or CabinetParts.com, and these add both storage and a visual element to what might otherwise be a bland space. Another supplier, Stronghold Brackets (strongholdbrackets.com), has created a series of heavy-duty brackets that can carry up to 350 lbs. apiece to support floating countertops, shelves, and even whole vanities.  

This article was originally published in the February 2023 issue.