You have chosen your hardware, unpacked the boxes, and now you are staring at a pristine cabinet door wondering where exactly to drill. This is the moment where preparation separates a professional result from a regrettable one.
Before you drill: planning the position
There is no universal rule for handle placement, but there are conventions that work. For base cabinet doors, handles are typically positioned towards the top, roughly 50mm to 75mm from the upper edge. For wall cabinets, handles sit towards the bottom, at the same distance from the lower edge. This puts the hardware where your hand naturally reaches.
For drawers, handles are centred horizontally and vertically. If the drawer front is 200mm tall, the centre of the handle sits at 100mm from the top edge.
Use a template
A drilling template is a piece of card, plastic, or metal with pre-marked hole positions. You align it to the edge of the door and drill through the marked points. This eliminates measuring errors and ensures every handle sits at exactly the same height across your kitchen.
You can make a template from thick card. Mark your hole positions precisely, cut the card to fit against the door edge, and check it on a spare piece of wood before committing to the real doors.
Better still, use a purpose-made jig. Hardware jigs clamp to the door edge and have adjustable guides for common CC measurements. They cost around twenty pounds and pay for themselves by preventing a single misdrilled hole.
Choosing the right drill bit
Cabinet handles typically use M4 machine screws, which require a 5mm hole. Use a sharp brad-point bit for clean entry on both sides of the door. Spade bits and twist bits can tear the surface of painted or veneered doors.
Drill from the front face of the door. Place a piece of scrap wood behind the door to prevent blowout on the rear face. Drill slowly and with steady pressure.
Common mistakes
Not checking the back of the door. Before drilling, open the cabinet and check what is behind the drilling position. Hinges, shelf supports, and internal fittings can obstruct screws. If there is a conflict, adjust the handle position slightly.
Overtightening the screws. Machine screws through a door panel do not need much torque. Tighten until the handle is firm and does not wobble. Over-tightening can compress the door material, crack paint, or strip the screw hole.
Using the wrong screw length. Handles ship with standard screw lengths, but door thicknesses vary. If the supplied screw is too long, it will poke through the back of the door. If too short, it will not engage properly. Measure your door thickness and check the screw length before fitting.
If something goes wrong
A misdrilled hole is not the end of the world. Fill it with a colour-matched wood filler or a solid wood dowel glued in place. Let it dry completely, sand flush, and re-drill in the correct position. On painted doors, the repair will be invisible after touch-up paint. On natural wood or veneer, a filled hole may be visible, so measure twice.
