Measuring drawer handle holes

To mount a drawer handle in the middle of the drawer, one often measures to the middle of the drawer, and then right and left by half the hole spacing to get the positions for the holes.

The catch with that approach is that it's awkward, and you also shouldn't mark anything in the middle, seeing that that part of the drawer will not be hidden by the handle.

By doing just a little bit of calculation, the whole process can be simplified.

The handle hole spacing (Handle) plus the space on either side (Side) must be equal to the width of the whole drawer. And the spaces on either side are identical.

With simple algebra, we can then work out:

Side  =   Width - Handle
2

So its just a matter of taking the width of the drawer, minus the hole spacing of the handle, divide that by two, and then measure in from one side to the first hole of the handle.

I always measure the second hole with respect to the first hole. I normally use a marking gauge from the top, and use that to make a small indentation in the drawer front where the holes should go.

Back to the Shop tricks section