Cabinet handle hole spacing: the standard sizes, measured across 2,091 handles

By Furniture Components (analysis of our own catalogue) · 2026-10-31

Short answer: if you are replacing a two-screw cabinet handle, it is most likely 160 mm, 128 mm or 96 mm centre to centre. Those three sizes cover 64.5 % of the 2,091 handles with a stated hole spacing in our catalogue, and 94.5 % of all handles use a spacing that is a multiple of 32 mm.

How we counted

We took every handle in the handles catalogue whose manufacturer states a centre-to-centre (c/c) hole spacing — 2,091 handles from 8 manufacturers, data as of 31 October 2026. Knobs (single screw) and values below 32 mm were left out. Each value comes from the manufacturer’s own product data; the sources are listed below.

One caveat up front: SIRO alone supplies 1,402 of the 2,091 handles, so the raw counts lean towards its range. The column average maker corrects for that — it is the share of each size within each manufacturer’s range, averaged so that every maker counts equally.

The sizes

Hole spacing (c/c) Handles Share Average maker Makers offering it
160 mm (5 × 32) 538 25.7 % 33.0 % 8 of 8
128 mm (4 × 32) 438 20.9 % 20.9 % 7 of 8
96 mm (3 × 32) 375 17.9 % 17.1 % 8 of 8
64 mm (2 × 32) 163 7.8 % 4.8 % 5 of 8
320 mm (10 × 32) 158 7.6 % 5.0 % 5 of 8
192 mm (6 × 32) 111 5.3 % 8.4 % 7 of 8
32 mm 78 3.7 % 2.9 % 5 of 8
224 mm (7 × 32) 31 1.5 % 1.0 % 4 of 8
256 mm (8 × 32) 20 1.0 % 1.9 % 3 of 8
480 mm (15 × 32) 16 0.8 % 0.3 % 3 of 8

Everything else — 76 mm, 48 mm, 304.8 mm and a long tail of one-off sizes — adds up to about 5 %.

160 mm is the single most common size and, together with 96 mm, the only one that all 8 manufacturers offer. 128 mm follows closely. If you are choosing handles for new furniture rather than replacing old ones, staying within 96–160 mm keeps the widest choice of designs open for later.

Why multiples of 32 mm

European cabinet making is built around the 32 mm system: line-boring machines drill rows of holes at 32 mm pitch for shelf pins, hinge plates and drawer runners. Handle spacings followed the same grid — 96, 128, 160, 192 mm are 3, 4, 5 and 6 times 32. That is why a 100 mm or 150 mm handle is rare in European ranges: in our sample, 94.5 % of handles sit exactly on the 32 mm grid.

Inch sizes are different — and close enough to be a trap

A small group of handles (34 in the sample) uses inch-based spacings: 76 mm (3 in) and 304.8 mm (12 in). Watch the near-misses when mixing systems:

  • 96 mm vs 3¾ in (95.25 mm) — 0.75 mm apart
  • 128 mm vs 5 in (127 mm) — 1 mm apart

A difference this small usually means the screws go in at a slight angle or the handle sits under tension. Whether that is acceptable depends on the handle; when in doubt, measure the old one and pick the exact size.

How long will the handle be?

The hole spacing is not the length of the handle. For bar and bow handles, the overall length is typically the hole spacing plus about 18–20 mm — the median overhang in our data is 18 mm for 96, 160 and 192 mm handles and 20 mm for 64, 128 and 320 mm. Designer handles with long ends are the exception, so check the stated overall length on each product page when the space is tight (next to a wall, a hinge side or another handle).

How to measure an existing handle

  1. Remove one screw, or look at the back of the door or drawer front.
  2. Measure from the centre of one screw hole to the centre of the other — not edge to edge and not the overall length of the handle.
  3. Round to the nearest size in the table above. A reading of 127–128 mm is almost always 128 mm on European furniture; 95–96 mm is 96 mm.

Find handles by spacing

Search the catalogue for a spacing directly — for example “160 mm” handles or “128 mm” handles — or browse the full handles & knobs category, which lists each handle’s c/c spacing and overall length on its card.

Sources