
The birdcage pull or handle is perfectly fine to use in your modern kitchen. I think that the birdcage style of ironwork is related to fireplace tool handles, which allow the user to avoid burns when grabbing them. The ornate Victorian molded metal design pulls and knobs were post-Civil War and today's trendy bin pull is definitely last quarter of the 19th and into the 20th century. Bennington ( Rockingham ) style clay knobs were used before the Civil War-there are lots of them in the Arabia steamboat from that period which was salvaged and are in the museum in Kansas City. Sandwich glass elaborate molded design knobs were about 2 to 2 1/2 inches across. Then came the round knobs of the pre-CW period, including those big flat round wooden knobs of the 1830s and 40s and 50s. After the turn of the 19th century, you got oval shields behind bails. In 18th century to the early 19th century, you got bales on batwing-backed handles or even more pared down bale handles without a back plate. They're on William and Mary style stuff, much like Pilgrim furniture. They are indeed clumsy and they're noisy and hard to grab, which might be the reason they were replaced by bale-type pulls. They have resurfaced a few different eras thereafter, often on historic revival pieces, such as on my parents' 1920s bedroom set. "Drop" pulls were used on drawers in the 1600s and early 1700s in American colonies they could be medieval for all I know. In time, this will probably leave a scar on the piece, which is treasured by antique owners. The most accurate cabinet closure you could use for really historic cupboards would be a piece of wood or metal on a fulcrum that is lowered across the junction between two cupboard doors. In the last 20 years or so, similar wire cages appeared on hardware and on a lot of wrought iron railings. I believe it is a modern adaptation, but I could be wrong. colonial or federal or pre-Civil War periods.
BIRDCAGE CABINET KNOBS AND PULLS UPDATE
But as for being trendy.It only matters what you love when you walk in that room, and if you get tired of them and want to replace them in a few or several years to what you love then, so what? Hardware is an easy thing to update to give the room a facelift.Īs far as I know, there is no "birdcage" style hardware on antique cupboards from the Am. Best wishes.Deciding on knobs and pulls can be fun, but also frustrating. For knobs, I prefer something easy to wipe down. I like pulls I can operate with my clean pinkie, knuckles, or side of my hand if I'm in the middle of a messy project or cleanup.

BIRDCAGE CABINET KNOBS AND PULLS FREE
(Not really related to your question, so feel free to ignore me!) The drop ones mean that every time you grab the handle, you're likely touching/smearing part of the drawer as you scoop under it, and I can just imagine, in my house, trying to clean bread dough or other such dried on goo, out of the little cage area in the birdcage knobs.

The problem with both those choices for me.used in a kitchen.doesn't have to do with trend, but with function and cleanability.
