Door Handles

Handles are the part of a door that gets touched every day, so they are worth choosing on feel and finish as well as looks. They are also supplied separately from the lock or latch, which is the detail most often missed at the point of ordering.

Handles by range and by set

If you are matching handles to doors from the same manufacturer, start from the brand ranges:

• Deanta Handles
• LPD Handles
• Bathroom Door Handle Sets

By style, handles are grouped as handles on back plate, door knobs and pull handles, and handlepacks bundle the handle, latch and hinges together for a single door. To complete the set, see locks and latches and escutcheons.

Handles, knobs or pull handles?

A lever handle is the default for internal doors because it can be operated with an elbow or a full hand, and it works with a standard tubular latch. A door knob suits period and cottage interiors but needs a firmer grip and, on a latched door, a slightly deeper backset to turn comfortably. A pull handle has no moving parts at all, so it is used on doors that do not latch: sliding doors, pocket doors and cupboard fronts. Where the lever sits on a plate rather than a round rose, you are looking at handles on back plate, which hide older screw holes well when you are replacing hardware in an existing house.

What has to be bought alongside the handle

Handles are supplied without the latch and without the hinges. For one internal door you normally need the handle pair, a tubular latch, three hinges, and then the room-specific part: a bathroom turn and release for an en suite or WC, or a key lock for a bedroom. If you would rather buy that as one line, use a handlepack. Bathrooms are covered as a set in bathroom door handle sets and bathroom locks, with the visible cover plates in escutcheons.

Finish, feel and wear

Satin chrome and satin nickel hide fingerprints better than polished finishes, which is why they are the usual choice for family hallways. Matt black looks sharpest against black internal doors and against white primed doors, but it shows wear on the thumb contact point sooner than a plated finish. Brass and antique brass warm up oak internal doors and need occasional cleaning rather than polishing; see how to clean and maintain brass door handles.

Matching handles to the door range

If your doors came from one manufacturer it is usually quickest to stay inside that manufacturer's hardware range, because the finish names line up: Deanta handles for Deanta doors, and LPD handles for LPD doors. Otherwise the wider ranges from Carlisle Brass, Atlantic UK and Zoo Hardware cover the same finishes across handles, hinges and locks.

Do handles fit any internal door?

Almost always, provided the door is solid enough at the lock block to take the latch. Hollow core doors have a timber block in the leaf edge for exactly this reason, so the handle must be fitted at that height rather than anywhere on the leaf.

Why is one handle looser than the others?

Usually the grub screw or the spindle has worked loose rather than the handle failing. How to fix a loose door handle covers the fix in order.

Are fire door handles different?

The handle itself is often the same, but the hinges and any closing device must be rated: use fire rated hinges and intumescent strips on any fire door.