How to choose your interior door handle?

Practical guide to choosing your new interior door handles   

Interior door handles are among the most frequently used fittings throughout the day. Door handles blend into our everyday décor. Yet we do not give them all the attention they deserve. Interior handles are generally considered as objects fulfilling a strictly defined role — that is, serving to open and close the door. However, a latch can be a true decorative object for any home, flat or room. All you need to do is make the right choice.

Are you looking to renovate a room in your home? Are you searching for an original and designer decorative effect for your new kitchen? A small piece of hardware will help you perfect the decoration of your interior: it's the interior door handle! It's best not to make the wrong choice when it comes to the designer handle that will highlight the new style of your room.

How to choose your interior door handle?

In this article, we guide you through the selection of your interior door handles. Nothing could be simpler! However, several technical and aesthetic criteria must be met so that you can be fully satisfied with your new designer interior door handles. Let's get started!

Do you have questions about choosing your new handles?

• Which interior handle model should you choose at the best price? Lever or rose?
• What is the most premium material? Bronze, brass, porcelain or zamak?
• What are the standards you need to know?
• Should I take the technical specifications of my lock into account before buying the handle?

If you are lost, we are here to help. At Milla Poignées, we are passionate about decoration and DIY, and our experts are at your disposal.

Door handle terminology

Here is the first thing you need to know:

• door handle
• latch 
• door handle lever
• lever handle
• door knob
• pull handles (or baton de maréchal)
• recessed cup handle for sliding door
• window handle

These are synonyms used to describe a door handle in all its forms.

The decorative accessory not to be overlooked

Interior handles are one of the smallest items of decorative hardware and are often the most overlooked, yet they serve a key role in interior decoration. Of course, interior door handles have a purely functional role, as they are operated countless times a day. But the handle plays an active part in designer interior design.

Rule number 1 for selecting your handle well is to create harmony between your designer door and the interior handle without overlooking the furniture handles or drawer knobs. The aim is to match the opening knobs to your interior style.

Don't forget that the door handle is an essential component for closing and opening the doors of your home. It must meet the technical requirements of the joinery, furniture and other fittings related to your interior environment.

The different types of interior door handles

Whether your style is classic or modern, there is a multitude of door handle models to choose from.

1/ Long plate handles in a classic style are the most common. Thanks to their long rectangular plate, they protect the door against knocks and fingerprints. They can be fitted with a key in I, L or privacy lock configuration (make sure to measure the centre distance before choosing a long plate handle).

2/ Rose-mounted handles can be round, square, rectangular… Their style is modern and pairs well with contemporary interiors. You will find a very wide choice of this type of door handle on the MILLA Poignées website.

3/ Door knobs or pull handles can come in various shapes — square, round, rectangular, triangular… they are used to pull (pull) the door. The locking system can be integrated into the knob to lock the door. Here is an example in our shop HERE

4/ Recessed door handles for sliding doors are inserts that integrate into the pocket door to provide a grip and guide the door when opening or closing. The shape of the handle can be round or square. A locking system can be installed.

Door handle materials

Interior door handles are made from a variety of materials that ensure quality, safety and decoration.

Here is a quick comparison:

* The most common materials at an affordable price are PVC or nylon, stainless steel and aluminium.

* There are other more premium materials such as zinc, bronze, brass, nickel, wrought iron, glass, porcelain, wood or the newcomer zamak (an alloy of zinc, aluminium, copper and magnesium) — ideal for dressing the doors of a contemporary kitchen.

Materials and designs

The choice of accessories will satisfy everyone's tastes, both in terms of the materials from which the handles are made and their shapes.

They can be made of steel, brass, nickel-plated, chrome-plated, powder-coated or even gold-plated. They are also made of glass or crystal. Increasingly, different materials are combined in a single handle — for example, a rose or a panel is made of steel, and a handle is made of wood (or "wood effect"), porcelain or resin. The most popular are aluminium or zamak handles (premium handles).

Thanks to modern methods of applying external coatings, they can falsely resemble handles made from more premium materials such as chrome, nickel or brass. Often, the handle and the rose can also differ in their finish — for example, one element is polished and the other brushed or satin. Handles where the grip is partly chrome and partly nickel are also very elegant. You can also buy handles with crystal inserts, for example. In the video below you can see handles in chrome, nickel and gun metal finishes: 

The choice of handles will also make it easier to choose from the extremely wide range of designs on the market. Most of us opt for handles with a very simple shape, based on an elongated rectangle, an arc, a sphere or an ellipse. Their advantage is their timelessness and universality. More avant-garde shapes, such as drop-shaped handles or open handles — for example in the shape of a delicate frame or a ladder — are also popular. Handles styled on historical and classical motifs are always very popular. Their handles feature undulating lines and are decorated with ornaments. We can therefore easily match them to the style of the interior and the other elements found within it, such as the furniture arrangement.

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