Emtek Ebony Porcelain Cabinet Knob with Base, Schaub Collection

Two diameters: 1-3/8 inch and 1-1/4... the Emtek Ebony Porcelain knob is offered at 1-3/8 inch and 1-3/4 inch. The 1-3/8 inch is the general-purpose size for drawer fronts and smaller doors, and the 1-3/4 inch gives a bigger grip that reads better on tall pantry or full-overlay doors and on wide banks of deep drawers. Both sizes are offered in the same ten finishes, so you can mix sizes across a kitchen and keep one finish throughout.

A mounting screw ships with each knob. Standard cabinet knob screws are 8-32 machine screws, and the length that comes in the box is sized for typical door and drawer front thickness, so on thicker fronts, applied moldings, or a slab with a backer you may need a longer 8-32 screw. That is the only thing you would source separately.

Emtek rates the Ebony Porcelain knob as residential. It suits owner-occupied kitchens, baths, and millwork where the hardware gets normal household use. For high-turnover rentals, breakrooms, casework in a school or clinic, or anywhere a knob gets hit by carts and cleaning crews, go with a solid metal knob instead: the Deltana KRB175 is a heavy-duty solid brass round knob at 1-3/4 inch diameter, or the Delaney solid brass cabinet knob if you want a plainer profile. Porcelain chips where metal only scratches.

A knob mounts on a single hole, a pull mounts on two. Swapping pulls for the Emtek porcelain knob leaves you with an extra hole in every front unless the pull's center-to-center happens to let you center a knob on one of them, which it rarely does cleanly. Plan on plugging and refinishing, or stay with pulls. If you are going the other direction and replacing single-hole knobs, this drops straight in on the existing bore.

The Deltana KRB175 Round Knob is a heavy-duty solid brass round knob at 1-3/4 inch diameter, which matches the larger of the two Emtek Ebony Porcelain sizes. The difference is the face: the Emtek knob is a porcelain knob on a brass base, while the KRB175 is solid brass throughout with a groove detail. If the porcelain look is the reason for the specification, the KRB175 will not read the same on the cabinet, but it covers the same 1-3/4 inch footprint.

Unlacquered Brass (US3NL) has no clear coat over it, so it darkens and patinas with handling. That is the point of the finish, and it is why it is a separate option from Polished Brass Lifetime (US3), which is coated to hold its color. If you are specifying across a rental unit or a job where every knob has to look the same in five years, take US3 or one of the plated finishes. If you want the hardware to age with the room, US3NL.

Ebony porcelain forms the visible knob and it is set on a brass base, with brass called out as the substrate. The brass base is what takes the screw and carries the load into the door or drawer front, so the porcelain is not threaded and is not doing structural work. That construction is why the knob is offered in ten metal finishes: you are choosing the finish of the base, not the color of the porcelain.

Two different looks. The Ebony Porcelain knob is a glazed porcelain body, so it has depth and a glassy reflection even when you order it with a Flat Black (US19) base. A solid metal knob in flat black is uniform and matte all over. If matte is what you are after, the Orca CK-19032 Whistler or the CK-18032 Mission are all-metal cabinet knobs. If you want the porcelain look with the least metal showing, pair the ebony porcelain with the Flat Black base so the base disappears into the knob.

It is Emtek's Schaub Collection porcelain knob, so it is meant to sit alongside Schaub cabinet hardware in the same room. Where it will not match is profile: Schaub's own knobs like the 10040 Cafe Modern oval, the 1200 Modo at 16 mm, and the 131 Artifex round at 1-1/2 inch are metal-bodied and read as metal from across the room, while the ebony porcelain reads as a glazed black body on a metal base. Common practice is porcelain knobs on the upper doors with metal pulls on drawers, matched by finish rather than by shape.

The Emtek Ebony Porcelain Cabinet Knob with Base is offered in ten finishes, including Oil Rubbed Bronze US10B, Polished Nickel US14, Satin Nickel US15, Pewter US15A, Flat Black US19, Polished Chrome US26, Polished Brass Lifetime US3, Unlacquered Brass US3NL, Satin Brass US4, and French Antique US7, and each finish is available in both 1-3/8 inch and 1-3/4 inch. That lets a cabinet run mix knob sizes on doors and drawers while holding one finish. The Schaub 131 Round Artifex knob and Deltana KRB175 are each a single form in one diameter, 1-1/2 inch and 1-3/4 inch respectively, so a mixed-size run would need two different models.

They are not interchangeable in appearance. The Schaub 10040 is a 1 inch Cafe Modern oval knob with 7/8 inch center to center, so it is an oval form with two-point spacing to lay out, while the Emtek Ebony Porcelain knob is a round porcelain knob on a base offered at 1-3/8 inch and 1-3/4 inch. If existing bores were drilled for a single-screw round knob, the oval Schaub knob changes the hole layout.

The Orca Hardware CK-18032 Mission Round Cabinet Knob is a round cabinet knob from the 18-Mission Collection, and the Orca Hardware CK-19032 Whistler Cabinet Knob comes from the 19-Whistler Collection. Both are round cabinet knobs like the Emtek Ebony Porcelain knob, but carry a mission or lodge styling instead of the porcelain face, which suits cabinetry where a ceramic knob would look out of period.

Glazed porcelain on a brass base handles bath and laundry humidity without trouble, and the glaze wipes clean of toothpaste and soap. Watch the finish choice rather than the porcelain: Unlacquered Brass (US3NL) will patina faster in a damp room since it is uncoated, so in a bath most people take Polished Chrome (US26), Satin Nickel (US15), or Polished Nickel (US14).

Finish and size are picked together as one item, since each of the ten finishes is stocked in both 1-3/8 inch and 1-3/4 inch. Ordering a single knob in the finish and size you are considering gets you the exact part you would run through the rest of the job, and adding to it later means reordering the same finish and size combination rather than specifying anything additional. There are no separate base or rosette parts to order alongside it.

Both Schaub knobs are 1 inch Cafe Modern oval knobs with 7/8 inch center to center; the 10030 is the slot version and the 10040 is the plain oval. Either is a modern oval form, where the Emtek Ebony Porcelain Cabinet Knob with Base is a round porcelain knob in the Glass and Porcelain collection. The two Schaub knobs differ from each other only in the face detail, so the choice between them is styling rather than layout.