The Cabinet Hardware Jig: The One Tool a 26-Year Pro Won't Hang a Kitchen Without

2026-09-29 — Dave B, 26-Year Phoenix Cabinet Installer

By a cabinet installer with 26 years on the job. I've drilled more knob-and-pull holes than I can count, and I'll tell you the same thing I tell every client who asks how I get them dead-center every single time: it's not a steady hand, it's a jig. Here's the honest version of which one you need — and whether you even need to buy one at all.

Here's the part nobody tells you about hanging cabinet hardware: the drilling is easy. It's the measuring that'll ruin your kitchen. A knob 1/8" too high on one door is invisible until you open them all side by side — then it's the first thing every visitor notices, and it screams "someone did this themselves."

A jig doesn't make you faster at drilling. It makes you stop measuring — which is the only way to get a whole kitchen's worth of holes identical. That's the whole product. And once you understand that, the buying decision gets simple.

The quick answer (if you just want a verdict)

The three questions that decide it

1. How many holes will you actually drill?

This is the whole ballgame, and it's why I put it first.

• One kitchen, one time. You need ~20–40 holes. A $20 aluminum template does that fine, and a paper template (the one that comes in the pull box) does it okay. Don't over-buy.
• You do this for a living — or you're the "family handyman" who'll hang hardware again. Buy once. The math: a cheap jig that drifts or strips after two kitchens costs you time (the expensive thing) plus a re-buy. The right jig amortizes to nothing.

My rule of thumb: if you'll drill 100 holes in your life, buy the good one. If you'll drill 40, buy the cheap one and don't feel bad about it.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. These links pay a small commission and never change the pick or the grade.

2. Knobs and standard pulls — or long pulls and shelf pins?

This is where most jigs fall short and nobody mentions it.

• Base jigs (like the True Position Original) handle knobs and standard-length pulls — the 3", 5", and 128mm centers that cover 90% of kitchens.
• Long bar pulls (the modern look with 8"+ centers) and shelf-pin holes need a jig built for them. That's the True Position MAX — it handles the oversized pulls plus the 5mm shelf-pin grid — or the Kreg KHI-XLPULL Pro if you want the name-brand extra-long-pull version.

If your whole kitchen is bar pulls, skip the base jig and start with a MAX/XLPULL. Buying a base jig that can't reach your own pulls is the #1 mistake I see people make.

3. Do you want service behind it, or is a $20 disposable fine?

• True Position Tools — Made in USA, and they sell replacement parts (the hole guides are replaceable, not the whole jig). This is the one I run. I've had mine 6 years and drilled tens of thousands of holes with it, and I've replaced exactly one hole guide in all that time. That's the durability test that actually matters.
• Kreg — the big box-store name, solid build, easy to find, and their hardware jigs are legitimately good.
• Budget templates — MeasurePro, SUNCONY, and the Cabinet Hardware Locator — aluminum, adjustable, and totally fine for a one-time kitchen. They'll drift and wear sooner, but at this price you don't expect them to survive a career.

What I'd buy (and the trick that makes it free)

My daily driver: the True Position Original jig. It puts every pull and knob dead-center with zero measuring, and it comes with the 5mm bit. If you hang hardware even once, it's worth it.

The add-on, if you do long pulls: the True Position Long Handle Attachments extend the base jig for oversized pulls — buy it with the jig if you're doing modern bar pulls, skip it if you're all knobs.

The budget honest pick: the MeasurePro template — it's the one I'd hand a first-timer doing a single kitchen. It does the job; it just won't become an heirloom.

The trick that makes the good one free: a True Position jig holds its resale value almost as well as a Festool. Buy it for your kitchen, use it for a weekend, and sell it when you're done — you'll get most of your money back. Net cost: a couple coffees, and your holes are dead-center. The budget template is "cheaper" only if you ignore that you're stuck with it.

The #1 DIY mistake (and how a jig kills it)

The mistake isn't drilling crooked. It's measuring each hole by hand and trusting the math. Even careful people drift an eighth inch across 20 doors, and then every door is slightly different — which reads worse than all of them being consistently off.

A jig removes the measuring step entirely. You set it once, and every hole lands in the same spot because the tool decides it, not your tape hand. That's the entire reason pros don't do this by hand, and it's the reason the tool exists.

The honest verdict

If you're hanging hardware once, a $20 template is the right call and you shouldn't feel bad about it. If you'll do it more than once — or you're sick of the "all the doors are slightly off" look — the True Position jig is the tool that pays for itself the first kitchen and then keeps working for a decade.

The jig isn't a luxury. It's the difference between a kitchen that looks hung by hand and one that looks built.