Installing Crown Molding - Is this Typical?

15 years ago

Hello,

Dumb question, but...

I reading posts I saw a photo of maureeninmd's kitchen with little wooden slats on top of the cabinets.

Is this how crown molding gets attached? It doesn't actually attach directly to the cabinets themselves? I don't currently have crown molding, but I'd like to add it.

thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: post showing tops of cabinets

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Comments (9)

mom2reese
15 years ago
The crown moulding on all my kitchens have been attached directly to the cabinets.
Fori
15 years ago
If there's a big gap or a large variance in ceiling height, it's common to put the flat chunk of molding up first.
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sergeantcuff
15 years ago
Aack! That's my kitchen.

There's 3" trim attached to the top of the cabinets, and then moulding above that. Many kitchens have much taller mouldings, but that seemed way too fancy for me. The cabinets are only 36". I would have preferred taller cabinets (they came in 42") but they would have had to been hung very low in order to add moulding at the top. (Ceilings are 8" but I'm sure they are not level) So my contractor did it this way. I have no idea if this is typical! I hope this helps.
kdw72697
Original Author
15 years ago
I hope you don't mind me referencing your kitchen, maureeninmd! I love it...I have a serious case of Old House Envy now! Maybe someday I'll have one of my own. DH & I keep looking, but pre-1940s homes in our town are few and far between and those that do exist aren't up for sale.
bethv
15 years ago
We installed the flat chunks on top of our cabs before installing them and attached the crown to those chunks. Good tip: don't use red oak for the chunks - its a bit hard for those tiny finishing nails : ) pine is better.
sergeantcuff
15 years ago
Of course not, kdw! Thanks for the kind words. I did gasp when I read your thread because I DID think what they had done was very odd looking and was afraid that someone would say that it was a mistake.
sautesmom Sacramento
15 years ago
I went to Home Depot and Lowes and looked at all their crown molding on top of their display kitchens so I could picture in my mind how it's put together. You can see how a lot of it is stacked if you look from the top or the sides.

Carla in Sac
caryscott
15 years ago
There are a variety of things that will effect how crown is installed including the style of cabinets. With full overlay like Maureen has or frameless some of the standard mouldings are designed to be attached to the top of the cabinet.

This moulding is intended to be installed affixed to the top of frameless cabs so it is designed to give the doors the necessary clearance to open and close:

In my Mom's kitchen this moulding floats about a foot from the ceiling so it was easy to install:

In Maureen's case the contractor installed the strip on the top of the cabinet boxes and the moulding to the ceiling (I'm guessing) and this way if the ceiling is out you won't really notice (different amounts of the strip will be revealed but Maureen always has clearance to open and close her full overlay cabinet doors. For folks with taller mouldings the strip is often between the type of moulding that is attached to the cabinets (as above) and a crown attached to the ceiling. This is my understanding of how the installer explained it to me but sometimes things get lost in my translations.
2ajsmama
15 years ago
caryscott - where can you find that flattish "shaker" molding. I have been going crazy trying to find low-profile crown to go on my lower cabinets that butt into my corner cabinet (same depth). None of the lumberyards around here even have anything in their catalogs (Brosco, Garden State, found one 1 5/8" crown in Ferche that might work but it's not very high either). Thanks