I think it would look fine to leave the 3 inches. Cleaning it would be difficult, but not impossible. I guess it depends on how willing you are to deal with doing that, I imagine quite often, since you are allergic to dust.

The rope lights do add a nice glow- my mom has them and I think it is a nice addition to the space.

On the other hand, how bad is the ceiling? It may not be that noticeable from the floor. Ask the carpenter about the unlevelness and see if would bother you.

I guarantee that space will trap dust ... and will be such a PITA to clean that you will rarely do so. I'd do the crown all the way to the top, both to eliminate the dust trap AND to give a greater sense of height (and thus, spaciousness). But mostly, you really, REALLY don't want a narrow place like that to collect dust, believe me! I had a space much like that, perhaps a little deeper, in my old kitchen and it was a nightmare to clean (so I hardly ever did, but when I DID -- oh my! You would not believe the dust, dead bugs, you name it (even oily greasy film, since my old kitchen had a 1988-era downdraft ventilation system). I just can't imagine, if you're allergic to dust, leaving a gap like that when you don't have to. A good carpenter ought to be able to make the moulding look good regardless of the ceiling contour. I suspect he just doesn't want to bother since it's more work?

HUH, you attach the filler to the cabinets after installed with screws through the top and float the crown to the ceiling so it looks even. No ceiling is even, especially ours.

Our molding being installed by our kitchen guy and my husband (we are DIY usually but cheated with the cabinets):

Here you can see the screw holding the filler and the tiny nail holes from the nail gun (can't really see from below although at some point I'll fill them in, maybe):

I suspect your carpenter forgot to put the filler on before the crown molding and is now hoping you'll say it's OK.

I have a dust allergy as well and unless you can easily reach that area I think it's going to be a dust trap and allergy trigger...

If you have a ceiling fan it will be even worse....every time you turn it on it will stir up the dust!

Go to the ceiling and eliminate the dust gap! Our ceilings are woefully uneven because part of the kitchen is an addition. We have the filler between the cabinet and crown and it hides a jailhouse full of sins.

Here's a peak at the overall kitchen. Notice how it all looks fine? There's actually a 2" difference in the amount of filler that shows between the hood and the ovens.

Thanks for the helpful responses. Very much appreciated. No trim has been attached yet and my carpenter will happily do it whichever way I say and it will look nice (everything so far is beautiful). I guess I'll just have to decide if having the lights up there is worth the cleaning difficulty.

pcjs - the pictures are especially especially helpful.

chefkev,

When you say 'I'll just have to decide if having the lights up there is worth the cleaning difficulty', did you already have it prewired?

You already have a switch in your kitchen for that eventuality?

From the little I know, that is why crown molding for cabinets usually comes in two pieces- to hide the unevenness expected in the ceiling.

raehelen - It isn't prewired at the top, but we could possibly use the pre-wiring from the undercabinet lighting and bring it up to the top. There is also already a juntion box within the main bank of cabinets that we could wire from. I Didn't think about the switch though...

alku05 - Thanks for the pictures and advice. Love your kitchen!

Just one more vote for going all the way to the ceiling, even someone with the best of intentions two years down the road is not going to want to go anywhere near cleaning that tiny space.

You are allergic, is someone else going to do the cleaning for you? I'm all for minimizing the cleaning hassles. :)

You don't mention your lighting, is it sufficient near the tops of the cabs without the extra lighting?

Fern76

fern76 - Have plenty of lighting already - 6 recessed lights, island hood light and under cabinet lighting. Thanks for the help!

This is also a question we have been considering (above-cabinet lights vs no gap). Please keep us updated on what you decide and how it goes! Good luck!

And don't forget about the future paint jobs on your ceiling. Three inches is very difficult to get through to paint!

Another vote for going to the ceiling. I have four inches of "library" molding, and four inches of crown molding on top of my cabinets. I certainly didn't want that much molding, but needed to hide the vent hood exhaust tube that went above the cabinets to the outside, and this seemed to be the easiest and least obtrusive way to do it.

Now that it's done and I've lived with it for awhile, I really like the finished look, as well as the architectural interest it provides

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen pic's

Can't thank you all enough for the help, mary_228 - great point about the painting. I've pretty much decided to go to the ceiling. It will still look great and will be easier to clean. DW pointed out to me that if we want a little light at the top of the ceiling when not in kitchen (it's open to LR & DR) we can just get a dimmer installed on the recessed ceiling lights.