The little thing at the end of the crown molding that causes it to turn back to the wall at an angle is called a return. It is the right way to terminate the crown. The flat board up against the ceiling I have never seen before. If you are sure you do not want to continue the crown into the kitchen then you might want to move the return more towards the opening until it lines up with the end of the ceiling board. I think this might look more balanced and intentional.

He actually did that the correct way, returning it as rjpjnk said. Your moulding is applied with that large flat board creating a cornice kind of like what would be the lowest part of what is called the architrave in Greek architecture. The Greek Revival house I live in 1840 has this done in plaster, and although it is bigger and more elaborate, the terminus and transitions are "returned" in that exact fashion. Ignoring that flat horizontal as part of the molding would make it look like a board on the ceiling instead of part of the molding itself. The other way to do this would have the flat board wrap around and have the smaller board then wrap the corner and return on the edge.

I can see why it bothers you from one point of view, but technically it is "correct".

I meant to say "highest part of architrave" not lowest.

I don't know if this is any help to you, or if it just means I am weird, but before I understood why the moulding and window trim in my first apartment in this building were done the way they were, there were aspects of it that I did not like. Once I understood that they were based on some kind of historical reference and it made sense why they did it that way, I grew to appreciate it.

Here is a picture of one of the terminus, similar to yours:

Wow, that is really cool that you came up with a picture of exactly this sort of crown treatment. Still, imho, I say it's still going to just look like "a board on the ceiling" even if left as is in its technically correct state.

I am concerned that if the OP wraps that treatment around the jamb it may look even more like it wants to come into the kitchen.

It seems that the "board" part of the molding is just a piece of drywall or something, and I hadn't realized that it was so unusual (but then again I probably didn't even notice the molding for the first year I lived in the house).

I'm not really for mixing the traditional of the molding with the contemporary of the kitchen, expect that's what was in the living room. Our architect has (and may again) suggested that they just remove the molding altogether.

I think (as has been suggested) if they brought the drywall piece all the way to the edge of the casing or wall cap thing it would have looked better.

I was wondering how it would look if they were to bring it all the way to the edge of the casing, then maybe cut it back at a 45 degree angle to open towards the living room. I can't even visualize it, but the thought appeals to me.

So we are trying to modernize the transition from our bastardized molding into a molding-free modern kitchen.

BTW, thanks to all for the input.

That picture really helped me, as I'm terrible at visualizing. The "terminus" in the photo looked reasonable to me. It's what made me think that my main problem with the appearance was that it was too busy, resulting from having too many "levels" of the crown/trim/etc - one where the trim piece stops, one where the drywall board stops, and a third at the edge of the wall.

That's probably also why I was thinking that if there were a single line cutting through and ending both the drywall board and the trim piece equally, it would be cleaner.

Man, if I could draw I'd try to sketch it up...

testing

I can see the architect's point about taking it out since the house is contemporary, but I can foresee taking that drywall piece off being a mess. I wonder if it is glued...

Your version of this broad crown is almost art deco.

I am wondering what it would look like if you took off the cove portion and left the flat piece in place, and continued *that* all around for consistency. It may disappear More if it is present everywhere rather than some here, none there. Just a thought.