The problem with trying to fix it, is that the two flanking pieces are not able to be used.. if they wouldve coped them into the stone, then you could cope a mitre and wrap the stone. If it were mine, and I wanted it changed, I would remove the top 8 inches of stone (or whatever it takes to get below the molding backer strip).. Then I would fabricate a small "soffit" for the stone to die into at the height of the molding backer strip.(approx 3 inches deep) Run the crown around the soffit and then have the stone relaid to meet the soffit. You could also build a small "niche" fo the stone to tuck under, so they wouldnt have to provide a perfect cut to the bottom of the "small soffit" Labor intensive?? Yea, I guess, but certainly not the end of the world, given the stage that you are at. Its unfortunate that what is supposed to be a focal point in your house, has become just that, only negatively.. I take it that the stone was laid before the decision to crown the room.. If not, then it certainly was something that the trim carpenter shouldve brought to light.. and maybe he did, but he got told to do it that way by his superior.

Hi Dirtymartini. I don't know, "awful" is such a harsh word. I'd probably go with "interesting", as in "That was very interesting, Marty", Lorraine's wonderfully tactful comment in Back to the Future. You ask if you should even add crown molding at all? Good question, and to answer, let's stop & look at history. In traditional houses--Colonial, Victorian, Craftsman, even up to postwar Cape Cods, crown molding was expected. Fancy houses had elaborate designs in molded plaster or carved wood, but regular middle class houses had crown molding, too, the only difference being that the stuff in those houses was cheaper & smaller. But it was still there. Even no-frills Victorian-era workers' cottages had it, although it was pretty meager. But houses--respectable houses-had crown modling for the same reason that women wore gloves when they left the house. It was expected. It was proper. The Modern movement came along and banished fussy crown moldings along with the trim around doors & windows, on the theory that unneccessary applied ornament harbored vermin & dirt, and if you've ever popped off the trim from around a door in an old house & seen the black soot streaks underneath, you know how right they were. But that aspect--health & cleanliness--wasn't the real reason the Modernists banned trimwork. No, it was all about aesthetics. And at first, the clean, stripped-down Modern look was very expensive. Actually, it still is, if you do it right. One of my favorite New Yorker cartoons has a designer explaing into a potential client, "Yes, of course we can do Minimal--but not on your budget." But once plasterers & drywall installers got with the program & learned to do neater work--no more gaping, drafty holes between walls & ceilings, or around doorways--they didn't have to rely on the trim carpenter to come along & hide their crummy workmanship. And once they got that skill-set mastered, it was just a matter of time before budget-driven developers (who cared nothing about aesthetics) eliminated all the trim they could eliminate in new houses, leaving only the baseboards & some vestigial ranch-profile trim around doorways that had actual doors, which, with the rise of open plan houses, were getting fewer & fewer in number. It was Modernism by default, not choice. That was then, but this is now, so let's look around. Today, with the resurgence of interest in traditional design, most new houses again have crown molding. Unfortunately, a lot of it is often way out of proportion for the rooms where it's used--either too big in small-studded rooms like yours, or woefully undernourished in double height rooms--and lots of people living in otherwise handsome, clean-lined Mid-century houses & later open-plan houses are sticking it up in places, where, stylistically, it doesn't belong. Just because a thing, in itself--or in one particular context--looks good doesn't mean that that same thing will look equally good in another place. The demure white gloves that look so natural on Grace Kelly & Betty Draper would look out of character on Carmela Soprano. How about broad horizontal stripes? Great on some people, but disaster on others. But here's what's weird: people understand that concept of appropriateness when it comes to their clothes, but they don't realize it applies to their homes, too. Will adding crown molding work at your house? It's hard to say. Maybe yes, maybe no. So, instead of deciding one way or the other based on what you saw at the neighbor's house--or based on what we, who don't know your house, say--why don't you ask your house what it wants. It will tell you: all you have to do is learn to listen. The mix-'n'-match look? That question's easier. No. Sure a lot of people do it, but a lot of people use their cell phones while driving, too, and a lot of other people jaywalk. Doesn't make it right. Magnaverde Rule No. 5: Stop, Look & Listen.

"It's not usually done unless it's a kludge to try to hide a mistake." Then I won't do it....Will call on Tuesday and have the 24" changed to a 18" so Crown will all be same size. But won't that still make the height of the cabinets different from the others? Surrounding cabinet on either side is 30" then there is a 36" corner cabinet next to that. These were not Custom made and they only come in standard depth. Here is a picture of the same cabinets (different color) I will be getting but will be using different molding. These were done by someone at the cabinet place where I'm getting mine from. He sent me this picture and said he does the crown molding on these cabinets all the time. I am hoping this will all work out for the best....right now I am worried!

This is why you use a KD. The lighting in that position is terrible. It all needed to be redone, and the ceiling patched and painted. It needed that from the beginning, in the plans. The contractor should redo the crown molding there at no charge after the electrician’s visit. If there’s not enough crown left to do that, he buys another stick. He should have said something before installing it like that. You pay for the new lighting positions and the drywall patch that should have been part of the Scope from the beginning if you had had the right KD involved and the right Plan created.