p.s. sorry about the lousy photography.i phone.

Wow, potterstreet, your carpenter did a very nice job on the transition pieces.

Although I have a simple crown in most of my downstairs, the architects specified that we only use crown molding for the kitchen on the cabinets to make them look more like furniture and to stand out a little. Instead of ordering crown from Medallion (cabinet maker), they had crown made to match that of the rest of the house and the painters will paint it to match the cabinets. I'd show pictures, but the carpenter is working on that today. If he's finished when I get home, I'll snap a few.

If you want crown throughout the house, is it an option just to buy all of your crown from one source and not the cabinet company? And have it painted to patch the cabinets?

Thank you Potterstreet and Library girl I just want crown in the kitchen so I don't have to worry about matching it to another room. Potterstreet seems to have encountered the same problem I ran into. Those pics do help quite a bit so I have hope my contractor can be inspired by them and do something similar. It is very helpful to be able to see what it will look like (hopefully!) and I thank both of you for your pics and suggestions. Hopefully all will turn out well.

One more quick note - our carpenter was dealing with our crazy old house where virtually nothing is level! He was wonderful! Good luck to you!

Thanks potterstreet :) My house is a baby compared to yours (1950), but it had suffered some neglect from previous owners and I am enjoying bringing it back to its former glory. If my kitchen turns out half as nice as what I can see of yours I will be delighted! Thanks again.

Abbey

Well in the next few weeks my kitchen can be your test kitchen ;-) Schuler cabs are boxed up in my garage and after a gut job the walls are ready for primer an paint. My carpenter will be making dentil molding to match the rest of the molding in my house, and it will go on top of my cabinets. I bought a flat Schuler molding piece to transition to the curved part that the carpenter will make. I bought the paint kit from Schuler...I'll have the contractor get it matched so the new old-looking molding can be painted to match the cabinetry. Crossing fingers it all comes together!

Potterstreet and libary_girl...how did you figure out the finish on the molding, or were your cabinets painted by your contractor? Mine came painted, so I'm now wondering what kind of finish to order the "matched" paint...and whether the molding that extends into the hallway an mudroom should try to match the cabinet finish or the semi-gloss finish that's on the molding in my living room and dining room?

My cabinets and moulding came from Kraftmaid with the finish. My regular crown moulding was supplied by my contractor. This guy was incredible. I read so many horror stories, but we found our guy for life with his project. Knows, loves and respects old historic homes. Some of the other folks we talked to just "didn't get" our home. A true craftsman whose deeds matched his words. Very happy! I do need to get around to posting some finished pics, but none of those I have taken do the beauty of the room justice.

AboutToGetDusty - My cabinets are Medallion and while they were able to match the paint color (Ben Moore), the sheen is definitely not the same. But, the cabinets are vertical and the crown is angled and the carpenter says that since they have different light angles, it won't be obvious - he's done this before because he specializes in historic house renovations. He's still working on trimming the doors, but will get to the crown very soon (he promised), so I'll know more either by the end of this week or early next week.

Thanks so much! Library_girl, keep me posted!

To all those who posted -- how did your molding turn out? transitions? color matching? consistency of finish?

I would love to see finished projects - can any of you please post pics? And/or send to me directly? I have this same issue right now and would greatly appreciate it. THANK YOU!! ð·

NYCBrat, love how my molding turned out! Took my cue from library_girl. I ordered the paint touch-up kit from Schuler and then the contractor had it matched. Yes, it is a slightly different sheen but I can't tell :-) It was sprayed on which worked better than brush for this application. Here are pictures - good luck!

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

FWIW, one of the GC's I interviewed told me that he usually doesn't order the crown molding from the cabinet company. Like some other posters have suggested, he prefers to order unfinished crown and then paint or stain it to match the cabinets.

The crown is high up at the ceiling and also the light hits it differently than the vertical surfaces of the cabinets and doors, so the slight difference in finishes is not obvious.

One advantage to doing this is that the crown pieces you can get from a cabinet company are usually only 8' sections. The unfinished pieces are available in larger sections which require fewer seams therefore less potential for cracking at the seams with the changes in seasons.

Another advantage is that the crown that comes from the cabinet company is usually quite expensive. They use the same 20-step process that they use on the doors and drawers which get a lot of traffic. The crown is a stationary item that will not be opened, closed, bumped or touched on a daily basis. It does not need the super duper finish that you need on your cabinets.

Another advantage is that you can use the same crown molding in other parts of your house if you want to have a matching look.