soffit/moulding/trim - not sure what to do

13 years ago

Hi everyone,

I am wondering if anyone out there has experience with this issue.

We will be installing 42" upper cabinets (inset, off-white) in our new kitchen. Installation will begin in 2-3 weeks!

We ordered a 3" cove moulding to match the cabinets - this brings the total height of the cabinets to 93". The ceilings are 9' (108") and we have to have a soffit. That leaves 15" to play with above the cabinets. Here is a picture of the kitchen:

Or course, when we ordered the cabinets, we didn't think about how the trim would work with the moulding/soffit...

The house was built in 1912 (Edwardian style) and we were hoping to replicate the trim that is used in the other rooms on the main level. It's a 3-piece trim and is about 13.5" high. It is made up of:

crown moulding at the top (3")

flat board (8")

picture rail (2.5")

Here is a picture of the trim:

a href="http://s873.photobucket.com/albums/ab296/remodel-mama/?action=viewÂ¤t=trim.jpg"; target="_blank">

So... the options seem to be:

1) Do a modified (smaller) version of the original trim. For example, make the flat board 5" (instead of the original 8"), which would make the 3-piece trim 10.5" high (instead of 13.5"). This would leave only 4.5" of wall/ soffit. We are planning to paint the walls (what little of them in the kitchen) BM Salsa Dancing (a sort of burnt sienna color) to match the adjoing dining room. I am afraid that if the space between the crown moulding on the top of the cabinets and the trim is only 4.5" inches tall that it might look like a (red) racing stripe between the white cabinets and white trim.

2) Forget the 3-piece original trim and just do a simple crown moulding (maybe 3-4") around the perimeter. This would leave 11-12" of color between the top of the cabinets and the moulding.

Hope this is all making sense. Please let me know what you think and/or if you have any suggestions!

Thank you!

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Comments (4)

kitchenkrazed09
13 years ago
How high are your base cabinets including countertop? I'm getting a different number, about 99" to the top of your cabinets. Base cabinets are usually about 36" including countertop. Wall cabinets are normally placed 18" above that. If you add those plus the 42" for your wall cabinets and 3" for the cove molding, you should get 99" to the top.

In any event, I would install a modified version of your three piece trim. I would install the trim right over any soffit, so now you've incorporated them and you don't need any extra space for soffit alone. Even if you want a separate soffit or go another way, if you paint everything white (trim and soffit), your eye will not go right to the splash of color above the cabinets. If you only have 9" of play left over, maybe you want to skip the picture rail and use the cove molding from your cabinets as the bottom piece instead. For instance, install the 3" crown molding and a 6" flat board to make up your extra 9" of space. Then right underneath that, you'd have your 3" cove molding and then your cabinets. The only problem would be making it work with the adjoining dining room where it meets the kitchen trim. Does that room already have the 3-piece trim? If so, you could do this modified version above the cabinets only and then continue the rest of the kitchen with the original 3" crown, 8" flat board and 2" picture rail.
plllog
13 years ago
This is just personal taste, but I don't care for iterative moldings most of the time. That is, with moldings on top of the cabinets, I would leave the soffits plain.
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As TSG said two of the options are to incorporate the transition, or hide it. It is hard to know which will work best in your space without knowing how big the crown will be and what style you have in mind, etc. Here are some examples of incorporating the window trim with the crown: [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-traditional-bathroom-new-york-phvw-vp~1034813) [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Stamford Architects & Designers Sound Beach Partners LLC [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/shingle-style-home-in-hanover-nh-victorian-bathroom-burlington-phvw-vp~106093) [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Norwich Architects & Designers Smith & Vansant Architects PC [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/chestnut-street-bathroom-traditional-bathroom-boston-phvw-vp~96002) [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Boston Kitchen & Bath Designers Venegas and Company [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/case-design-remodeling-inc-contemporary-bathroom-dc-metro-phvw-vp~87107) [Contemporary Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2103) by Bethesda Design-build Firms Case Design/Remodeling, Inc. [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/weston-residence-traditional-bathroom-boston-phvw-vp~2583807) [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Boston Architects & Designers Catalano Architects [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/louisville-traditional-bathroom-atlanta-phvw-vp~116461) [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Canton Furniture and Accessories The Furniture Guild Or transition with window treatments: [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/fan-victorian-bathroom-los-angeles-phvw-vp~207997) [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Los Angeles Interior Designers & Decorators Just Joh [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/bathrooms-traditional-bathroom-phvw-vp~2678396) [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Chester General Contractors ColeBuilt [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/vacation-home-on-lake-michigan-traditional-bathroom-grand-rapids-phvw-vp~3286791) [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Detroit Interior Designers & Decorators Urso Designs [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/eclectic-bathroom-eclectic-bathroom-atlanta-phvw-vp~137747) [Eclectic Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/eclectic-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2104) and this one, sort of in between: [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/bluff-plantation-traditional-bathroom-atlanta-phvw-vp~58127) [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Charleston Architects & Designers Frederick + Frederick Architects I hope this gives you some ideas!
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remodel-mama
Original Author
13 years ago
thanks kitchenkrazed and plllog

kitchenkrazed: I am going to have to get back to you on the exact height of the cabinets. The KD said 93"...
bmorepanic
13 years ago
I would do a sofit as a plain painted board front with the depth of the sofit set so that the cabinet crown just fit underneath it. In this case, the crown would be a layering element with the outermost edge in alignment with the sofit. You might need something like a small diameter quarter round or cove where the two come together.

You can put the room crown on top of the sofit, but I would let the picture rail die into the sides of the cabinet.

The sofit should be painted with the woodwork color. If you do need a bridge molding between the crown and sofit, it should be painted like the wookwork.. No strip of room color, cause da math says the 99" measurement is correct.

soffit/moulding/trim - not sure what to do

Comments (4)

kitchenkrazed09

plllog

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soffit/moulding/trim - not sure what to do

Comments (4)

kitchenkrazed09

plllog

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remodel-mamaOriginal Author

bmorepanic

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