Everyone's ceiling is uneven. Whether a house is brand new or 150 years old, the ceiling is uneven. An experienced contractor sees this with every installation. It is odd that yours did not, but then you said your KD was doing the installation, but a KD should also be well aware of this in advance. Didn't s/he measure? Anyway, the cabinets should all be at the same height, and it is the crown molding that hides the difference in the ceiling height from one side of the room to the other. You absolutely should NOT no way have a tiny space between your crown molding and the ceiling. What does your KD say about this?

We did our kitchen as DIY. I knew in advance there would be an issue with the ceiling height, and I knew the solution was in the crown molding, but didn't know exactly what the solution was. So, of course I posted here and got hugely helpful advice. I am linking the thread; Buehl's post was particularly helpful. Perhaps she will post on this thread as well.

Your KD should take on all the responsibility and expense of repairing this, such that the cabinets are all at the same height.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread about Molding and Ceiling Heights

I am sorry I don't know how to fix this issue, I am only posting to agree that you should discuss it with your KD and your GC (or are they the same person?), as it is something they must repair at their expense. Your crown molding should be flush with the ceiling with no space. When my cabinet guy came to measure, he noted the difference in ceiling heights in my kitchen (about 1-1/4" from one side to the other). He discussed it with my GC, and I remember that my GC was pretty relaxed about it, and told me ceilings are always uneven. I am sorry, I don't know what they did to make it look completely even, but evidently it is not a difficult or unusual problem, and your KD and GC should fix it at their expense. Just talk it over with them calmly, point out reasonably how the space beneath the ceiling is incorrect, and calmly tell them to make it right. Have you paid them?

Here's a shot of our recently installed cabinets.

I want to thank all of you for responding so quickly. The KD came up with the design, we found an independent contractor (MISTAKE) who agreed to work in conjunction with the KD and do the install. When this problem cropped up, he said we had hired him to hang cabinets and that is what he has done... We had called the KD to come look at the install. She said her installer would have caught this before it reached completion point and brought it to her attention. After reading your responses, we contacted the KD. She has agreed to fix the problems. She will order the additional pieces required fix the issues. I am happy that she agreed to do this. Thanks for posting the links, pictures and suggestions. It helped us when we talked things over with her.
You guys are the best. I was reading all the posts and getting inspiration from the forum posts when we were looking at cabinets, granite, sinks, faucets, the whole enchilada. Our cabinets are Omega Brookside Cherry(nutmeg), oak hardwood floor golden/honey finish, faucet Delta Leland, granite Brazilian sand, backsplash will be almond travertine with slate and frosted glass accents. We used both knobs and pulls, Amerock Padma in pewter finish. Again I want to thank all of you for being my guides through this. I didn't ask, but read, and took my inspiration from your posts.

i had the same problem. mine was off by 1 1/2 or 1/34" in a run about 5 feet long. very visible and even mocking up the suggestions above it did not look good. we ended up leaving a gap from top of cabs to ceiling and the shadow softens the look so the uneven-ness is not as visible. while the gap at the top is not my preferred look the tricks referenced above did not look as good as a soft shadow.

When the difference is pronounced, often only a multi stacked crown can resolve the situation and have it look good. You need more than jsut a single "filler" piece. You need graduated layers.

totally agree hollysprings. there was one posted on the prior thread example. depending on the cabinet style a multi stacked crown may not look appropriate which can be a challenge. my cabs are simple shaker style. we mocked up a multi stacked crown and it looked really out of place with the cabinet style unfortunately - looked too fancy for the simple overall look so we ended up having to float the cabs and count on the soft shadow to mask the problem

We had the same problem with an uneven ceiling. My contractor applied durabond between the top of the crown and the ceiling and "floated" it out into the room. Essentially, he lowered the ceiling to meet the crown. I was skeptical, but it's beautiful. No one will ever know.

Cabinets are up and the molding isnt meeting the ceiling, which looks terrible. The company kitchen magic should have suggested that there may be a problem when they came to measure. Now we are in a dilemma as how to fix this problem and get the kitchen we wanted.

Cabinets are up and the molding isnt meeting the ceiling, which looks terrible. The company kitchen magic should have suggested that there may be a problem when they came to measure. Now we are in a dilemma as how to fix this problem and get the kitchen we wanted.

{{!gwi}}

I agree with Trebruchet, if you want the most correct thing to do. Hiding it with molding, however, is far more expedient and inexpensive. Somewhere in the middle is what I did.

My ceiling is actually kind of wavy. I wasn't happy with the gap above the molding, but it couldn't be scribed without looking really bad because the lowest parts of the ceiling are in the middle. My GC's finish guy was able to use, um, drywall mud? joint compound? both?...something to even out the appearance of the ceiling and, in the worst spots, create a false corner and turn down to meet the molding. It only took half a day, then some repainting of the ceiling. I guess what he did was a mini version of furring the ceiling but just in the foot or so closest to the molding, and with that bit of gap fill.

I am very happy with the result. You have to be seriously contemplating the molding and ceiling to notice anything at all.

Good luck.

I agree with Treb. Neither my floor nor ceiling were level in my older home. Contractor leveled both sets of beams.