sounds very expensive

My crown molding cost about $10/linear foot + about $3.50/ft for the mounting strip. If it's just a straight shot across your cabinets, then he's charging way too much for installation. If there are a lot of turns and cuts, then a higher price is justified, though $40 still sounds steep.

It does sound expensive, but as weedyacres mentioned it does depend on the number of turns/corners you have. We had molding made and ours consists of a 5" straight board above cabinet, then a cove piece of molding above it that rests on it and against ceiling. We paid about $500 for the molding and about $500 for installation and that installation included the guy installing baseboard molding in our dining room that we had painted and ready to go. We probably had 35 feet or so of molding...with many turns and corners. So, since our installation involved two pieces of molding with many turns, and it still came in cheaper $40/sq. ft...I would have to say your quote sounds a bit high.

What I have learned through this whole process is that when getting quotes, I quickly learned what contractors/installers, etc. liked to do vs. what they hated doing. When they quote high, I got the impression that they were saying to me "I don't like doing it, but I will, but it will cost you." So, we kept looking. It's funny, we didn't want to attempt it so in the end we knew we were paying someone to do it...fortunately we found someone who did a great job for a very reasonable price. Good luck!

Thanks for the response so far. Here are some more details.
I will have about 31 linear feet of molding with 7 corners and one angled cabinet in a corner. The tops of the cabinet are on the same level.

Reading about moulding here tells me that cabinet companies typically charge more for crown moulding. Is that true?

weedyacres, I have been following your thread and your work is awesome :)

slc2053, I formed the same opinion as you - "I don't like doing it but I will and it will cost you" - on couple of other items that he himself said was a pain. But crown molding was not one of them.

Not sure if location matters, but I am in central NJ.