I had the same concern. I do have a little coffee station that my Dh built. It was a consolation prize because I really wanted the Bosch built in coffee maker. And he said it was too much and that our Coffee maker works just fine. I have no idea what you should do. I wish I had a suggestion. Here is my coffee nook. I love it, but keep in mind I did not spend lots on cabinetry. I would have rather had new cabs. ~boxer Here is a link that might be useful: E-How coffee makers and cabinets

It is good to have some gap because you never know exact sizes if you ever change out the fridge. In our last house, we bought a new fridge and had no clue it would not fit under our cabs properly. We had a vaulted ceiling and this was under the start of the vault, so we could not move the cabs up as they were up against the ceiling already. We ended up planing the bottom of the cab and it got shaved awfully close to the door bottoms. We were glad we could squeeze it in after all. Luckily, we had enough room on the sides for ventilation. In this house, the installer asked how high to install the cabs for over the fridge. I had them go up to the ceiling and we have a gap like yours on purpose. We also needed clearance for the cab door fronts because the fridge and freezer doors come up higher in the middle where they meet. Since our appliances are boxed in, I think it is good to give them room to breathe a little.

No rules, all personal choice. We have a similar-but-not situation in our kitchen right now---we actually did match our cabinets to the trim in the kitchen and throughout the house (the trim and ceilings in an old house with lots of built-ins were painted Acadia White by the old owner). So rather than try to find a different white, we just had the cabinets done in Acadia White too. But...our trim and doors are all in oil-based paint, and that's no longer available where we live, so the cabs and new trim are all in water-based, which doesn't yellow like oil-based does. In our kitchen, that meant our doors and windows were one shade and our cabinets and trim (which we replaced) were another shade. Though it's all officially the same color, the old paint is much creamier/yellower than the new paint, which is much whiter---probably similar to the effect you'd have. It did bug me in the beginning, but now I'm actually used to it and it looks normal. (We're eventually replacing the doors so didn't bother repainting them; the windows will stay mismatched since they're a PITA to repaint and current paint job is in good condition.) I think the key is consistency, though, as palimpsest said. As long as all the trim is the same color and all the cabinets are the same color, it's less critical that it be exactly the same color, I think---though personally I do prefer when it is.

When we had our family rooms crown molding put up recently- our crown molding guy took a section of our existing kitchens crown molding with him in order to match. honestly my husband has the better eye when it comes to crown- but in my humble opinion-since your rooms connect- if possible- I’d stick with the same size crown moulding & crown mouldings color to keep the look more consistent & flow nicely.