Thank you Fori and Lynn2006 for your input, I really appreciate your help. My husband wants to just do molding on the cabinets, and one minute I like the idea and the next minute I'm scared the kitchen will look bare and unfinished. Anyone else want to give me their opinion?

Related to this, what is the thinnest trim/molding a top of kitchen cabinets you can get away with? We have 8FT ceilings and 42 inch cabinets and my contractor wants no trim but my designer HATES the idea and feels we need to finish it off. The cabinets are white shaker style and our home is not modern, but contemporary leaning toward the traditional side. Its an old house being renovated so has elements of both the 1940s and 2000s. ANY suggestions would be awesome! Of course this issue is coming up at the 11th hour for some reason!

I'm going to take a complete guess here and say that the installer made a judgement call. What I mean is; chances are that your window, floor, ceiling and walls are not perfectly plumb, level etc. Again, I'm guessing but take a look at your window. Often, if the cabinetry is close to your window trim an installer may install something slightly out of plumb in order to keep the cabinet & window trim parallel with each other as your eye will see 1/8" more between cabinet & window trim than 1/8" between cabinet & countertop. I would look at everything in this set up. With the age of your house, there may need to be some give & take in certain areas. You need to decide what will be noticed or bug you more. You posted more in your other thread about many things being out. It's unfortunate that things have only come to light at such a late stage in your reno process. If your floors, walls & ceiling were out so much, there should have been some conversation between you & the contractor as to scope of the renovation well before starting this project. Or, at very least, at some point when it was noticed how out things were. To level ceilings & plumb walls is not simple or cheap. Levelling floors is a huge project by itself. 18" between cabinet & countertop is an industry standard & also a building code standard depending on your area.

If you have money. Molding is created really for hiding poor sheetrock angles, mostly in house remodels if there are cracks at the corners. Or to hide the joints of cabinets to the ceiling as in the kitchen you have pictured... You can let that be your guide and omit, or you can add it to the Master Bedroom if you feel it needs something special. It's a pain to sand and scrape and putty and keep looking nice, but it's cheaper than mending poor sheetrock wall to ceiling corners.. The simpler the design the easier it is to initially finish and than maintain down the road.