Trim the crown piece out where it hits the beam so it is the same height all the way across. It will be touching the ceiling in the kitchen and the lower edge will be continuous.

Thank you for your responses, everyone!!! Practigal -- even if you can do this with two pieces of moulding, my problem is getting the design for those two pieces to begin with! My cabinet maker doesn't make the molding himself but orders from a company that has these available crown molding profiles: http://easternforestproducts.net/sites/default/files/EFP_catalog_final_2.pdf But I couldn't find what I was looking for in this catalog...but that might also be b/c I have a hard time visualizing the actual crown from the profile pic! Palimpsest -- thank you for posting those profile pics from Tague! I have been browsing through their catalog and passed right by those....as I just stated above, it's hard for me to visualize the crown. Would you agree that the first crown profile is more similar to the pic I posted? Also, If you have a spare moment, would you mind scanning through the easternforest link above and let me know if you see any profile or combination of profiles that fit what I'm looking for? That would be amazing!! Heather -- I agree, sizes are very deceiving! Also question for you all of you -- do you think this moulding would look funny over kitchen cabinets, since it's coved????

https://wishihadthat.com/crown-molding-ideas.aspx this website shows a variety of crown moldings and their general applications. Might be a good place to start, and they include prices. You can also check out local building supply stores for stock moldings once you have an idea what you want. I’ve installed crown molding, it’s not easy unless you are a somewhat experience diy-er with the correct tools. Not sure I would do it again, I’d probably hire someone.

No one's ceiling is straight. No one's. It is ridiculous for the contractor to claim that as a reason. It's Cabinetry 101 to know how to make a crown work with a ceiling which has different heights in different parts of the kitchen. If they have done any kitchens before, they have come across this issue. Usually they take the middle piece of the crown, and slope it with the ceiling slope and because it's the middle piece, the change in slope is not noticeable. Also this issue should have been noticed when the first measurements for your kitchen were taken. I.e., before any drawings were made and before any cabinets and crown were ordered. That way, they could have ordered the correct crown pieces and been aware of what was needed with the crown from the getgo. Did your KD include this issue with your measurements and drawings? From your photo, it looks like the crown itself was not ordered correctly, but it is hard to tell. ETA: did a quick search and the first thread that came up was this one - read Buehl's post and picture of the crown. And then Kompy's post on how to fix the issue. [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/now-what-crown-moldings-are-1-4-to-1-2-from-ceiling-dsvw-vd~2453732[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/now-what-crown-moldings-are-1-4-to-1-2-from-ceiling-dsvw-vd~2453732)