kitchen cabinets and uneven ceiling

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

I was looking for some advise on our kitchen remodel project. We just put in a new kitchen with cabinets all the way up the ceiling.

The plan was for the molding to touch the ceiling but we discovered that the ceiling is very uneven.

Our cabinet installer recommended that we leave a small gap on the top. So we did this, but are not fully satisfied with the look. On the worst area we have a 2” gap on the right while we are just below 1” gap on the left.

Any recommendation on what else could be done to get this finished a little prettier?

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Comments (2)

salex
2 years ago
The crown molding needs to be custom-cut to cover the gap. It sounds like either your installer does do that or doesn't want to - but that is the solution. To describe it more clearly, the installer would need to cut each piece of molding by hand to match the height between the cabinets and the ceiling. It's time-consuming work but fairly typical.
M Miller
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Everyone’s ceiling is uneven - everyone’s. It is Kitchen Cabinets 101 to scribe the middle piece of the crown molding so that it follows the uneven ceiling, but because it’s the middle piece, the rest of the crown molding disguises the uneveness of the scribed middle piece.

One of our Kitchens Forum members Buehl described it better than me, so I am copying and pasting her explanation:

A 3-piece crown molding consists of top & bottom molding all the same size throughout the kitchen. In the middle is flat "filler" piece that varies in height, depending on the ceiling height. By varying this filler piece's height, you accommodate the different ceiling heights w/o affecting the crown itself...this way the difference isn't noticeable. If you vary the top crown piece's height, it will be much more noticeable.

In this pic the "Stock-S" piece is the "filler" piece...simply a flat piece of the same wood as the cabinets and finished the same as the cabinets. It is scribed to the ceiling and varies in its height in line with the variation in the ceiling.
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Cleats are attached to the ceiling for the molding to be fastened to, and nailers to the tops of the cabinets. If you omited the nailers on the cabinets they can be screwed in place from inside the cabinets. You may need some bar clamps to hold the wood in position as you run screws from inside the cabinet through the top and into the wood. You can try and hold it tightly in position, but watch out if you drive a screw into your hand. I anchor cleats to the joists if they line up correctly rarely seem to though. :-) Molly anchors are also suitable if coupled with some glue (I like a polyurethane here) as long as you use a nail gun to set the nails. The moly bolts tend to work loose if you use a regular hammer from the repeated blows when driving the nails. The single sharp blow from a nail gun will not disturb things as much. If you need to use apile of molly bolts a setting tool works much better than the screw expansion built into them. The tool grabs the screw and pulls on it as you work a trigger.
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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.
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What do you mean you removed a post , what did you replace the support with? As for the other issue your pictures are not really showing the issue but IMO the best is to fur out the ceiling until it is level and then be done it will cost some money but IMO always best to do things right.
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Cut a few small openings in the drywall big enough to get fingers in there so you can gently rock drywall to make it lose so it drops down to make it flush with the molding, Patch the holes. Before you cut holes, remove the trim from the recessed light, its looks like being close enough, and stick a flat bar between the housing and drywall and see if it can be done that way, if yes drop it down and put the trim back and if needed touch it up. In most cases, this is a very quick fix. Good luck
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kitchen cabinets and uneven ceiling

Comments (2)

salex

M Miller

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