20 years ago when I remodeled my own kitchen, 42” high wall cabinets were getting popular. Elimination of the need for the bulky, boxy bulkhead, and gaining another 12” of dish storage was here to stay. Cabinets were set clear up to the ceiling, which was never exactly level, and some type of molding was required. I used a small but decorative cove type molding, and I thought it looked great. Nowadays, we have many more choices of not only moldings, but even combinations of moldings. Why do we have so many choices to make?? Just look at the yogurt section of the dairy case in your grocery store. We demand variety!
Another addition to the arsenal for a designer, is the introduction of an idea which beautifully highlights the shapes of crown moldings. We call this “Staggered” moldings. This technique places several taller, deeper cabinets clear to the ceiling only in strategic locations. Often they are the diagonal corner wall cabinet, the refrigerator cabinet, and perhaps an oven or pantry cabinet. I then use somewhat shorter wall cabinets to fill in. The result is more mitering of the crown molding which truly displays their shapes and beauty much more than just running it across in a straight line of cabinets. This creates visual interest and movement and prevents the doors from becoming a “wall of wood”. It’s tricky though, and does take careful planning.
Light rail molding is now a standard addition to every package I am using. It is a decorative piece, that caps off the bottoms of all the wall cabinets. This is close to eye level, and provides a lovely finish to that stopping point. It also helps hide the under cabinet lights, which are now assumed to be standard everywhere. At least by me.
Moldings add expense. The cabinet maker is running your beautiful solid hardwood through a shaper in long lengths. It then is sanded a lot by hand. No machine can take that exact shape. It is then stained or painted and finished along with all your cabinets. Oven curing, drying, and packing and shipping follow. At that point, your cabinet installer has some precision measuring, cutting, mitering and nailing to do. This takes time.
The Crowing Glory is like your hair. It’s at the top, takes time to make look nice, needs to go with your personality and outfit, and can make or break the look.
-Julie Hendrickson
