Creative time: kitchen cupboard to ceiling gap closing

Hi,

When we come to do our kitchen, I will be hanging extra tall wall cupboards just under the coving (100mm cove, so about 80mm down from the ceiling).

I think it would be weird to push the cupboards right to the ceiling.

So - closing the gap?

One option is to use cornice that comes as an (expensive) option with the cupboards. The other is to run more coving round the sides and front of the cupboard. The third is to somehow do a vertical board finish down to the cupboard and paint it ceiling coloured.

Ideally this should all be supported on the ceiling and not the cupboard (in case I want to demount them). Also the cupboard will need to be lifted onto its brackets so I'll need a few mm of gap which could be caulked in later or have a strip pushed in.

As you don't get many kitchens with upto the ceiling cupboards, I'm sort of ideas - both as in what will look OK and the details of how to do it.

I've always detested having big gaps over the cupboards as it becomes a s**te trap and everything gets piled there. Rather have taller cupboards and put the stuff inside where it can stay clean :)

Cheers

Tim

Reply to
Tim W
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Tim W gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Yup, we had exactly the same problem - and put a cornice around the edge of the cupboards, then - about an inch or two behind that - some finishing board that matched the (oak) doors. Same stuff as you'd use for the skirting under the lower cupboards - think of it as a skirting board for the top, and you're not far wrong.

It really does make all the difference.

Reply to
Adrian

Last time I did this I used some of that plastic track used for sliding doors, (simple extrusion with one or two slots for a sliding panel), top and bottom with a hardboard piece between them.

The track has a deeper slot at the top than the bottom so a strip of hardboard can be cut, finished and then pushed into the top track and then dropped into the bottom one where it stays. It is cheap and can easily be removed when required for access. You can stick the track up with adhesive pads if you wish.

Reply to
ericp

snipped-for-privacy@blueyonder.co.uk wibbled on Tuesday 27 October 2009 17:08

That sounds like a most ingenious idea - I know what you mean.

Brilliant - cheers

Tim

Reply to
Tim W

Adrian wibbled on Tuesday 27 October 2009 16:19

Skirting = plinth cover? Yes - I think I'm with you. That's a good idea - make the cupboards continue in the carcass material to the ceiling but with the infill being a bit of removable panel?

Could you explain about the cornice though - not sure what you mean by "an inch or two behind"? Do you mean the cornice is fixed to the plinth strip?

Cheers

Tim

Reply to
Tim W

I'm filling mine with back-lit opal perspex

Reply to
Bolted

Bolted wibbled on Tuesday 27 October 2009 17:58

Funky. So you create a light wash on the ceiling.

That's an idea I like - wonder if I can convince SWMBO

Reply to
Tim W

There'll probably be cheap chasing LED light ropes in the sales after Xmas ...

Owain

Reply to
Owain

Personally I think I'd attach them to the cupboards rather than ceiling - doing the latter sounds like it'll create more work if you ever come to replace the cupboards, and the gap is a feature of the cupboard layout, not the room (IYSWIM).

Sounds right about needing a bit of "breathing space" for getting the cupboard onto the brackets, though, so maybe add some sort of anchor point on top of the cupboards so the panels (or whatever) can be attached to the cupboards once they're up on the brackets (and removed again if ever needed)

Well, my folks have maybe a 100mm gap at the top of some of theirs, and they just left it open - and personally I don't think it looks that odd (but they have a large kitchen and the units in question are in one corner where the eyes aren't particularly drawn)

I think I'd be tempted to suggest hanging them (your cupboards, not my parents) and see how you think it looks - and if you don't lke it, add the panels or other decoration to fill the void at the top later...

My folks manage to resist that, although they've got the transformers for the 12V lighting tucked away up there...

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules

Thanks, but perhaps a bit kitsch.

Dimmable T5 fluorescents to match the rest of the kitchen lighting.

Reply to
Bolted

Jules wibbled on Tuesday 27 October 2009 19:17

Yes - that's a good idea. Means I hang the cupboards then make the trims later.

I can see a design for a trim frame that just slides in and sits there.

Reply to
Tim W

I've just satisfied a long-term ambition and had a new kitchen with cupboards that appear to go right up to the ceiling. In fact they stop 120mm below it. The gap is filled by a cornice type thing -- actually just an extension of the cupboard woodwork upwards. It looks great. Everyone said I was mad bothering to do this but I really hate the gap above kitchen cupboards.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

Bill Wright wibbled on Tuesday 27 October 2009 19:56

Hi Bill,

Did you use the extra carcass matching (or plinth) material to do this?

I'm glad that having a flat panel works - it would be by far the simplest thing to achieve.

Thanks for that.

Tim

Reply to
Tim W

Fact is, I sometimes work in very posh houses and I've noticed that the kitchen cupboards go all the way up. I worked in a manor house a while back and I found out that the kitchen cost £85k! Bloody hell! Mind, you, it was about 40ft x 30ft. Anyway, I was determined not to have a gap above the wall units, because to me it's one thing that spells the difference between 'off the peg' and 'custom', and also I don't like all the filth that collects up there. So I said the the genius who made my kitchen

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"Sally, I want the wall units to reach the ceiling," and she said, "OK, I think I can manage that." The thing about Sally is that you can have a sensible dialogue with her about what you want. She'll tell you what the practicalities are, and do her best to find a solution that works. She's a brilliant craftswoman and I can't praise her enough. She made the wall units and fitted them, and made a wooden front with nice curvy corners that went on top. It looks great.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

I think I would firstly create down panels fixed to the ceiling (plasterboard on some batten) - these can be set back from the front edge of the cupboards a little. Taped, filled and painted to match the ceiling, these will close most of the gap, bar the last few mm of wiggle room to get the cupboards on the brackets.

Next install your concealed mini link lights plugged into the ready waiting 2A socket controlled by a switch on your switchbank. Finally some nice coving machined from suitable timber[1] to match the doors as a cornice level with the front of the cupboards. You can use extra strips / mouldings etc to "build up" the cove and make it more ornate of desired.

[1] I recall one of the first kitchens I installed required lots of roll edge beading for the edge of the tiled worktop, and also for the trim on the base of the cupboards. It transpired that the wood *and* a router came to less than half the cost of buying the trims from MFI!

Coving can be made in large sizes on a table saw easily enough.

Reply to
John Rumm

Make sure the brackets are adjusted to the cupbaords lowest position before hanging then wind them up to mate with the filler bit attached to the ceiling?

Using this method I'd attach the filler bit to the cupboard top and wind it up to the ceiling but this may require a two stage process. One to get the cupboards in the right place, level etc, then scribe the filler to the ceiling, remove cupboards, fit filler, refit. If you don't object to visible fixings on the filler bit fit a batten to the cupboard tops such that you can attach the filler to it from the face. Or maybe upwards from inside the cupboard with coutersunk screws and cover caps?

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Dave Liquorice wibbled on Thursday 29 October 2009 12:35

Excellent ideas - thanks Dave.

I had wondered how much "wind up" I could expect from the fixings. I don't fit kitchens everyday, so I don't have a feel. I know there will be enough to compensate for wandering drills when fixing the brackets - but if there were enough to take the "up and over" intial hand, that would be great.

Reply to
Tim W

Probably very dependant on the fixings you have... The ones I have used have a good 10mm maybe as much as 15mm bottom to top adjustment. Careful and accurate positioning of the brackets on wall should leave you ample to play with.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

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