Cabinet Crown Moulding Help Needed! (w/pic)

[David F. Eisan]

Hello everyone,

I have a problem with the crown moulding on the corner cabinet in my parents kitchen that I am redoing for them.

did not want to face nail anything, so the crown moulding was screwed to the top of the corner cabinet from behind before the cabinet was hung. I just have it in place temporarily for now while I decide what to do. In the picture, the cabinet is level in all three planes. But, as you can see, I have a little problem where the level crown meets an awfully unlevel ceiling.

What do I do?

I thought of scribing the crown to the ceiling, but too much of the profile would be lost and I think it would look stupid.

My brother suggested that I hang the cabinet crooked so that I have as much of the crown against the ceiling as possible. No.

My Dad suggested that I take the crown off and face nail it so that it is more flush to the ceiling. This would require bizarre angles and bevels for the 45º corners as well as look funny when the gap between the crown and the face frame (and soon doors) tapers.

Leave it?

A case of caulk? I do think this is the answer, a nice cove bead of flexible latex caulk that is then painted to match the ceiling.

What would you do?

Thanks,

David.

[bridger]

maybe some of each.

you can set the crown in place with hot glue as a temporary connection until you can bring the cabinet down and get the screws in.

might be time to get one of them headless pinners...

shift the molding a little, not so much that the door reveals will look tapered. you may even be able to compensate a little in the door hinges.

shave a little from the crown, not so much that the profile looks tapered.

caulk what remains of the gap.

the eye will forgive inconsistencies in the ceiling before it will forgive bad woodwork, so take most of it at the ceiling.

nice work!

[bridger]

one more thing: don't try to make up a really big gap with caulking alone. fair the ceiling out with drywall mud first. mask you woodwork and anything else that is in splatter range....

[Pounds on Wood]

Maybe this? Can you still get to the heads of the screws on the inside? It looks like they would be below the cabinet top panel. If so, take the cabinet down and slot the holes for the screws. Put the molding back on and lightly snug the screws. Place cabinet back in place on the wall, push the molding up into contact with ceiling, reach inside cabinet and tighten screws. You should be able to do all this without messing with the corner miters. The molding will just twist a little bit which should not be visible when all is complete. You will need a good glue joint on the miters.

--

[David F. Eisan]

Thanks everyone for your input, I ended up lowering the cabinet. I had my friend raise and lower the corner cabinet until we settled on a gap of 1" being the correct amount to lower the cabinet. I like the shadow line and the 1"-1-1/4" side to side taper between the ceiling and the crown moulding cannot be seen.

[Larry Jaques]

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 16:51:21 GMT, "David F. Eisan" calmly ranted:

First and foremost, paint the walls to match the ceiling. Then I'd finish and hang the cabinet, then caulk/paint the caulk to match the ceiling if necessary.

------------------------------------------------- - Clinton never - * Wondrous Website Design - EXhaled.- *

[Fly-by-Night CC]

[Robert L. Witte]

usually mark the low part of the sheetrock where the cab is hitting and take about an eight out of the sheetrock from the place it hits to nothing where it is open.

Push that cabinet up hard and run a screw from inside the top of the cabinet (carefully... some of the cab tops are so thin you can't) to suck it up. You can also drill a pilot hole into the rail after carefully laying out the joist location and run a 3" - 3 1/2" through the rail and into the joist.

That will take most of it out. Caulk the rest. If your ceilings are white, especially if they are white, if you caulk them evenly, a little less caulk where the trim goes a little into the sheetrock, and a little more where you are a little low so that you have about the same reveal on the trim, no one will notice. I do this a lot with hanging island cabinets with NO trim.

Good luck!

Robert

[mike]

David, caulk would be fine in this case, the pics look like you have

1/4" or so gap.If you want to do it with caulk do this. Scribe a piece of 1x2 wood the same specie as the crown, fasten to ceiling so it over hangs the crown 5/8". This piece can be left square or you could rout a profile such as a small roundover.The scribed pieces should be level.These pieces can be added after cabinet is installed or before and the cabinet goes up to it. This is how I install crown on old plaster ceilings that are out of line.

mike