Am having new cabinets, counters and flooring installed in the kitchen; using a local remodeler to do the work. The contractor's friendly and competent. Am able to add any last minute minor changes and was wondering if I should go w/ some sort of molding around the cabinetry where they butt up to the wall. I have a few ideas, but got to wondering if I should just leave well-enough alone. Minor gaps will be filled in by the painter when he finally goes to work if no.

The 40 year-old cabinets finally began moving slightly away from the wall in the last 8 years (figure it to be the result of lots of weight - dinnerware, platters, electric mixers, food processors, etc.). When I painted some years back, I puttied them up and painted over. Looked fine. The gaps aren't severe, but noticeable -1/16"-1/8".

Any thoughts on whether or not I want molding just around the cabinets in case the same thing happens (not that I plan to stick around town for another 40 years to find out)?

Scribe mold is generally used as needed. Your old cabinets may have been nailed to wall thus causing them to pull away from wall. If not, it could be just general movement from settling and studs drying out over the years. Ask about scribe mold to match cabinets. Most companies send several 8' pieces for just that reason.

If there are big gaps, then add molding; if the cabinets go in tightly, I'd say skip it. When we had our kitchen redone, it didn't need any trim along the sides, although I did have crown molding added where the cabinets meet the ceiling, but that was just for looks.

Definitely add crown if you can afford to...it looks fantastic in the kitchen.

A great deal depends on the style of Kitchen, Cabinets, hardware, windows (and their trim), doors, floors etc. There are many styles of Trim.

The trim should be in step with what is already there.

A modern clean lined Kitchen would look crazy with traditional fancy molding.

Your look depends on every detail top to bottom. Be consistent.

It looks too busy when folks add too much molding, especially in a low ceiling room.


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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2007 08:40PM by decocritter.

Thanks to all for the insight. I think we're settling on waiting until the work's finished and taking a looksee. The contractor's willing to add it at the end if we want to go that route. If anybody's interested, I'll post the result when we get there.

Now to keep the dust down so the whole house doesn't look like it's coated w/ flour.