I'm no expert, but I would think there should be a light rail going towards the wall. Maybe they just forgot.

Edited to add: love your backsplash and that little nook! Can't wait to see the rest of your kitchen :)

This post was edited by rkb21 on Thu, May 9, 13 at 20:46

Thanks, rkb21 for your response & compliment. I do plan on posting before/after pics but I've been waiting until the kitchen is finally complete before uploading any pictures.

I will mention this to our carpenter tomorrow. He's going to hate me because our kitchen has been quite difficult with all the angle cuts he's had to make on the other trim pieces. This shouldn't be too difficult....(keeping fingers crossed). :)

Most likely he omitted it because it would be too close to the cooking surface and intrude above it, and be incompatible with your MW's dimensions as well. Do you have a side shot of the light rail showing it's projection? You are required to not have any combustible surface in a direct line over your cooktop straight up for a minimum of 24" in height. It's part of the reason that it's recommended to have a 36" vent above a 30" cooking surface. (The other reason is it proves a better capture area.)

No, there isn't a side shot of the rail to show you. As you can see from the attached picture the upper cabinets butt up to 2 different walls. The only side piece of rail would be by the microwave. If the reason is because of what you stated, live_wire_oak, how do you finish off the end?

This post was edited by kgolby on Thu, May 9, 13 at 21:58

I rotated the picture for you.

Thanks, aries61. I post my pics w/ either my iPhone or iPad & the pics are upright for me. I forget the pics don't appear right when people are viewing them on their laptops.

That does look unfinished to me. I'd have the installer take it around the corner.

If it is not a code issue, the corners should be mitered and the rail taken to the back wall. I have 6 such corners along my upper cabinets.

Shorten that last section up with a miter cut to do the return. The rail will be more under the cabinet compared to the rail at the face front, but at least it won't hang over the heat source.

live_wire_oak, that's exactly what the installer is doing. It looks sooo much better. When I emailed our GC he said the way it was done yesterday is the usual way they do a light rail. Kinda crazy to me because it looks unfinished. Just glad he had no issues with finishing it off for me.