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suzyg215

anyone who used a stock filler piece to make cabs go to ceiling?

Suzy
13 years ago

can you post pics of your cabs if you used a filler stock piece to make it look like your cabs went to the ceiling? thanks.

Comments (22)

  • kitchenaddict
    13 years ago

    My GC used filler and molding for my cabs to reach the ceiling...hopefully you can see it in this picture.

  • Buehl
    13 years ago

    We used a 3-piece crown molding with a Stock filler piece in the middle. It served two purposes...(1) take the cabinets & crown molding to the ceiling and (2) handle the ceiling height discrepancies around the kitchen.

    It's extremely rare for anyone to have a perfectly level ceiling that's also the exact same height in the entire kitchen. To accommodate ceiling height differences, the Stock filler piece is modified to fit. The two crown pieces stay the same. This technique hides the ceiling differences and avoids the, to me, obvious gaps b/w the cabs & ceiling when not used. If you modified the upper & lower detailed crown, it would be much more obvious than modifying the plain filler piece.

    Design:

    Closeup of crown b/w 15" deep & 12" deep cabinets (the 12" deep do not go to the ceiling)

  • lilydixie
    13 years ago

    Buehl, I love that detail! Do you know the overall height of all 3 pieces?

  • marcy96
    13 years ago

    Mine looks similar to Buehl's, a 3-piece "crown".

    {{!gwi}}

  • lisa_a
    13 years ago

    Nice kitchens!

    What is behind the molding? Is there a frame that holds the molding in place? If not, what is the molding nailed to? Also, how deep is it? We're thinking of adding 9" of molding above 45" cabinets to reach our 9' ceiling. I love the look and I really want to eliminate the dust catching space above our cabinets (open at the moment).

    I showed magazine photos of kitchens with deep stacked molding above cabs to the KD and got an odd response. She said I would need soffits - sheetrocked and painted, no less - with molding between cab and soffit and molding between soffit and ceiling. She also said the molding to the ceiling would make the kitchen end of our great room look heavy. What?!?! She really pushed the soffit idea. Call me a skeptic but I didn't believe her. It seems most people are removing soffits, not adding them.

    I should add that our tastes don't always mesh and that she has no problems sharing her opinion. For instance, we love blue, she hates it. I can ignore this difference of opinion - we're going to live with our choices, not her. But it does make it harder to tell whether her advice stems from a difference of taste or is based on sound kitchen construction wisdom.

  • tdedwards
    13 years ago

    We did this in our kitchen. It was a LOT less expensive than adding more molding to raise the height, plus we prefered the simpler look.

  • lisa_a
    13 years ago

    Thanks, sabjimata, for answering but I suspect my question wasn't clear. Or perhaps I don't understand the process. When we built our mantel, we used several different pieces of molding stacked one on top of another to get the look of one large piece of molding. My dad and hubby added blocks between box and molding and nailed the molding to the blocks.

    But that's a different situation that we have in the kitchen. The cabinets won't reach the ceiling; they'll fall short about 9". We'll have a little bit of cabinet top to attach the first piece of molding to but nothing but space between that and the ceiling. So what holds the molding and filler pieces in place? Or is this built like a picture frame?

    tdedwards, I love your kitchen just as much now as when you first posted it as finished. How tall is the filler and molding?

    srg215, are you still here? How large a space are you spanning with filler and molding? I wonder if we're dealing with a similar situation.

  • marcy96
    13 years ago

    Blocks of wood are placed at the tops of the cabinets and nailed to them. Then the filler piece is nailed to the blocks of wood. The crown is then nailed to the filler piece. I'll see if I have any pictures of my cabinets as the crown was being installed.

  • lisa_a
    13 years ago

    Thanks, marcy96! I figured it had to be something this simple. I look forward to seeing your pictures. I just couldn't believe that I'd have to do soffits. And I really don't want them.

    I think the KD knows her stuff when it comes to kitchen planning but I think her design sense is stuck in the last century (she also suggested a 2-row high tile backsplash and Corian counters). Nothing wrong with that but it's not the look I'm going for.

  • marcy96
    13 years ago

    Hi Lisa, This is the only photo I have that shows one of the blocks of wood, but I think you get the idea. I had a piece of profile stock that was laid horizontally first on the top of the cabinets as a trim piece, then the plain stock piece vertically and then the crown molding.
    {{!gwi}}

  • lisa_a
    13 years ago

    Thanks, again, Marcy! It's so helpful to have a photo to show what I want to do.

  • Buehl
    13 years ago

    Off hand I don't know how tall my crown is & I'm not home to measure...I'm still at work. I do know we have 8' ceilings and mostly 36" tall upper cabinets. So, the molding takes the 36" cabs to the ceiling.

    Let's see...36" tall base & counter + 18" b/w counter & upper cabs + 36" upper cabinets = 90"

    approx 96" ceilings - 90" = approx 6" molding.

    However, it varies by as much as 1-1/2" around the kitchen b/c of different ceiling height.

    I'll try to remember to measure tonight when I get home.

  • doraville
    13 years ago

    I don't know how my contractor did it. I would guess the molding is about 4" and the filler about 3", but i can't measure. My ceilings are 8' and cabs are 36".

    From Kitchen

  • lisa_a
    13 years ago

    Thanks, Buehl!

    The magic of GW: ask a question and get answers.

  • Suzy
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    my filler space is like 10". it's a lot, but it's a lot less expensive than adding cabinets to the top.

  • lisa_a
    13 years ago

    Thanks for the pic, doraville.

    srg215, do you have pics of your cabs? It sounds like what you've done is close to what we want to do. We initially were going to add display cabs above the uppers but then we found out how much that cost. Turns out that was a good thing because I actually prefer the cleaner look of molding over display cabs at that height.

  • Circus Peanut
    13 years ago

    Ours is simpler than most here- we added about 6" of stock and a very modest shaker cove. Also done by screwing blocks to the cabinet tops, then nailing the stock to those. Then we added a small bullnose to hide the seam. It matches the rest of the trim in the house:

  • Buehl
    13 years ago

    I measured...and the height of the three pieces range from approx 5" to 6", depending on the ceiling height at each point.

    For those w/10" or so, did you check on cabs that are 3" taller than what you're considering? E.g., instead of 36", look into 39". Sometimes I wish we had done that.

  • tdedwards
    13 years ago

    Lisa,
    Our filler is nailed directly to the top of the cabinet, although I really like the look of buehl and circuspeanut's cabinets with the extra bottom piece. The filler is 3" (a 6" wide piece cut lengthwise) and with the 3" molding, it was enough to get us to our 8' ceiling.

  • macybaby
    13 years ago

    Ours will end up looking similar to circuspeanut's. We have 93" ceilings so we made the cabinets to fit. As it turns out, I only have one cabinet that is hung at a standard distance from the countertop and there is a 7" "filler" that takes it to the ceiling. That area will be covered by a 1x6 oak board (actually 3/4 x 5 1/2) that has a routed grove a bit up from the bottom. Then it will have a small cove at the top so it won't stick out very far over the top of the cabinets. It is not going to be the same as what we have on the back wall, but not too different in style.

    Our back wall is built in, and this cove matches what we used on our door/window caps.

    This is made from a 1x6. Cut 1" off the bottom and turned it and glued it back on (board is actually 3/4" wide so this gave a 1/4" lip sticking out). Then we glued a fancy shoe molding at the top end.

    Our home is an old farmhouse - one that never had fancy woodwork in it so this keeps very much with the style of the home.

    Here is a shot of the uppers - the "filler" was built as part of the uppers and its main purpose is to provide support for the crown that will be attached on top. About 2" of face frame will show below the crown.

    These are old cabinets (36" tall) that are hung at 18" above the counter top - showing there isn't much room above them.

    This was taken during the floor tiling (last November). The old stove was moved and plugged in to the outlet for the future wall oven so we didn't have to go without a stove during that time.

    Cathy

  • lisa_a
    13 years ago

    This is all great information, thanks, everyone!

    Buehl, good suggestion. That's why we're increasing our cabs from 42" tall (what we currently have) to 45" tall. I thought about making them 48" but I worried that 6" of molding might not be enough to balance the cab height.

    Circuspeanut, we're swapping out the standard builder issue molding around all our doors and windows. It will be somewhat similar to what you have. I hadn't thought about making the crown detail above the cabs match that trim but after seeing your kitchen, that makes complete sense. Thanks for posting.