I have 8 ft ceilings and 36" uppers with 2 pieces of crown. I think 39" with 1 piece crown would look skimpy at the top. Not not sure the extra 3" at the top would add much usable storage and wondering how much extra cost there would be?

The crown may or may not look skimpy. Older homes generally don't have the big crown that is very popular today and should look fine with the simpler crown. It depends very much on all the styles involved.

If you are short on space at ALL, that 3" can be huge, though, and I'd look at the crown options and see if you like the combos. I think it'll look fine.

But. The thing about 1 piece crown (and it's not an issue on all cabinet styles) is that it's going to require a much more level ceiling to do right. On Junkie's crown that straight filler piece (don't ask me what the proper name is--ask Buehl!) can be as exposed or covered up as needed for the top piece to rest happily against the ceiling. You could lose this handy feature with a single chunk of crown unless your cabinets have a big face frame.

You might have perfectly parallel walls and floors though. Nah.

Several extra inches inside a cabinet can make a big difference in how you are able to space shelves and adjust them to your needs.

Our ceilings are a bit higher, 8'4". We put in 42" cabinets and I think the taller upper cabinets make the ceiling appear higher.

When planning our kitchen it seemed like "inches" mattered over and over again. The more inches I had available, the better.

Numbersjunkie and natal, you both have really beautiful kitchens.

natal- your photos made me breathe a sigh of relief. The GC just installed 3 of my uppers on Friday and I wondered all weekend whether I made the right decision of going with the 39" uppers as opposed to the 30". I like the OP have 8ft ceilings.

Hi,
As requested:

Casey

Althought Natel's cabinets look nice, I'm not sure how she fit it.... my math is
36 (lower cabinet) 18 space, 39 upper, 5 crown =98 which is 2" higher than 8ft.

In my last house I had 8'4" ceilings 39" uppers with a 2inch top crown and space above. I didn't like the look after we were done. for tall cabinets, unless they are very simply styled, I feel you need a heavier crown to balance it, like what was done in Natel's and Sombreuil's kitchens.

Also, from a usability point of view, that top shelf is a barely used shelf, I needed a step stool to get things from it, I'm 6'2". If you're really at a complete shortage of space, it might make a difference, but if you have a normal size kitchen, I don't think the 4 inches is going to make or break your storage.

I have 8'6" ceilings now in the kitchen we're building... I have about 36-37" uppers. with a 3 piece build up crown. the build up crown really knocks your socks off.

My last house had 8' ceilings. The custom cabinets had 39" uppers. The doors did not go to the tops of the cabinets, so there was face frame to which the single piece crown was attached.

Chris, like Kay's my doors also do not go to the top of the cabinet box. I assure you our ceilings are 8'.

Chris, it is possible that Natal doesn't have 18" of space between the uppers and the counter. Also, I tried to estimate the size of the crown based on the proportions in the picture. It's difficult to do accurately because of perspective, but I picked the front corner of the back cabinet run where that comes into play less and it looks to me like the molding is closer to 3.5" rather than 5".

Aries, one thing to be careful of is how level your floor and ceiling are - do you really have 96" everywhere? We thought that we did, but it turned out that there is a slightly high spot in our floor and, as luck would have it, it was right where the dishwasher was. If it was anywhere else, we could have just let them install the cabinet base a bit shorter so that the low spot was 35" above the floor instead of 36". To leave space for the dishwasher, we had to have the counter 36" high there.

We had planned on 41" cabinets (a standard size for our brand which is really based on a metric increment) with a minimal molding - just a straight 1" that could be scribed for any ceiling variation. Our design is contemporary/transitional in an MCM house so minimal molding went with the rest. We have a fair sized kitchen, but we keep kosher which means having 2 of most things (milk and meat) and 3 of some (neutral) so we needed whatever space we could get. The cabinets were already here when we discovered the floor issue.

Fortunately, our ceiling quite flat so we reduced the molding to 1/2". We have 17.5" between the cabinet bottom and the counter, but that doesn't count the light bar. On one cabinet, we ended the light bar before the end of the cabinet to allow height for the mixer. We are content with the result, but if I'd known ahead of time, I'd have ordered custom height for the cabinet over the baking center (which sits by itself) to give an inch more height for the mixer.

The moral of the story: If the height budget is tight, measure to make sure you really have 96" everywhere before counting on it.

Who makes 39 inch wall cabinets?

Kraftmaid offers 39" tall wall cabinets. It was offered to me when I put in my order for the 42" cabinets because I have an 8 foot ceiling. But I don't plan on fancy crown molding and wanted my cabinets a bit closer to the counter top than standard anyway. Don't need 18" of space. They are framed so no fit issues. Had I used the 39" I would have had to build up 3-4 inches of crown and I don't want that look.

Originally I had a tall cabinet sharing that wall. In that case I would have gone with the 39" since I would have ordered the tall in a 93". Would have dropped the cabs to match the height of the tall and used the crown.

I hope your ceilings are perfectly level - b/c if they're not, you're going to notice it! Crown molding is more than just "decoration" - it's a way to "fix" issues with uneven ceiling heights. Probably 99% of the houses out there have uneven ceilings - even if they were perfect when you built, after settling, flooring movement, adding furniture on the second floor, etc., it changes. (It is highly unlikely your ceilings were ever perfectly even.)

2- or 3-piece crown molding allows you to modify the "filler" to adjust to the ceiling height throughout the Kitchen and make everything look even and level.

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Oh, and reducing the 18" backsplash - be careful! Small appliances like mixers, blenders, coffee machines, etc., are designed for the standard 18" backsplash height. If you reduce it, you run the risk of your appliances not fitting and being unusable without moving them to someplace without cabinets above.

FYI... if you do the math...

96" - 36" cabinet & counter height - 18" backsplash height = 42" left

42" - 39" = 3" left for crown molding

And, that's assuming you actually have 8' (96") throughout the Kitchen! Measure in several different places to ensure you actually have 96" everywhere!

Crown molding does not have to be overly ornamental - but it does serve a purpose! If you want a streamlined look, get flat crown molding!

I have 8' ceilings with 39" upper cabinets. As Buehl suggested, we used a flat crown. We were going for "crisp shaker", like the streamlined look, and wanted to maximize storage space. Our ceilings aren't even remotely level, so the flat crown is scribed to the ceiling. It averages about 2 3/4" tall.

Buelh.... this isn't my first rodeo regarding this kitchen. I know what works and doesn't work and I don't want nor need 18" of back splash height. This is my kitchen and I am doing it for what suits me. I am only doing two wall cabinets on one wall so trust me I know exactly what I am doing and why I'm doing it.