House Interior Trim

[George Bokros]

Would you put crown molding in the kitchen and half bath?

I put crown molding throughout the house - all the bedrooms and both bathrooms (all on second floor), upstairs hallway. On the first floor crown has been installed in living room, study, dining room and foyer.

The crown is all stained to match the interior trim.

Thanks.

[kent wardecke]

Does the crown molding match the kitchen cabinets? Do the cabinets go to the ceiling? Is there a Bulkhead?
Is it a half or full bath? Upstairs or down?
why wouldn't you want to put crown molding in the kitchen?
i cant recall seeing crown molding above a shower

[Gary Ragatz]

We have 9' ceilings on the main floor and 8' ceilings on the second floor. White painted trim throughout, with white cabinets in the kitchen. Kitchen cabinets are tall, but with 1' clearance above - no soffit. We put crown molding up throughout the main floor, except for the half-bath. No crown at all on the second floor.

We have an open floor plan, with no natural way not to continue the crown from the family room/dining area into the kitchen - but I think I would prefer having the crown in the kitchen, regardless. That said, I think Kent's question about the match between the kitchen cabinets and the crown is important. If your cabinets are painted, I don't know that it matters - but if they're stained, I think you have to consider whether there is a difference in finish that will look out of place. (I'm thinking that what you want to avoid is looking like you tried to have them match, but didn't get it quite right.)

As for the half-bath, we didn't put crown in ours, but I don't see any reason not to. It was more-or-less an oversight on our part when we built - but I also don't think the absence of the crown in the bathroom is something that draws anyone's attention.

[Bill Dufour]

How bad will it be to scrub the grease out of the crown in the kitchen? If the crown has tiny details it will not come out of them. Raised panel doors in a kitchen are bad enough. My Mom's advice was to paint a kitchen a bright yellow so the grease does not show.
Bill D

[Thomas McCurnin]

I can't speak for your home, but ours is a 1901 Craftsman type place, and no, it does not have a large format coved type crown molding in the kitchen, nor any of the baths. It does have about a 4" multi-figured with beads, coves, and other details, which is 45 degree angle ceiling molding in those areas. The ceilings are pretty straight, but a molding covers up mistakes by the carpenters. In the rest of the home, the builders used a large format 8" coved crown molding on the ceilings, and that same 45 degree ceiling molding slightly below the crown to act as a picture rail. All of this is clear, stain grade douglas fir. I hope this helps.

[Steve Jenkins]

411228411229I put crown in all the rooms including the two walk-in closets. My kitchen cabs stop 6”below the ceiling so I ran the same white crown there to tie into the rest of the house. Except where the vent hood is I made cherry crown to match the hood and cabs. Sorry second pic is sideways

[George Bokros]

Thanks for all the input.

To answer Kent's questions

Does the crown match the cabinets. No, some of the cabinets are white and some are stained cherry. Wood trim is paprika s tained red oak.
Do the cabinets go to the ceiling. No. There is no bulkhead. There is crown molding that matches the particular cabinets.

Half bath downstairs, all full baths on second floor.

[Jim Dwight]

I have installed almost all the trim in my house. All the baths have been redone and the kitchen has all new cabinets and appliances. Moved the fridge too. Put in a new doorway between GR and DR, and double french door in the MBR. Lots of changes. Some of the house had crown but that has been extended to all the first floor except for the Kitchen. The dining space has crown but the area with cabinets cannot because the cabinets go to the ceiling.

Half bath was one of the easiest rooms but I was putting in painted crown. I've never done stained. I would have to be more careful. Caulk hides a lot. But a good installer could do a little space like a half bath in a few hours. I couldn't but a good person could.

If you do it yourself I recommend watching the Ron Paulk videos. He has some good ideas.

[Neil Gaskin]

We often install crown and cove in kitchens as part of our remodeling projects. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer here. Usually we will integrate the molding with the cabinets.

Most importantly. If you like it and it’s your house do it.

[Bill Carey]

yes, I would. I like the look of crown. We bought a 1890's farm house that had been in the same family until we bought it at an estate sale. The Last family member to live in the house had completely remodeled it 6 or 7 years before we bought it, and had crown in every room. Even had crown and KraftMaid cabinets and granite tops in the butlers pantry. And, of course, wallpaper in nearly every room that we had to remove (dark green oriental print - lovely stuff). As a matter of fact the only room in the buildings that does not have crown is my shop. Hmmmmmmmmmm - gonna have to fix that.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hi George!
First off - - it's great to see you back on your feet and posting again! We'll have to talk soon & you can fill me in on how things are progressing.
(Hopefully - we're only a few weeks away from completing the rental & I'll have some breathing space for a bit until I take on our house.)

In answer to the question - yes - I like to "tune up" using the bath(s) and kitchen when I hang crown. I don't do it often enough to stay sharp on it & since the baths are smaller simpler rooms, they usually go up pretty easy.
Laundry rooms, BTW, are ideal for practice.