PLEASE help me save my marriage!

Bill Lantry

Member
Messages
2,663
Location
Inside the Beltway
Ok, folks,

Most of you know the story. We bought this house (as a nearly ruined fixer-upper) when James was on the way. We had one month of possession before we moved in. I have pictures of Doorlink, 8 months pregnant, helping me rip up the carpets and painting the walls. The kitchen was completely gutted. I got a new floor down, then James arrived. :thumb:

That slowed the work. It was decided we should order cabinets from ebay (at that point, I barely knew how to use a table saw, had no router table, etc.). In fact, the first cabinet I ever made was a cabinet fro the double oven. I rewired for 220. Repiped so I could get gas to the kitchen. Built an island. The cabinet got installed. I was doing the doors for a cabinet when Doorlink asked me to help her carry a bucket of mop water downstairs. :p

That simple act led to all the paneling being ripped out of the basement room. A new tile floor. I was in the middle of rewiring for ceiling lights When Doorlink flooded the laundry room. Again. Naturally, the electric panel was directly below the laundry room. In what had been a large open basement, I'd made a room for #2 son. During the flood, I ran down to turn off the electrical panel. There I found him, holding a wet towel up to the wet, live electrical panel! So I redid the laundry room, with a watertight floor (after I'd replaced every single circuit breaker). Then there was a disaster in the bathroom. Then the dogs (and #6 son) were making neighbor problems, so I needed a fence, and somewhere for James to play). :(

Then, the other night, There were a bunch of books next to the bed. It was messy. I said to Doorlink "I should make a bookshelf." At that point, she shouted "I want my kitchen finished!" Long story short, she slept in another room that night, and barely spoke to me the next day... :doh:

Well, she's right, after all. It's been four years. I've been working all that time, but...

One of the problems is that I can't for the life of me figure out how to do the molding above the cabinets. She wants maple crown molding there, and regular white crown around the rest of the kitchen. How to attach it???

kitchen 001 (Medium).jpg

kitchen 002 (Medium).jpg

I'm resigned to having to take the upper cabinets down, to make some kind of structure as a backing. Bit, once again, I have no idea what I'm doing, or how to go about making such a structure. I need help with this one. Any ideas?

kitchen 003 (Medium).jpg

kitchen 004 (Medium).jpg

kitchen 006 (Medium).jpg

Another problem: Doorlink has lots of plates, and tends to overload cabinets. here's the result:

kitchen 005 (Medium).jpg

There's a good inch of bow there. I'm amazed the cabinet hasn't fallen down, or fallen apart. I'm going to have to rebuild it, with 3/4" ply this time, and a real back. While I'm at it, I can rehang it so this time it's actually coplaner with the top of the oven cabinet. But I have no such option on the other side: there the 1/2" 'bump' is going to have to stay, and I'll have to do some trick with the molding.

Anyway, I'm desperate. If I start right now, I might be done in time for Christmas. Maybe....

HELP!

Thanks,

Bill
 
heck man you`ve got tools..........get wood and fix the problem.......fill the gap-cover with moulding(s) and collect good will;)
 
Bill
On the cabinet that is bowed you may have to make one of the shelfs in the middle fixed you can do that with pocket screws or if the side is to thin you may have to screw in from the outside and then plug the screw holes.

You should be able to install a board on the top of the cabinets to fasten the crown to then just nail it to that it looks like you will need a 4" or more crown.
Hope this all makes sense
Jay
 
Bill, I'm no expert here. Are you talking about how to attach the crown to the ceiling? If so, you should be able to attach a "nailer" of "backer" to the ceiling that you can then finish nail the top of the crown to to keep it in place. Then attach the bottom of the crown molding to the top of the cabinet face. I wouldn't think you'd have to take the upper cabinets down...the structure wouldn't have to be attached to the top of the cabinet in other words.
How to blend maple and painted crown? Maybe put a 1 1/2 X 1 1/2" corner board in at the junction. Stained to match the cabinets on the side toward the kitchen with the crown butting up against that, and painted on the other side to match the wall or crown that is painted, and butted into that side. Let that corner treatment be your transition piece. Or instead of having a full length piece, some type of corner medallion to accomplish the same thing.
Sorry this was so long in getting posted. I got to the first 1 1/2 above and the timer went off saying that the texture was ready to apply.:eek: Couldn't wait, had to go and finish now, about 2 hours or so later.:thumb:
Good luck, and what ever you decide to do, please post pictures so we can see! Jim.
 
bowed sides

mr lantry:) whooops bill:) you could use finish screws threw the side to a solid shelf but the screws are going into end grain which isnt the best. you could also use a slat insuide in the middle toanchor your shefl to..after you clamped it back straight. there again it makes a differnce as to what you have for wall thickness.. chuck fix for the crown is a good one and will look great when your done
 
Bill, my cabinets are about 3" taller than the top of the doors, but you could put a filler in with a grain that matches the cabinets, then cover the joint with a decorative mould and crown against the ceiling (see pic...other than my crown isn't against the ceiling).
 

Attachments

  • IMG00251.jpg
    IMG00251.jpg
    37.3 KB · Views: 50
Consider this.... A spacer between the crown molding and the cabinet face. this will fill whatever amount of space you have.... As for the bowed piece.... "Punt"
 

Attachments

  • spacer.JPG
    spacer.JPG
    12.9 KB · Views: 51
Go to a high end lumber yard and look at their trim. The one I use has pamphlets that show you how to stack filler and nailer boards to build up an open area. I uses 4 1/2" crown moulding on a table I made. Not cheap, but I got what I wanted. I can mail you the pamphlet if you want. I believe it had drawings of the moulding in actual size so you could figure out what you need. Don't feel bad, I know a guy that got his son's bedroom done a week before he graduated. He started it when his wife was pregnant.
Dale

If you click on my photo album link you can see the picture of the table. It is toward the bottom in the album with the old hairy guy on it.
 
Last edited:
Bill,

I was a kitchen installer in a former life, mostly Merillat brand and mostly "Oak Cider". To this day I am reluctant to work with oak :D

We almost always mounted the crown directly to the top rail of the cabinets. If you have 1/2" or more rail above the doors and a brad nailer, you're good to go. Once the crown is installed and you've gone around a couple corners, it is surprisingly stable. We also installed it prefinished, so some matching putty for the brad holes and some clear latex caulk for the corners and you would think it grew up there.

I will suggest, however, that you finish the ceiling first :doh:
 
Top