Custom cabinetry in any room of your home provides ideal storage solutions, upgraded value, and personalized design. You can elevate your cabinet design with crown molding, an elegant and increasingly popular custom cabinet feature.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the benefits of crown molding and how it can transform your space into a stunning visual masterpiece.
What is Crown Molding?
Crown molding is a decorative trim typically installed along the top edge of cabinets. It serves two purposes:
- Crown molding adds visual appeal to your cabinet design, and
- It creates a seamless transition between the cabinets and the ceiling.
Crown molding can be traced back to classical architecture and has evolved over time to become a staple in modern cabinet design.
3 Benefits of Crown Molding in Cabinet Design
Whether you’re renovating a fixer-upper, designing a brand new home, or simply wanting to elevate your home’s look, crown molding offers multiple benefits.
1. Enhance visual appeal and add elegance
Crown molding brings a touch of sophistication and luxury to any room. It effortlessly adds depth and character to your cabinets, elevating them from ordinary storage units to eye-catching focal points.
Style options abound for crown molding. You can choose from various materials, patterns, and colors, and select crown molding to enhance your cabinet design. Stick with a simple design, pick a contrasting color for dramatic effect, or opt for a more elaborate look.
2. Conceal gaps & irregularities between cabinets and ceilings
Installing crown molding helps hide any unsightly gaps between the top of your cabinets and the ceiling, creating a polished and seamless look. This explains its popularity in older homes that have more imperfections to conceal. Crown molding can be a quick and affordable way to hide cracks or warps in tight corners and instantly upgrade the look of your home without a major renovation.
3. Increase home value at a relatively low cost
Crown molding creates a dramatic transformation in any room. It gives an impression of luxury and quality craftsmanship. With prices ranging from $7-$50 per square foot, it’s a relatively inexpensive way to upgrade the space and add value to your home.
How to Select the Right Crown Molding for Your Cabinets
Crown molding enhances the most basic cabinet design by adding customizable architectural details. With so many style and design options, how do you select the right crown molding for your cabinets? Here’s some information to help you.
Types of Crown Molding
There’s a vast array of crown molding styles available, ranging from traditional to contemporary to transitional. Each style carries its own unique charm and can dramatically impact the overall look of your cabinets. Here are a few of the most popular crown molding style options available.
- Traditional: industry standard and useful for large gaps
- Stacked: an affordable and decorative way to add height to your cabinets
- Stepped: works well in rooms with cabinets at varied heights
- Interior: draws the eye upward and creates continuity
- Edge: a decorative feature for your shelving that also adds structural support
- Light: installed to conceal undercabinet lighting
- Shoe: applied to the perimeter of base cabinets
- Applied: installed on walls or built-ins (e.g. on a range hood)
- Bottom: installed at the bottom of base cabinet doors and above the toe kick to make the cabinet appear more like furniture
In addition to the style of crown molding, you can also choose from various materials, including wood, MDF, or polyurethane, each offering its own set of advantages and considerations. Talk to your cabinet designer for more details.
Tips for Selecting Crown Molding to Enhance Your Cabinet Design
To truly enhance your cabinet design, choose crown molding that complements your cabinet style and ties all the design elements together. Not sure what your design style is? Check out this post about finding your kitchen design style.
Generally, crown molding matches your cabinet door style. So, a simple door style goes with simple crown molding. A traditional cabinet door style goes well with traditional crown molding. But if your cabinet design is more modern or eclectic, you have more freedom in choosing your crown molding.
The size of the room and the profile of the crown molding matters. If you’re selecting crown molding for a small kitchen, for example, a simple, low-profile style will be more effective in creating an illusion of more space.
The finish of your crown molding greatly impacts the overall appearance of your cabinets. Consider options such as stained, painted, or natural wood finishes, and explore different paint colors to achieve the desired effect.
For a truly personal touch, you can add decorative elements to your crown molding, such as rosettes or corbels.
Crown Molding & Cabinet Design Experts in Calgary
Crown molding transforms your cabinet design and provides multiple benefits, including enhanced visual appeal, concealing gaps and irregularities, and increasing the value of your home.
However, crown molding installation requires precision throughout the entire process—from measuring, to cutting, positioning, securing the crown molding, and through to the final touches. Sloppy crown molding actually detracts from the look of your cabinet design, so it’s crucial to have your crown molding installed by a professional with the right tools and experience for the job.
The cabinet design experts at Riverstone Kitchens & Renovations in Calgary can help you select the right crown molding for your home and provide you with quality installation services. Contact us today for a free consultation.
