Project details
Skill
3 out of 5Moderaterequires experience in making precise cuts on a power miter saw
Cost
$100 to $200 for an average-size kitchen
Estimated Time
4 to 6 hours to install crown in average-size kitchen
In this video, This Old House general contractor Tom Silva produces tight-fitting mitered corner joints on crown molding.
Steps for installing kitchen cabinet crown molding:
- Carefully remove existing molding using hammer and flat pry bar.
- Hold two short 1x4s flat against ceiling, overlapping at cabinet corner.
- Mark a line where the overlapping boards meet at outside corner.
- Use a combination square to draw a line across one board connecting the inside and outside corners.
- Stack the two 1x4s on the miter-saw table and adjust the blade angle to cut along the pencil line.
- Measure across the cabinets from one inside corner to the next to determine the length of the crown molding.
- Set the saw-blade miter angle using the 1×4 guide block.
- Cut the left-hand miter joint, mark the crown molding’s length, then use the other guide block to set the saw blade and cut the right-hand miter.
- Hold the crown molding against the cabinet and tight to the ceiling, then nail it to the cabinet using a pneumatic brad nailer and 1¼-inch brads.
- Cut a mating angle on the next piece of crown, then apply carpenter’s glue to end of molding.
- Hold the second piece of crown tight against the first piece, then nail it to the cabinets.
- Repeat for the return piece of crown the goes back to the wall.
Tools:
Tools & Materials
Hammer- Flat pry bar
- Miter saw
- Pneumatic brad nailer
