Linda's kitchen: Crown moldings and a second skim coat

My kitchen remodel is coming along nicely. This weekend, we got the second skim coat up and installed a crown molding around the entrance to the kitchen space. There are so many styles, options and materials for crown moldings and I think the use of a crown molding is really about how ornate or clean lined you want your kitchen to be.

image courtesy of TrimConnections.com

Here's a roundup of some beautiful kitchens - some with a crown, some without.

Traditional crown  - Brian McCarthy kitchen design via Point Click Home

No crown - Jennifer Gilmer design via Point Click Home

No crown over back wall - Mark Badgley & James Mischka kitchen via Point Click Home

Very small quarter round crown - Jonathan Berger kitchen via House Beautiful

Formal deep crown - Kathy Smith kitchen via House Beautiful

Traditional crown - John Oetgen design via House Beautiful

Small crown over brown wall, traditional crown over cabinets - Jamie Gottschall's kitchen via House Beautiful

Large crown over cabinets grace the cover of (now defunct) Accent Magazine. I love the painted crown matching the painted ceiling and am seriously considering this for my kitchen.

So, a little recap: here's my original gross popcorn ceiling:

And here is my beautiful flat ceiling with new crown molding. I decided to go with a simple quarter round molding. While it does not match the crown molding style over the cabinet end of the space, I decided to stick with as simple and clean lined a look as possible. There is no crown molding anywhere in my condo because of its modern design and vaulted ceilings, so it doesn't make a lot of sense (to me at least!) to design a kitchen with ornate trim work that differs substantially from the rest of the space.

I also feel that there is so much that goes on in a kitchen, even a small one like mine, that the simpler one keeps things, the better. Plus, I have something fun going up on the walls! More to come on that!



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