Galaxy Horizon Crown Molding Cabinets

Crown is sold by the stick, and a straight wall of uppers is often longer than one. The two build-up parts say eight feet in their codes: GH STRM-8, the starter top molding, and GH STKM-8, the stacked top molding, are $133.25 each for an eight-foot length. The seven crown profiles do not publish a length on the live list, so ask us before you work out a quantity. Whatever the length turns out to be, a ten- or twelve-foot run of uppers needs two sticks end to end, and the place they meet is a splice.

On paint, a splice is invisible once the finisher has been over it. On a stain the two ends meet as two separate pieces of wood, each with its own figure. Fabuwood’s spec book says outright that stained finishes vary in colour and that those variations "are considered normal", and its warranty says wood "may vary in color, texture and grain". Two sticks of crown are two parts, so a slight step in tone or figure across a splice is expected rather than a fault. The job is to put that step where it reads least.

It is worth being clear about what this does not mean. It does not mean stained crown looks patchy; from across a room a well-placed splice is hard to find. It means the splice is a decision, like where a seam goes in a countertop, rather than something the installer hides afterwards.

1. Over a cabinet seam. Where two wall cabinets meet there is already a vertical line in the face frame. A splice directly above it reads as part of that line, so the eye takes it for the joint between boxes rather than a joint in the trim.
2. Behind or beside the hood. A hood surround breaks the crown line anyway, and a chimney shell interrupts the view along the wall. A splice tucked against the hood side is the least-seen joint in most kitchens — the hood list shows the shells it would sit against.
3. Near an inside corner. Viewers look at the middle of a wall, not into its corners, and the shadow in an inside corner softens any change in tone. A splice a foot out of the corner is easier to live with than one in the middle of the wall.
4. At the far end of the sightline. Stand where people enter the kitchen and look down each run. The end of a run nearest you is seen close and at an angle, where grain and tone read strongly; the far end is seen flat-on and small. Given a choice, splice at the far end.
5. Never centred over the sink window or the range. Those are the two places everyone looks. A joint dead-centre over either is the one people notice.

In practice, a ten-foot run of uppers made of a 30, a 36 and a 36 has two cabinet seams to choose from. Pick the one furthest from the entry and from the sink, and cut the sticks to meet there. That usually costs a little more material than butting a full stick against a short one wherever it happens to end, and it is worth it.

Every stick of crown has a grain that runs along its length, and on a stain that grain is part of what you see. Where two sticks meet, the goal is for the grain to look like it continues: both sticks running the same way, the same face out, the same end towards the same wall. Turn one stick end for end and the figure on either side of the joint can look like it collides rather than continues, even when the tone matches well.

The installer’s habit of pulling sticks from the bundle in whatever order they come is fine on paint and a mistake on a stain. Tell them before they start: lay out every stick, decide which goes where, and pencil a direction arrow and a location on the back of each one.

The joint itself should be a scarf, two ends cut on matching angles so that one laps over the other, rather than two square ends butted together. A butt joint opens into a dark line as the wood moves with the seasons; a scarf keeps a face of wood across the gap, which matters more on a stain than on paint because there will be no filler over it. Glue the scarf, pin it, and cut both halves from the same setting on the saw.

Corners are where continuity is easiest to get. When a run turns an outside corner, cut the two mitred pieces from the same stick, in order, so the figure wraps round the corner. It is the same logic a furniture maker uses on a drawer front, and it costs nothing but planning.

When the crown arrives, unwrap all of it and lay it side by side on the floor under a window, not under a work light. Stained parts differ a little from one another, and daylight shows that better than the yellow light of a lamp or the blue of a phone torch. You are looking for two things: any stick that is visibly lighter or darker than the rest, and any stick whose figure is noticeably busier.

Put the closest-matched sticks on the longest, most-seen wall, usually the one facing the entry or the one with the hood. Put the odd one out where it is seen least: over the fridge, on a short return, on a run that sits in shadow, or on the back of a peninsula. Nothing is being thrown away; the variation is being placed.

Then look at the crown against a door, not just against the other sticks. Hold a length up to the top of a wall cabinet in the room. Crown is seen above the doors and read as part of them, so the comparison that matters is stick against door, and most of the time it will sit well. If one is clearly off, tell us before it is cut, while it can still be dealt with as a part rather than a repair.

Here is the part that costs people money. Crown is the trim most often under-ordered, because the takeoff is done off run length and nobody allows for splice placement, corner wrap or sorting. The shortfall turns up on install day, a second order goes in, and the new sticks come from whatever is being made at the time.

Fabuwood’s warranty is explicit about what that means: replacement parts "may not match display samples and/or existing cabinets". A stick from a later production run is likely to sit a shade away from the first batch. On a painted kitchen that shade can be painted out. On a stain it becomes a permanent difference, and at the ceiling line it is the most visible trim in the room.

So order the whole of the crown at once, with the cabinets, and add one stick more than the takeoff says. The spare is what makes sorting possible: with one extra length, the odd stick can go into a short return instead of the main wall. Anything left over goes flat under a bed or on a garage rafter, wrapped, as the stock for a future repair.

Choosing a profile against the gap above your uppers is its own question, and it is answered on the page for each profile rather than here. The molding types guide walks through what each shape is for.

Two last things about crown on this finish. First, the top edge meets the ceiling, and on paint a wavy ceiling is closed with a bead of caulk painted to match. On a stain that caulk bead cannot be painted to match the crown, so use a paintable caulk and paint it the ceiling colour, so that it belongs to the ceiling rather than to the trim. The same principle runs through the scribe molding page, where it matters more.

Second, site cuts. Every mitre and scarf exposes unfinished wood at its end grain. Those faces are mostly glued into the joint, but any that show, such as the back of a return or a stepped end against a tall cabinet, get the marker or fill stick from the touch-up kit, which Fabuwood supplies for stains in place of a spray can. At $62.40 it belongs on the first order.

Everything above is priced on the crown molding page with the rest of the collection. If you would like the splices placed on a drawing before anything ships, the free 3D design shows every run as an elevation with the crown on it.