Trim is what makes a stock kitchen look built in: the Galaxy Nickel list from the ceiling line down
Reviewed September 2026 · Captivating Cabinets
The boxes are the same boxes whether a kitchen cost eight thousand dollars or eighty. What separates a stock kitchen from one that looks built for the room is entirely on this page: a line of crown where the cabinets meet the ceiling, a rail that hides the lights, a finished side where the run ends, a strip of kick at the floor and a filler in every gap the grid left behind. None of it is structural and all of it is visible. So rather than sorting by product family, this page walks the room from the top down — ceiling line, upper underside, end of run, floor line, gaps — because that is the order a plan gets marked up in.
At the ceiling: crown, starter moulding and the gap above the box
Crown sits on top of the uppers and either meets the ceiling or stops short of it deliberately. Seven profiles are listed: GN CM-1 at $117.00, CM-3 at $123.50, CM-4 at $139.75, CM-6 and CM-9 at $152.75, CM-7 at $295.75 and CM-8 at $367.25. The heavier numbers are not better, they are taller; a 36″ upper under an eight-foot ceiling has very little room above it, and a tall profile in that gap looks crammed rather than grand.
Two parts usually go with it. Starter top moulding, GN STRM-8 at $133.25 for eight feet, gives the crown something to land on where the cabinet top is not deep enough. Stacked top moulding, GN STKM-8 at the same $133.25, builds a second step for a taller assembly. Where the uppers stop well below the ceiling, GN MEX-8 at $289.25 extends the assembly upward, and GN SHL-8 ship lap at $169.00 is the other way to close that gap — cladding rather than moulding.
One honest caveat on quantities: only some of these declare a length on our list. The parts with an 8 in the code — STRM-8, STKM-8, MEX-8, SHL-8, and the corner and scribe mouldings further down — are eight-foot sticks. The CM profiles do not publish a length on the live page, and since crown is bought by the stick, that is the first thing to confirm before a quantity is calculated.
Under the uppers: light rail, the valance and the sink window
Light rail is the small strip that runs along the bottom edge of the wall cabinets, and its job is to hide what is screwed underneath them — a bar, a strip, the wiring — from anyone standing at the far side of the room. GN LRM is $149.50. On a kitchen with under-cabinet lighting it is not decorative at all; it is the difference between a glow and a row of visible fixtures.
A valance does the same trick across an opening where there is no cabinet: over a sink window, or between two uppers. The standard ones are GN VAR36 at $91.00 and VAR54 at $100.75; the premium profiles run GN VARP36 at $217.75, VARP42 at $221.00, VARP48 at $230.75 and VARP54 at $234.00, and GN VST96 at $188.50 is a straight tall valance for a longer opening. A valance is one of the few parts here that people either love or find dated — look at it in a photograph of a finished kitchen before committing, and see 27 kitchen cabinet ideas for both versions.
At the end of a run: skins, panels and the sides you can see
There are two ways to finish an exposed cabinet side and they are not interchangeable. A skin is a thin finished sheet applied over the cabinet’s own side — GN SK BASE at $62.40, GN SK W30, W36, W39 and W42 all at $50.05, GN SK TALL at $169.00, GN SK T12D at $126.75 for a shallow tall cabinet, GN SK MC at $50.05 for a microwave cabinet and GN SK WD at $169.00 for a wall cabinet with drawers. A panel is a thicker finished piece that stands proud, like GN BEP at $149.50 for a base end, and it reads as furniture rather than as a covering.
Appliances get their own list. GN DWR6 at $201.50 is the dishwasher panel, with narrower fillers GN DWR3 at $130.00 and GN DWR1-1/2 at $123.50 for the gap beside it. Refrigerator panels run GN REP1296 at $224.25 for a 12″ × 96″ end, GN REP1-1/2 at $250.25, GN REP3 at $325.00 and GN RFPEC at $97.50 for the end cap that closes the top edge. Larger refacing panels go to GN REP2496 at $295.75, REP3096 at $341.25 and REP30120 at $594.75, with thicker 1-1/2″ and 3″ versions of each.
For anything cut on site there is raw plywood: GN PLY-1/2 at $448.50, GN PLY-3/4 at $516.75, and 48″ × 120″ sheets at $806.00 and $910.00. Two-side finished interior panels are GN IN PLY 1/2-2 SIDE at $390.00 and 3/4-2 SIDE at $455.00. Three textured panels are worth knowing about because they do a lot of work for the money: GN RFP696 reeded and GN SFP696 slatted interlocking panels, both $250.25 for 6″ × 96″, and GN BPP-12 beaded plank at $126.75.
| Exposed side | What we would use | Price |
|---|---|---|
| End of a base run | GN SK BASE skin, or GN BEP panel for a furniture edge | $62.40 / $149.50 |
| End of a 36″ upper run | GN SK W36 | $50.05 |
| Side of a pantry or oven cabinet | GN SK TALL | $169.00 |
| Beside a dishwasher | GN DWR6 panel, plus DWR3 if a gap is left | $201.50 / $130.00 |
| Beside or above a refrigerator | GN REP1296 with GN RFPEC end cap | $224.25 / $97.50 |
| Island back, textured | GN RFP696 reeded or GN SFP696 slatted | $250.25 each |
The rule that decides all of this is simple and gets skipped: walk the plan and mark every cabinet side a person can see from anywhere in the room, including from the hallway and from a seat at the island. Every mark is a line on this page. More on the distinction in end panels, scribe moulding and fillers explained.
At the floor: toe kick, base board moulding and the scribe
Toe kick closes the recess under the base cabinets and is sold by the stick: GN TK8 at $55.90 for eight feet, GN TK8-3/4 at $58.50 in the thicker version, with GN TKC clips at $7.80 and GN TKC-3/4 at $10.40 to hold it. It is the cheapest part in the room and the one most likely to be short on delivery day, because people forget that it runs behind the dishwasher and around the island as well as along the visible front.
Base board moulding, GN BBM at $188.50, is the alternative treatment where the cabinets meet a floor that is not flat — it is a fuller profile than plain kick. Quarter round, GN QRM at $62.40, closes the last small gap at the floor. And scribe moulding is what makes an end panel meet a crooked wall without a shadow: GN SM8-S simple at $39.00 and GN SM8-D decorative at $41.60, both eight feet. Corner mouldings GN ICM8 at $59.80 and GN OCM8 at $62.40 (or the 1-1/4″ version at $78.00) turn an outside or inside corner cleanly.
The gaps: fillers, overlay fillers, pilasters and posts
Cabinets come in three-inch steps and walls do not, so every plan ends up with leftover inches. A plain filler closes them flat: GN BF3 at $26.00 and BF6 at $43.55 at base height, GN WF330 at $26.00 through WF642 at $78.00 on the wall, and tall fillers GN TF396 at $84.50, TF696 at $152.75 and TF3120 at $156.00 beside a pantry. These are the cheapest insurance in the kitchen and should be over-ordered, not calculated to the inch.
An overlay filler is the same gap treated as a design line instead of a patch: it is faced like a door and stands proud, so the join reads as intentional. GN OLF330 is $71.50, OLF336 $84.50, OLF339 $87.75, OLF342 $94.25, and the tall ones run OLF384 at $208.00 through OLF396 at $230.75; the 6″ family runs GN OLF630 at $113.75 to OLF642 at $172.25. On a mid-tone gray this is worth the upgrade more often than on a white kitchen, because a flat filler in a colour catches light differently from the door beside it and a faced one does not.
Pilasters and posts are the decorative version of the same idea. GN PP-BASE is $227.50, wall pilasters run GN PP-W30 at $201.50 to PP-W42 at $243.75, and tall pantry pilasters GN PP-TP84 and PP-TP93 at $455.00 with PP-TP90 and PP-TP96 at $464.75. Free-standing posts hold up a counter overhang: GN CP36 corner post at $312.00, GN SP3X3 at $344.50, GN SP36 at $425.75 and GN SQP36 at $594.75. Columns are the heavier statement — GN CLM-3012 at $217.75 up to CLM-4212 at $260.00, the full 96″ GN CLM-96 at $624.00, a column base at $299.00 and an oversized custom at $1,088.75.
Two open-shelf options finish the list. LED floating shelves run $487.50 at 24″ to $1,027.00 at 60″ in standard and Timber, with Walnut from $585.00 to $1,098.50; the stainless GN SSFLS36 is $510.25. Mirror moulding at $87.75, beaded moulding GN BM1 1/4 at $57.85 and batten GN BM3/4 at $44.20 are the small profiles that finish a hood surround or a panelled end.
How much to order: run length, waste, and the cut edge
Mouldings are sold as sticks, not as kitchens. The maths is the same for crown, light rail, toe kick and scribe: measure the total run in inches, divide by the stick length, then add waste — ten per cent on a straight galley, closer to fifteen on a kitchen with several corners, because every mitre eats length off both pieces and a cut that goes wrong takes a whole stick with it. Round up to the next stick. Nobody has regretted a spare eight-foot length of toe kick; plenty of people have waited a week for one.
Count the hidden runs too. Toe kick goes around the island and behind the dishwasher opening. Crown carries across a hood surround and around a refrigerator cabinet. Light rail runs the full length of the uppers including the short return beside a window. Those three omissions account for most short orders.
Then the rule that costs money when it is missed: a factory-finished panel is finished on its faces, not on a cut edge. Trim a finished end panel or a refacing sheet on site and the exposed edge shows raw core in a colour that is nothing like the door. Either plan the cut so the raw edge is hidden against a wall or an appliance, or close it — GN SFPEC and GN RFPEC end caps are $97.50 each, and edge banding in the finish is worth asking for at the same time as the panel. This is the single most common site problem with panels and it is entirely avoidable at order time.
What crown actually does at the ceiling of a gray kitchen
On a white kitchen, crown is a texture. It catches a shadow line against a white ceiling and otherwise disappears, which is why the decision to run it feels small. On a mid-tone gray it is not a texture, it is a stripe. The crown, the cabinet tops and the light rail together read as a continuous band of colour across the top of the room, and a second one along the underside of the uppers — and against a white ceiling those bands have a hard edge. Run crown here and the room gets a defined boundary; leave it off and the cabinets stop softly. Both work. But it is a bigger visual commitment than the same moulding on a white kitchen, and it deserves to be looked at rather than defaulted to.
The corollary matters on a two-tone plan. When a gray perimeter meets a white island — or the reverse, which is just as common — the trim follows the cabinet it is attached to, not the ceiling and not the other run. Toe kick on a white island is white even though the perimeter kick is gray; crown above a gray run stays gray even where it passes over a white tall cabinet. Getting that wrong produces the one detail that makes a two-tone kitchen look accidental. For how the two halves are usually split, see the Fabuwood colour range and matching cabinets, counters, backsplash and flooring.
Common questions
- How much crown molding do I need for a kitchen?
- Measure the total run along the tops of the wall cabinets, add ten per cent on a simple layout or fifteen with several corners, then round up to whole sticks. Remember the hidden runs — over a hood surround and around a refrigerator cabinet. The eight-foot parts on our list say so in the code; the CM crown profiles do not publish a length, so confirm it before you calculate.
- What is light rail molding for?
- It runs along the bottom edge of the wall cabinets and hides the under-cabinet lights and their wiring from anyone across the room. GN LRM is $149.50. If the kitchen is getting light bars, treat it as part of the lighting rather than as decoration.
- What is the difference between a filler and an overlay filler?
- A plain filler closes a gap flat and is meant to disappear — GN BF3 is $26.00, GN WF330 the same. An overlay filler is faced like a door and stands proud, so the join reads as a deliberate line: GN OLF330 is $71.50. On a coloured finish the faced version usually looks better, because a flat strip in gray catches light differently from the door beside it.
- Do I need an end panel or an end skin?
- A skin is a thin finished sheet over the cabinet’s own side and is the normal answer at $50.05 to $169.00 depending on the cabinet. A panel such as GN BEP at $149.50 is thicker and stands proud, which is what you want where the end reads as furniture — the end of an island, or a run that ends in the middle of a room.
- Can I cut a finished cabinet panel on site?
- You can, but the cut edge shows raw core, which on a coloured finish is obvious. Plan the cut so the raw edge lands against a wall or an appliance, or close it with an end cap — GN SFPEC and GN RFPEC are $97.50 each — and ask for edge banding in the finish when the panel is ordered.
- Should trim be ordered at the same time as the cabinets?
- Yes. Trim is finished in the same run as the doors, and a stick ordered weeks later comes from a different batch. On a white kitchen a small variance hides; on a mid-tone gray it does not.
- On a two-tone kitchen, which colour does the trim follow?
- The cabinet it is attached to. A white island gets white toe kick even when the perimeter kick is gray, and crown above a gray run stays gray across the whole run. Following the ceiling or the other finish is what makes a two-tone kitchen look unplanned.
Keep reading
The guides behind the numbers on this page.
- Kitchen Cabinet Molding Types
Crown, light rail, scribe and starter, and what each one is actually for.
- Cabinet End Panels, Scribe Molding and Fillers Explained
The panel-versus-skin decision, and how a scribe meets a crooked wall.
- Gray Kitchen Cabinets: Finding the Right Shade
Why a mid-tone gray makes trim read as a band rather than a shadow.
- How to Match Cabinets, Countertops, Backsplash and Flooring
Where the trim line sits in a whole-room palette decision.
- Fabuwood Cabinet Colors
The finishes a second run might be, on a two-tone plan.
- Cabinet Terminology: Parts and Abbreviations
What SK, OLF, REP and TK mean on a quote.
- 27 Kitchen Cabinet Ideas
Finished rooms with and without valances, columns and heavy crown.
